PWSC(1999-2000)30

For discussion
on 26 May 1999

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Education - Tertiary/other
88ET - Reprovisioning of Buddhist Po Kwong School at Tin Sum Village, Fanling

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 88ET to Category A at an estimated cost of $83.1 million in money-of-the-day prices for the reprovisioning of the Buddhist Po Kwong School at Tin Sum Village, Fanling.

PROBLEM

The Buddhist Po Kwong School at Tin Sum Village, Fanling is currently operating in sub-standard premises. Furthermore, special school places in Tai Po and North districts for mildly and moderately mentally handicapped children are insufficient to meet forecast demand.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Architectural Services (D Arch S), with the support of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, proposes to upgrade 88ET to Category A at an estimated cost of $83.1 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for the reprovisioning of the Buddhist Po Kwong School at Tin Sum Village, Fanling.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The scope of the project comprises the construction of a new special school with 200 places and 100 places for mildly and moderately mentally handicapped children respectively to reprovision the existing Buddhist Po Kwong School. The new school building which is located on a site adjacent to the existing school premises will have the following facilities -

1. 20 classrooms (ten classrooms for mildly mentally handicapped children and ten classrooms for moderately mentally handicapped children);

2. three remedial teaching rooms;

3. seven special rooms;

4. five speech therapy rooms;

5. three interview rooms;

6. a staff room and a staff common room;

7. a student activity centre;

8. four social worker's rooms;

9. two conference rooms;

10. a library;

11. a resource room;

12. an assembly hall cum gymnasium;

13. a covered playground; and

14. ancillary accommodation including a lift and relevant facilities for the handicapped.

4. To prevent disruption to the educational services provided by the school whilst the new school is under construction, the proposed development will be implemented in two phases -

1. phase one - construction of a new school building on a reserved site next to the existing school premises. Upon completion of the construction of the new school building, the existing school will then move into the new premises to continue its operation; and

2. phase two - demolition of the existing school structures and construction of basketball court and playground on the existing school site.

JUSTIFICATIONS

5. The Buddhist Po Kwong School was established in 1989 using vacant village school premises. The school currently provides 80 and 60 school places for mildly and moderately mentally handicapped children respectively. The existing premises of the school are in poor condition and there are frequent problems with water seepage and leakages, spalling concrete, etc. Because of this, repeated repairs and remedial works have been necessary in recent years. Furthermore, due to space constraints, the school has to operate four classes in the main school premises and two other classes at its premises in Cheung Wah Estate nearby. Students at the Cheung Wah Estate premises have to walk for about 10 to 15 minutes back to the main school every Wednesday and Friday for physical education lessons or other school activities. This arrangement is undesirable and management and discipline problems may arise during the escort. Due to the physical separation, teachers at the two different premises also are unable to communicate and share experience with each other as fully as teachers who occupy the same premises. In addition to the above, the school also lacks some standard facilities such as an assembly hall, a home economics room, a design and technology workshop, etc. The spatial area of other essential facilities such as the computer room, the resource room, the library, the speech therapy room, the staff room and most of the classrooms are also smaller than the standard provision. Therefore, we consider that the school and its facilities should be reprovisioned and upgraded to current standards in order to improve the teaching environment and the effectiveness of the education provided by the school.

6. The provision of special school places for mildly and moderately mentally handicapped students is planned on a territory-wide basis. In practice, in deciding the location for the reprovisioning of an existing special school, the Director of Education (D of E) takes into account the demand for such school places in different regions. The aim is to achieve a more even distribution of schools among different regions as far as possible. Based on the latest population statistics, D of E forecasts that by the school year 2000/01 there will be a demand for 321 and 183 school places for mildly mentally handicapped children and moderately mentally handicapped children respectively in Tai Po and North districts. At present, the supply of such places is 280 and 60 respectively. To maintain the provision of school places in the two districts, we propose that the reprovisioned Buddhist Po Kwong School remain in the same district and be located at a site adjacent to the existing school premises. The new school will be a 20-classroom special school providing 200 places for mildly mentally handicapped children and 100 places for moderately mentally handicapped children in both Tai Po and North districts. Upon its completion, there will be a remaining shortfall of 83 places for moderately mentally handicapped children in Tai Po and North districts which will be met by other special school construction projects.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

7. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $83.1 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 8 below), made up as follows-

	$ million
(a) Demolition	0.4
(b) Piling	7.8
(c) Building	36.3
(d) Building services	10.8
(e) Drainage and external works	8.0
(f) Furniture and equipment	6.2
(g) Consultants' fees for contractadministration	1.6
(h) Contingencies	7.1 ______
Sub-total	78.2	(at December 1998 prices)
(i) Provision for price adjustment	4.9 ______
Total	83.1	(in MOD prices)

A breakdown of the estimated consultants' fees is at the Enclosure.

