Hotel Central Revitalisation Project

The hotel was six storeys tall when it opened in 1928. It underwent multiple phases of expansion over the next two decades and was eventually transformed into an 11-storey building in 1942. However, the expansion works did not involve foundation reinforcement—the hotel’s structure deteriorated due to poor maintenance over the years.

The project presently aims to revive the splendour of the century-old hotel and serve as an example of revitalising historic buildings in Macau, which could in turn contribute to the city’s tourism industry. The project scope included selective demolition; repairing the original structure; reinforcing the pile base and new foundation; restoring the external walls and strengthening the superstructure; reconstruction of electrical and mechanical, air-conditioning, water supply and drainage systems as well as lifts and escalators; and interior design.

Built in 1928, the revitalised 114-room hotel is reopened in 2024

TECHNICAL CHALLENGES IN PILING WORK
The pile foundation work was the most challenging part of the project. In modern piling works, pile pipes are usually 17 to 18 metres long, which exceed the height of Hotel Central. The construction team had to figure out alternative solutions to transport pile pipes into the hotel and bore them into the ground. Moreover, since the piling work had to be carried out within the hotel premises, it was difficult to manoeuvre the large-scale piling equipment around the internal columns.

To ensure feasibility and safety, the team carried out a trial piling before the actual construction started. Unfortunately, the trial resulted in an unacceptable settlement, indicating that the ground stability was beyond acceptable levels.

The modified casing drilling machine was suitable for spaces with a headroom of about 4.5 metres

STATIC DRY-DRILLING METHOD
After multiple tests and verification, the team successfully developed a static dry-drilling method by using a modified casing drilling machine suitable for work areas with a headroom of approximately 4.5 metres. The machine drilled steel pile pipes with a rotary method at predetermined locations and subsequently extracted the soil. This was to minimise disturbance to the soil layer to prevent potential risks of settlements and destabilising the existing foundation.

PROJECT DATA
Project Name
Hotel Central Revitalisation Project
Location
Almeida Ribeiro 264-278, Rua Oeste do Mercado de S. Domingos 26-36, Rua Sul do Mercado de S. Domingos 2-4, Macau
Completion Date
January 2024
Number of Rooms
114
Client
New Central-Developments Company Limited
Gross Floor Area
8174.5 square metres
Main Contractor & Interior Fit-Out Contractor
Let Go Construction & Engineering Company Limited
Interior Design Firm
Cheng Chung Design Co Ltd
Design Principal
Team Plus Architectural and Engineering Consultancy Limited
Electromechanical Designer
TX Engineering Design Workshop Ltd
Air-conditioning & Ventilation Contractor
Companhia De Engenharia Cheok Ip Limitada
Power System Subcontractor
Tung Tat Tin Hei Company
Lighting Consultant
Companhia de Engenharia Eléctrica e Mecânica de Anron Lda
Quantity Surveyor
Rider Levett Bucknall Limited
Images
New Central-Developments Company Limited

This is an excerpt. The original article is published in
Construction+ Q2 2024 Issue: The Contractors: Integrating Expertise Across Construction.
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