To build Kai Tak Sports Park with advanced digital technology
The Paris 2024 Olympics has filled the whole city with a wave of sports enthusiasm. Next year's National Games, which will be held at the newly opened Kai Tak Sports Park (KTSP), will certainly set off another craze. The main stadium of the KTSP has a beautiful appearance and is full of a contemporary and cosmopolitan aura. In addition, Hip Hing, a well-known local construction firm responsible for the project, has been actively adopting digital technology in the construction process, and to integrate an advanced geographic information system (GIS) and building information modelling (BIM) software which enhances the construction company’s business output.
BIM takes care of the detailed data within the project while GIS is used to store and manage construction-related information, integrating data from various sources and formats, including design documents, permits, inspections, and progress reports, so that project managers can have easy access to project information, facilitating site progress monitoring by data visualisation. These also facilitate project managers to predict and identify issues, and make informed decisions promptly and accurately before the physical construction takes place.
Equally important, GIS provides a macro analysis of the proximity surrounding the project, including daylight, wind direction and speed, noise, and more, which are the key environmental factors for the success of the project.
To this day, some people in the construction industry and even those in the government still do not understand why projects should focus not only on the building itself, but also consider environmental factors as well.
In the case of the KTSP, for example, it is located on the waterfront of Victoria Harbour. You can imagine the risk of flooding to the 50,000-seat main stadium if the sea water splashes onshore due to heavy storms.
The devastation caused by torrential rains and floods is no stranger to Hong Kong people. Older generations may recall the catastrophic landslide on Po Shan Road in Mid-levels in 1972, which destroyed a large number of homes and took away 67 lives.
Faced with the threat of landslides and flooding, the authorities have been actively tackling the threat of landslides and flooding for many years with innovative technology and sustainable measures, one of which is the Po Shan Drainage Tunnel. It consists of two drainage tunnels and 172 sub-vertical drains, equipped with automatic real-time groundwater monitoring sensors and connected by GIS to construct a digital twin to monitor and regulate the groundwater level to reduce the risk of major landslides.
At the same time, prevention is even more important. During the planning phase, the latest three-dimensional (3D) models have been used to predict changes. The KTSP is a prime example of how to mitigate potential crises through different flood scenarios and weather data.
In addition, when hosting large-scale events, how to prevent the spread of viruses is also a challenge. The KTSP could consider introducing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations used in the main venues of the Tokyo Olympics. Through the Airflow Analyst and GIS software, staff members can replicate the buildings and landscape near the venue, and analyse the weather, wind speed, crowd flow and other data to understand how much fresh air needs to be circulated through the venue to reduce the risk of virus transmission.
In face of the threat from infectious diseases and extreme weather, it is imperative for the authorities to prudently put environmental considerations at the forefront of its future planning, especially in the Northern Metropolis floodplain, and make good use of advanced technology to identify the best possible building solutions that can mitigate and reduce flood hazards for the well-being of our future.
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