York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part Four) – Paul Y. and Dao Kwei Kee Paul Y. Construction, named after its founder Paul Y. Tso, was probably the most successful Shanghainese builder and Chinese-owned construction firm in post-war Hong Kong. Under the management of Paul and his son George, the firm completed many major infrastructure projects in HK and […]
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York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part Three) – Voh Kee, Chang Sung and Dah Cheng Voh Kee, Chang Sung and Dah Cheng were three Shanghainese builders which set up shop in Hong Kong between 1945 and 1949 and remained active in the local construction scene during the 1950s. All three firms have since faded away from the HK construction […]
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York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part Two) – Hsin Chong and Hsin Heng In 1928, two aspiring builders from Ningbo – Godfrey Yeh and Johan Zee – co-founded Hsin Heng Construction in Shanghai and quickly made a name in the industry with projects such as the famous Chien-tang River bridge in Hangzhou. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese […]
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Tymon Mellor: Within the first 15 minutes of the opening of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel on the 3rd August, 1972 over 700 vehicles had driven through the tunnel, signalling the future success of the project and allowing the tunnel to become part of the Hong Kong DNA. But from the outset, construction of this new icon had many hurdles to overcome […]
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Preece, Cardew and Rider were the consulting engineers for a proposed extension of Hok Un power station, Hung Hom in the 1930s. “In 1934 a committee consisting of directors and senior staff was formed to deal with the extensions proposed. It met regularly for the next several years and made many important decisions based quite often on the advice of […]
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Ian Wolfe: The second photo shows construction of the basement of the Old Bank of China in progress with a Scotch [also known as a stiff-leg] derrick as the only means of rigging heavy steel sections, which was required for the excavation and lateral suppport (ESL) work when this was getting deeper. Scotch derricks were common in the old days […]
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Eilzabeth Ride has sent this undated booklet produced by the HK Government Information Services Publication titled “High Island”. It contains official statistics about: the dams involved the reservoir itself tunnels and shafts intakes and catchwaters pumping stations pumping mains Shatin treatment works trunk mains permanent roads built HK Public Works Dept Directors Principal Contractors involved This article was first posted […]
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IDJ has sent a series of articles about early managers at Taikoo Dockyard. This first article predates the appointment of the first manager Philip Forster Nicholson in 1907: Adapted from the source below: Early in 1902 before the company was ready to commence operations it was decided to engage a leading Civil Engineer from England to take charge of the construction work, […]
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The Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography has an article about José Pedro Braga b.3rd August 1871, Hong Kong; d.12th February 1944, Macau written by Gavin Ure. “José Pedro Braga’s father, Vicente Emilio Braga left Hong Kong to work in Japan shortly after José Pedro’s birth but never returned. José Pedro Braga was brought up in a household of his maternal grandfather, Delfino Noronha, the […]
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HF: The 1909 Directory & Chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China…etc, lists AE Griffin as a “Temporary Civil Engineering and Constructional Staff member at the Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Comapny of Hongkong Ltd.” Griffin is the first listed of 26 such staff and therefore was probably the most senior. Indeed the paragraph before the concluding one in the following paper […]
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