Hung Hom station remains safe despite defective platform steel bars, engineering expert says
- Chartered civil engineer Nick Southward tells inquiry that structural safety not threatened, but HKU professor says otherwise
Hong Kong’s Hung Hom station remains safe despite investigators finding 40 per cent of steel bar connections on new platforms defective, an engineering expert told an inquiry into a construction scandal on Wednesday.
But another expert countered that view by insisting the structural integrity of the building had been called into question.
Chartered civil engineer Nick Southward, executive director of Tony Gee and Partners, offered an upbeat assessment for the commission of inquiry into shoddy building work that has plagued the HK$97.1 billion (US$12.4 billion) Sha Tin-Central Link, Hong Kong’s most costly rail project to date.
Leighton Contractors (Asia), the main engineering firm on the job, is embroiled in allegations that reinforcement bars were cut short to fake proper installation into couplers on platforms, and that supporting diaphragm walls were changed without authorisation.
“I can cut to the chase and advise that in my opinion the structure is safe,” Southward said.