The tower provides a gross floor area of over 180,000m2 of grade-A office accommodation.
Overview
International Commerce Center (ICC) is the centerpiece of the MTR Kowloon Station Development. At 484m high, the 118-storey tower will become Hong Kong’s tallest building and the third tallest in the world on completion.
The building houses exclusive grade A offices and a world-class hotel at the top. The main structural skeleton of the tower is formed from a high modulus, concrete inner core wall, steel and pre-stressed concrete outrigger structures and eight mega columns on the perimeter.
ICC and the Two International Finance Centre Tower (420m, also design-engineered by Arup) on the opposite shore have formed a stunning gateway across the Victoria Harbour, adding a fresh dimension to the city’s skyline for the 21st century. Details
Location:
Hong Kong
Country/Region:
Greater China
Client:
Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd
Architect:
Wong Ouyang Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Laying solid foundations
ICC is located above a major fault zone with difficult geological conditions, which makes normal end-bearing piling system unviable. Following a series of detailed studies and comparison of various foundation types, shaft grouted friction barrettes were chosen as the foundation system.
ICC is the first private development in Hong Kong that has adopted this special system to enhance the friction capacity of the piles. A designed volume of cement grout was injected into the soil-pile interface to improve the contact between the barrettes and the surrounding soil. The lateral pressure, due to this injection grouting, compacted the surrounding soil at the interface, which was softened or loosened during trench excavation. With this enhancement in the lateral pressure, the frictional capacity of the barrettes has been significantly increased.
Since shaft grounding is a new technique in Hong Kong for barrettes construction, five trial piles and four working barrettes were constructed for testing. The results turned out to be satisfactory in load carrying capacity as well as settlement performance.
- One of the top ten tallest buildings in the world.
At 88 storeys and a height of 415m, this development is highly prominent on Hong Kong’s waterfront skyline and is one of the top ten tallest buildings in the world. It had been the world’s third highest when completed. The tower provides a gross floor area of over 180,000m2 of grade-A office accommodation.
Arup provided structural, facade, wind and geotechnical engineering services to the project, which has won an array of awards for its innovative and outstanding design, technology and construction.
The landmark building incorporates minimum structure to maximise the panoramic view. The floor framing is such that, on the primary faces, there is a clear 24m span between supporting columns, creating maximum opportunities for unobstructed views from this prominently located tower.
The mega tower was designed to withstand strong typhoons, a major consideration for tall buildings in Hong Kong.
To accelerate the construction, several innovative technologies were adopted. The tower base was constructed in a 61m-diameter cofferdam, which allowed a programme overlap with the construction of the surrounding five-level basement. The design also allowed for retro-fitting of the outriggers, enabling the self-climbformed core to progress with minimum interruption at outrigger levels. This design saved four to five months for the overall construction programme.
Arup.com
12:43 PM
Structural Draftsman
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