Project Management: Group

Assignment 1
Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA)

PROJECT CHARTER
PROJECT NAME: Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA)
Date: 10/11/2015
INITIATION

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA)

Airport Project Director: Douglas Oakervee

SYNOPSIS

PURPOSE/ BUSINESS
NEED:

SCOPE &
ACCEPTENCE

The city of Hong Kong had evolved and grown around the
tiny Kai Tak Airport placed in the centre of the small Island
nation. Since its inception in 1925, the city had evolved
and become a free trade centre with a growing commerce
and trade. By mid 1990s the number of flights and sizes of
buildings had become so large that there was a risk of
aircrafts crashing into a skyscraper. The small airport with
its limited size and resources was now unable to manage
the incoming traffic which was serious concern for the
trade economy. The need of the hour is to build an airport
large enough to accommodate the busy air-traffic and also
accommodate the expected growth in forthcoming years.
The new airport is to be built out in sea on reclaimed land
with superfast rail and road connectivity with the mainland.
The airport and the transportation infrastructure must be
built in a manner so as to withstand the lashing typhoons
that are common in this area. The political constraint is
that China (Communist) will take over Hong Kong (Free
economy) in 7 years so the airport needs to be functional
before that to avoid political interference. The maritime
traffic needs to be taken into consideration while taking up
this project, there should not any interference or
obstruction.
A growing economy like Honk Kong which is one of the
wealthiest cities in the world where trade and cargo
shipments are a major economic contributor requires the
infrastructure to handle large airplanes to sustain the
growth. The smaller airport Kai Tak was unable to handle
this load with minimal scope of expansion. The reclaimed
land on which the proposed airport is to be built requires
supreme road and rail connectivity to help Honk Kong
sustain transport and receive goods, in an effort to sustain
economic superiority. Kai Tak had become one of the
worlds busiest airports by 1990s, it had already far
exceeded it cargo and passenger capacities. The lack of a
second runway at Kai Tak caused delays in 1 out of 3
flights. In addition 3, 40,000 people were getting affected
of severe noise pollution, this was restricting night time
flights.
Land Reclamation project
The site chosen for development of the airport was
primarily a mountainous region with 200 million tons of
rocks required to be removed and filled into the sea bed to
create an artificial island that would form the base for the

largest Airport project in the world.

Construction of tunnels
The airport was constructed outside the city at sea, so to
connecting the airport to the main city required a 1 mile
long through the sea. This tunnel needs 6 lanes, also
incorporating a high speed rail system. The construction
requires pre-cast steel structures weighing 35000 tons
each which would be laid at a depth of 50ft under water
and sealed by a watertight mechanism.

Bridge Construction for Hong Kong Airport

The second junction between the tunnel and the airport
mainland, the depth of the sea makes it impossible to
create an underwater tunnel. The construction of the
worlds longest double Decker suspension bridge is
required. The Bridge will consist of 2 towers rising to a
height of 60 story buildings each. The suspension bridge
requires a double Decker structure to give it strength and
stability against the lashing typhoons. This requires 1000
tons pre-fabricated structures hauled up from sea onto the
bridge. The cable required for holding the bridge need to
be built on site, each cable being 3ft in diameter weighing
15000 tons each.

North Lantau Expressway

The 8 mile road would connect the traffic from the bridge
to the new Airport. The terrain over which this high speed
expressway needs to be built is rocky along the shoreline.
Additional shoreline extension needs to be made by half a
mile to accommodate this road. This requires around 25
million tons of rock to be dumped into the ocean.

Construction of High speed rail

The Airport will need to cater to the 2 million plus people

who use the rail system on a daily basis, for which they will
create an artificial island at Victoria bay of 50 acres close to
mainland Hong Kong. The rail system will use the same
infrastructure as road and will allow check-in for
passengers and cargo when completed.

Foundation of the airport and other projects

The airport is to be built on a manmade island which needs
to be nailed to the sea bed for stability using concrete
piers, each pier weighing 25 tons. The terminal designed
would be the largest enclosed space structure in the world.
The construction would have a repeating lattice of steel
trusses which could be easily duplicated for all the 136
units required.

APPROACH

The approach used for the development project:

1) The sea floor will be cleared by the use of
underwater dredgers at the construction site of the
new airport.
2) The construction engineers will connect the two
small islands into one level Island by first pulverizing
the nearby mountains and adding a layer of sand to
fill the sea bed.
3) The civil engineering team will construct pre
fabricated steel sections for the 6 lane underground
highway at a harbor side quarry.
4) The builders will carry the steel segments and
submerge them releasing the watertight seal after
connection 50ft below the water.
5) The design engineers will do computer models to
check the effect of any high speed winds on the
suspension bridge across the 1 mile length.
6) The construction team will level the building site and
create two 60 storey towers on which the suspension
bridge would rest.
7) Double tier pre fabricated bridge decks would have
to be transported by sea and raised up by a large
crane onto the suspended bridge and connections
made.
8) The shoreline along the North Lantau highway would
be extended by half a mile to accommodate the
construction.
9) The airport express, a high speed rail line will be
created. The central station by creating 50 acres of
land at Victoria harbor.
10)
Concrete piers will be used by the
construction team to nail the manmade island
securely to the ocean bed.
11)
Builders will setup an assembly line to setup
136 identical lattice structures for the terminal.
12)
The workers will construct the airports air
cargo terminal.
13)
Closing of the old terminal and transporting all
the goods via the roads to the new Airport will be
done in 7hrs.
14)
A pre test will be run for all systems and the
first flight will be catered.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
AND DELIVERABLES

Land Reclamation project

Phase 1: leveling the Islands by blasting mountains
Phase 2: Clearing the sea bed using dredgers
Phase 3: Filling the sea bed with sand and rock debris
Construction of tunnels
Phase 1: Fabrication of tunnel segments
Phase 2: transporting the tunnel sections into the harbor by
floating them
Phase 3: Assembling the segments below the water and
creating water
tight connections.

