Technical Seminar: Cavern Development in Hong Kong

Date, time & venue 
2019-04-10;18:30pm – 20:00pm;HJ302, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Programme Highlight

Land supply is a pressing issue that constraints the sustainable development of Hong Kong. Since 2010, the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) has been providing support to the Government in establishing technical policy for facilitating cavern development as one of the measures to ramp up the land supply. Hong Kong’s hilly terrain with favourable geological setting is highly suitable for development caverns. Besides, cavern, as an underground space, represents an attractive option in accommodating nimby facilities. The application of caverns has gradually gained buy-in of the public and major stakeholders. More recently, the Task Force of Land Supply has recommended adopting cavern development as one of the land supply strategies in medium and long term.

In addition to supporting the establishment of policy for promoting cavern development, CEDD steers forward-looking studies to address technical challenges in the co-use of mega cavern space for different purposes. Recently, they have engaged world-leading experts in fire engineering to study the fire safety strategy for mega cavern space.

The seminar will first focus on the cavern policy and technical guidelines established and the latest initiatives for expediting the planning process of cavern development, followed by a sharing of the insights of the fire safety strategy for mega cavern space.

Fee

Free of Charge.

Speakers

Ir. Dr. Julian S H KWAN

Ir Dr. Kwan is a Chief Geotechnical Engineer in the Geotechnical Engineering Office of the Civil Engineering and Development Department of the HKSAR Government. He is now in charge of the strategic planning studies to support formulation of technical policy pertinent to both rock cavern and underground space developments.

Dr. Marco BETTELINI

Dr. Bettelini, Master of Science ETH in Mechanical Engineering, PhD, is Head of Safety and Ventilation in the Amberg Group. After completing his academic curriculum in Switzerland and in the USA, he joined ABB Corporate Research before following invitations for leading positions with leading Swiss engineering companies. His curriculum includes some of the largest infrastructural projects worldwide, including in particular the Mont Blanc, Gotthard and Fréjus road tunnels, the Gotthard, Brenner and TELT rail tunnels, metro projects and underground developments, in Switzerland, France and Singapore. As overseas expert, he is in charge of the independent assessments of the scheme developed by the Consultants for fire engineering design for underground quarry and/or caverns.

Registration & Enquiries

The seminar will be conducted in English. Presentation materials will be in English.

The number of participants is limited to 120 and priority will be given to members of Civil Division and previous registered participants. Please complete the on-line registration at http://cv.hkie.org.hk. Email registration will not be accepted. Only successful applicants will be informed by email.

For enquiries, please contact: Ms Yuki Leung via email: hkieciviltechnicalmeeting@gmail.com

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