Grand Central by Wong Tung & Partners Limited

The Kwun Tong Town Centre project is one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in Hong Kong. Known as the Grand Central, this project consists of four residential towers, and a commercial podium. The landmark project plays a major role in revitalizing the Kwun Tong community spirit by blending old and new, and seeks to inherit and exemplify the unique social culture of Kwun Tong.

RENETWORKING THE KWUN TONG URBAN COMMUNITY

The primary design concept is to re-network the Kwun Tong urban community with a highly efficient pedestrian and vehicle traffic flow, while preserving community elements and helping individuals re-adapt in an improved environment. It incorporates several government, institution or community accommodations such as a bus/minibus terminus to amalgamate previous unorganized and weather exposed bus stops around the area.

The newly built bus terminus is also the first in Hong Kong to feature a dedicated, fully air-conditioned indoor waiting area. A new hawker bazar and a dedicated area of shops inside the mall was set up to facilitate existing licensed hawkers and property owners affected by the redevelopment. Other community facilities like new refuse collection point, over 7,100 square metres of public leisure areas such as the sky garden at podium level and footbridges. Multi-level connections from various street entrance, footbridge created such that all facilities in podium are well-linked with each other to maximize public accessibility in Kwun Tong. Grand residential lobby entrances are introduced to create a prestige arrival experience for the residents.

UNIQUE MODULES WITH A PRECISE DIMENSION

The residential towers above provide 1,999 units with consideration of efficient and user-friendly design. Precise dimension of each unique modules is critical to production. Close coordination with site survey and continuous supervision on site is required to make sure the installation process will not cause abortive works. Using BIM in the design process also proves useful in the planning stage.

As the project site is very close to the Kwun Tong MTR station and is surrounded by heavy traffic, acoustic panels and acoustic fins were designed to mitigate noise generated from the surroundings. Special acoustic absorbent materials and panel details were used in conjunction with the balcony or window openings.

The four residential towers were also designed to be highly modular to accommodate the use of prefabrication. Prefabricated facade was employed for the residential tower to reduce the carbon footprint of the whole construction.

PROJECT DATA
Project Name: Grand Central
Location: 33 Hip Wo Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon
Completion Date: April 2021
Site Area: 234,000 square feet
Gross Floor Area: 172,200 square metres
Building Height: 178 mPD (max.)
Number of Rooms/Units: 1,999 units (Phase 1: 1,025 units; Phase 2: 974 units)
Client/Owner/Developer: Urban Renewal Authority, Sino Land & Chinese Estates Holdings Limited
Architecture Firm: Wong Tung & Partners Limited
Principal Architect: Kennis Chan Wing Che
Interior Design Firm: HBA Hirsch Bedner Associates
Principal Designer: Mathew Lui
Civil & Structural Engineer: AECOM
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer: Meinhardt (M&E) Limited
Quantity Surveyor: Arcadis Hong Kong Limited
Lighting Consultant: Guava Hong Kong Limited
Landscape Architect: Urbis Limited
Green Building Consultant: Environ Hong Kong Limited
Main Contractor: CR Construction Company Limited
Interior Fit-Out Contractor: Sundart Timber Products Company Limited & LCL Interior Limited
Images: Sino Land