Bridge Construction for Hong Kong Airport

Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase

1:
2:
3:
4:

Testing and design models of the bridge

Building towers for the bridges
Building suspension cables onsite the bridge
transport & Installation of the bridge decks

The Expressways
Phase 1: The construction of Quay Chung expressway
connecting the mainland and the tunnel.
Phase 2: Clearing of land and extension of the shoreline for
the North Lantau Highway
Phase 3: Road construction along the Lantau Highway
Construction of High speed rail
Phase 1: Reclaiming 50 acres of land from sea at Victoria
harbor
Phase 2: Building the lines along the expressway, tunnels
and bridges
Phase 3: Design and fabrication of the trains
Phase 4: Building the central station at the mainland

Foundation of the airport and other projects

Phase
Phase
Phase
Phase

1:
2:
3:
4:

The reclaimed airport nailed to the bedrock

The Construction of the two Runways
Construction of the terminal structures
Assembly of the terminal

Transportation of manpower and infrastructure

from the old to the new Airport

Phase 1: Transport of physical infrastructure
Phase 2: Transport of personnel
Phase 3: Setup of automated systems at the new airport
Phase 4: Test run to check all the systems
Phase 5: Facilitating the landing and takeoff of passenger &
freight planes

ASSUMPTIONS,
CONSTRAINTS, RISKS

Funding: The 20Bn USD project was funded by the

Hong Kong government, before the Chinese
takeover.
Political Scenario: The Chinese takeover was in 7
years and the project which would generally have
taken 10-20 years had to be rushed in order to
completion before the takeover as the Communist
Chinese government might not allow such an
ambitious project to continue.
Limited Land: Hong Kong being a small nation had
limited land in the city, not large enough to construct
the size of airport it needed. The land needs to be
reclaimed 16 miles out the mainland by combining
two small islands by filling the gap between them
through reclaimed land. The Airport also needs to
have supreme connectivity with the city, so
underground tunnels and suspension bridges need to
be built to facilitate it.
Environmental Concern: The airport project is
being built at an area common for grade 10
Typhoons with wind speeds ranging up to 200
miles/hr. The Suspension bridge which is out at sea
needs to be able to withstand such winds. The
Airport terminal itself is built off the coast and is at
risk of damage pertaining to such typhoons. The
structures need to be robust enough to survive with
minimal damage.

RESOURCES

Damage to reclaimed land: The reclaimed land

over time has the tendency to get cut and wash
away into the sea. Nailing the structure to the sea
bed is one way to prevent such erosion.
Continuation of Trade: There should be a smooth
flow of trade and shipments while the construction
as well as the transference from the old airport to
the new one.

Project Resources:
Human Resources:
1 Project Director: Planning, coalition and coordination
among various sub projects.

5 Project directors one each for the sub projects(The HKIA

site, Highspeed rail system, Highways, The Tsing ma bridge
project & Underground tunnel connectivity project)
15 chief engineers, 3 for each sub project
30 -40 members team of engineers for each project,
depending upon the requirement.
Support staff and construction workers
Material and service resources:
Equipment: Digging barrage, Cranes, Land movers, Trucks,
Land fillers, Suspension systems, Large sea transport
vessels
Industrial Resources:
Water supply, Steel and iron, Concrete, road construction
material, quarry.
Financial Resources
Labor: $7 Billion
Equipment buying/renting: $5 Billion
Material and service resources: $6 Billion
Additional Expenses/Cautionary fund: $2 Billion

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

PROJECT TEAM

All the change requests should be submitted to the Project

managers of the respective modules in accordance to the
change required. These changes will be assessed by the
Project managers, Leads and the team of engineers before
final approval from the Project manager. In case the change
is approved the project schedule, scope and budget will be
updated in accordance. The communication will be done
through the assigned communication channel and
hierarchy. The Project manager or the project team will
communicate the approved change and updated schedule
to the resources responsible for implementing the changes.
PROJECT TEAM ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Douglas Oakervee: Airport Project Director Preparing and
creating the plans for overall implementation of the project.
Coordinating with all the project managers in separate
modules to adhere to budget and timelines.
Alistair Thomas: Airport Construction manager Managing
all the processes and timelines related to the offshore
airport project.
Andrew Beard: Tsing Ma Bridge Engineer Designing and
implementation of the bridge.
Kevin Dixon: Project Director North Lantau Highway
Managing all the resources and adhering to the budget and
timelines of the Highway as well as overall project.
Russell Black: Project Director Airport Express railway
system Designing the railway system in conjunction to
the airport, managing the budget and timelines for building
the central terminal.

APPROVAL(S)

Project Manager:
Date:
Sponsor:
Date: