Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Sports Park - Development Update
Posted by Tim Cole on Monday, May 22, 2017
The 40,000 seater Hong Kong Stadium is the premier sports venue in Hong Kong, it was redeveloped from the old Government Stadium and reopened in 1994 and regularly hosts international football matches and other large sporting events such as the popular Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament. However, this is due to change as plans are afoot to develop an even larger state of the art Sports stadium and complex in Hong Kong as part of the Kai Tak Sports Park development.
A prequalification briefing session for design, construction and operation of Kai Tak Sports Park was recently held on 9th May. The scope of works of the contract comprises the design, construction and operation of the Kai Tak Sports Park with a site area of about 28 hectares in the north apron of the former Hong Kong International Airport in Kai Tak, Kowloon City. The project comprises the following elements:
- Multi-purpose Main Stadium with a spectator capacity of around 50,000
- Public Sports Ground with a spectator capacity of around 5,000
- Indoor Sports Centre with a multi-purpose main arena with a seating capacity of 10,000
- Ancillary sports hall with a seating capacity of 500
- Various retail and dining outlets with gross floor area (GFA) of about 60,000m2
- 10 pin bowling centre with 40 lanes
- Health and wellness centre with GFA of about 2,500m2
- Large public open space of more than 8 hectares
Areas of Development
The construction floor area is over 390 000m2, and subject to funding approval of the Legislative Council Finance Committee the contract is scheduled to commence in 2018 for a period of 25 years (including design, construction and operation period). As part of the wider Kai Tak development there are various other elements of the project including: commercial, leisure, residential and other public facilities.
Commercial: commercial elements will include 57,000 m2 of retail and F&B space, 2,500 m2 health and wellness centre, 3,000 m2 dining cove, various hotels and over 850 parking spaces. This will help promote tourism within the area.
Leisure: a key objective of the project is to provide new leisure facilities and outdoor space in a crowded city; this will include 3 main park areas: Sung Wong Toi, Hoi Sham and Metro Park.
Residential: once complete the Kai Tak Development will provide nearly 50,000 new flats housing an estimated population of 134,000 residents. The 3 main residential areas will be: Kai Tak City Centre, Grid Neighbourhood and Runway Precinct
Public Facilities: as with any large scale redevelopment area there is a need for public facilities, these will include a new hospital and schools.
Regardless of the high financial cost to the public, the new sports complex seems to have plenty of support. The stadium is highly anticipated within the sporting community with the new stadium allowing for up to extra 10,000 people to attend popular events such as the rugby sevens. The new complex will allow Hong Kong to compete with neighbouring Asian countries to attract foreign sports teams and events.
Transport Links
Development of the Kai Tak area and new sports complex will be heavily integrated in to the new Shatin to Central Link (SCL) MTR projects which are currently under construction. This will allow easy access for the public and events goers, as well as helping to ease traffic congestion in the surrounding areas. Kwa Wan Station and Kai Tak MTR Stations will provide to direct access to the stadium. An onsite elevated monorail system has also been suggested to compliment the MTR access and help move people in and out of the site. The monorail system would connect to Kai Tak Station, Kowloon Bay Station and Kwun Tong Station, and would be 9kms long running through the length of the Kai Tak development with 12 stations. The monorail system would have 4 key benefits to the area. 1. Smaller footprint at road level. 2. Reliable and safe service. 3. Convenient MTR interchange. 4. Enhanced tourism appeal. This along with multiple new road access links such as the Central Kowloon Route will ensure the site has sustainable long term transport options.
Current Progress
The new sports stadium and Kai Tak development as a whole is a massive undertaking and will create employment opportunities for over 100,000 people. The new development should provide a steady flow of work for commercial, engineering and construction professionals and help strengthen the construction market jobs outlook in Hong Kong. Officials hope to launch a tender exercise in the third quarter of this year in order to begin construction next year, with a final completion date of 2022.
We expect this major project to help create a number excellent job opportunities for both expatriate and local candidates. Quantity Surveying, Commercial Manager, Engineering, Construction Manager and Project Director positions are all likely to be in demand once work begins. If you’re interested to learn about this project and the associated job opportunities please get in touch and we’d be happy to discuss them with you further.
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Tim Cole
Senior Recruitment Consultant