8. The construction floor area of 88ET is 6 470 square metres. The construction unit cost, represented by building and building services costs, is $7,280 per square metre at December 1998 prices. D Arch S considers this construction unit cost reasonable.

9. Subject to approval, we will phase the expenditure as follows -

Year	$ million (Dec 1998)	Price adjustment factor	$ million (MOD)
1999 - 2000	17.7	1.02625	18.2
2000 - 2001	48.6	1.06217	51.6
2001 - 2002	7.7	1.09934	8.5
2002 - 2003	4.2	1.13782	4.8
	_______		_______
	78.2		83.1
	_______		_______

10. We derived the MOD estimates on the basis of Government's latest forecast of trend labour and construction prices for the period 1999 to 2003. We will tender the works under fixed-price lump-sum contracts because we can clearly define the scope of works in advance, leaving little room for uncertainty.

11. We estimate the additional annual recurrent expenditure for the school to be $14.5 million.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

12. We consulted the Social Services Committee of the North Provisional District Board in September 1998. Members supported the project. The school has been involved throughout the planning phase and is supportive of the project.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

13. Based on the Preliminary Environmental Review for 88ET completed by D Arch S in March 1999, the Director of Environmental Protection recommends the implementation of the following environmental mitigation measures to keep the impact of traffic noise on the proposed school within the limits stipulated in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines -

1. provision of a two-metre high solid boundary wall at part of the northern boundary, the eastern boundary facing Pak Wo Road, and the southern boundary facing Wah Ming Road; and

2. provision of insulated windows and air-conditioning to the following rooms -
   1. 20 classrooms from the 1/F to the 4/F, three remedial teaching rooms on the 2/F and the 3/F, one special room on the G/F and four speech therapy rooms on the 4/F at the northern facade of the classroom block;

   2. one special room on the 3/F and one resource room on the 4/F at the southern facade of the special room block; and

   3. three special rooms on the 3/F at the eastern facade of the assembly hall block.

We have included $2.9 million in the project estimate to implement the above mitigation measures.

14. We will control noise, dust and site run-off nuisances during construction through the implementation of appropriate mitigation measures under the relevant contracts.

LAND ACQUISITION

15. The project does not require land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

16. We upgraded 88ET to Category B in September 1998. D Arch S has engaged consultants to prepare outline schematic proposals, detailed design and contract documentation at an estimated cost of $2.908 million. We charged this amount to the block allocation Subhead 3100GX "Project feasibility studies, minor investigations and consultants' fees for items in Category D of the Public Works Programme" in October 1998. We plan to start the construction works in June 1999 for completion of the phase 1 and phase 2 works in November 2000 and February 2001 respectively. The school will remain in operation at the existing school premises and be relocated to the new premises upon completion of the phase 1 works.

Education and Manpower Bureau
May 1999

(PWSC0142/WIN5)

Enclosure to PWSC(1999-2000)30

Breakdown of estimates of consultants' fees

Category of work/item			Estimated man months	Average MPS* salary point	Multiplier factor	Estimated fee ($ million)
Contract Administration
(a)	Architectural discipline	Professional Technical	4.0 4.0	40 16	2.4 2.4	0.60 0.20
(b)	Structural engineering discipline	Professio nal Technical	1.3 2.0	40 16	2.4 2.4	0.20 0.10
(c)	Building services discipline	Professional Technical	0.7 2.0	40 16	2.4 2.4	0.10 0.10
(d)	Quantity surveying discipline	Professional Technical	1.0 3.0	40 16	2.4 2.4	0.15 0.15 ______
Total						1.60

* MPS = Master Pay Scale

Notes

1. A multiplier factor of 2.4 is applied to the average MPS point to arrive at the full staff costs including the consultants' overheads and profit, as the staff will be employed in the consultants' offices. (As at 1.4.1998, MPS pt. 40 = $62,780 p.m. and MPS pt. 16 = $21,010 p.m.).

2. The figures given above are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Architectural Services. We will only know the actual man months and actual fees when we have selected the consultants through the usual competitive bidding system.

(PWSC0142/WIN5)