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Safe, Environment-friendly, and Much More Formalizing a Campus Slope Policy
Dr. George Hung pointed out that the main criteria governing the formulation of the policy were X first and foremost X safety, timeliness and prevention rather than remedy. It has always been our practice to meet government requirements in slope safety works but maintain a much higher standard for landscape and environmental issues. We simply cannot afford to have anyone involved in a slope accident, stressed Dr. Hung. The Universitys proactive stance towards slope safety has been necessitated by need X there are buildings, roads and other community facilities in close proximity to slopes. In Hong Kong, when prima facie evidence is established that a private slope is liable to become dangerous, a statutory Dangerous Hillside (DH) order will be served by the Buildings Department to the owners of the slope upon the recommendation of the GEO. The order will require the owners of the slope to carry out investigation and the necessary upgrading works to the slope. Shortly after its establishment, the committee was dogged by a very pertinent question: Should we just follow DH orders as they are issued one by one? But when slopes not covered by DH orders started to show ominous signs of slippage after a few downpours, it was clear that the University had to be proactive. The EMO found minor landslides and rocks falling from slopes that had not been stabilized, causing damage to roads, pavements, and drainage systems; they have also handled claims for cars damaged. The CDO actively took up the slope engineering inspections and minor rectification works, with money from the University Grants Councils Alterations, Additions, Repairs and Improvements (AA&I) vote. For slopes that are considered by professional consultants as requiring stabilization, funding is sought from the Government Public Works Sub-committee's capital works vote via the UGC. Safety from Bottom up
The huge landslide in Kwun Lung Lau, Kennedy Town in the mid-1990s, was caused by the twin effects of leaking underground drains and heavy rain. This disaster led to a major review of underground water-carrying pipes on slope safety in Hong Kong. Wasting no time, CDO, in partnership with EMO, brought in consultants and contractors to survey all major underground drains on slopes using CCTV while EMO carried out visual inspections of manholes, covered channels, and so on; broken or blocked drains were fixed and, where necessary, slopes were rectified. Since 1996, a total of HK$467 million has been approved by the government for slope stabilization, and investigation and repair of buried water-carrying services at the University. Dr. Hung remarked, The committee was very efficient and effective. If we needed a dollar, we applied for a dollar. We never dipped into the recurrent grant. The capital works budget is separate from the University's operating budget. Campus GreeningThe government only requires our slopes to be stable but we have chosen to go beyond that, said Dr. Hung. The University also requires its slopes to be beautiful. With much needed mechanisms in place to ensure safety, after the initial phase of stabilization of landslide slopes, the committee then turned its attention to the preservation of existing trees, slope greening and landscaping, as well as associated minor improvements to adjoining facilities such as shortcut steps, pavement widening and disabled access. In doing so, the committee is coupling campus improvement with cost-savings X a side benefit of making the campus more pedestrian-friendly and driver-friendly. Highways engineers and landscape specialists were called in to give advice, and research was conducted on different grass covers jointly with the Department of Biology, the Department of Geography and Resource Management, as well as Kadoorie Farm and the CDO. The University enjoys the benefit of having monitored the same batch of slopes for years and therefore has a thorough understanding of their greening effects and maintenance needs. The CDO pointed out that the Universitys work in this respect has served as reference material, especially in terms of greening effectiveness, biodiversity and preservation, for many government departments and engineering consultants who have paid site visits to CUHK. Safety was clearly the only consideration of the consultant. He hadnt thought about the consequences his proposal would entail X an already narrow road would have to be closed partially to traffic, the noise would affect the library, classrooms and administrative offices nearby. There was no doubt that GEO would approve of his proposal as it was perfectly in line with safety requirements, but we didnt approve of it because of the disruption it would have caused to the campus community and the visual impact of the dowel anchor heads on the slope, explained Dr. Hung. The project will be carried out only during summer vacation to minimize disturbance, and it is scheduled for completion in 2008. Incidentally, the slope faces the Forum (f), the garden built to commemorate the architect who designed the University, Mr. Szeto Wai. Mr. Szeto would certainly have smiled approvingly of the committees persistence in this and many other projects all these years in creating harmony in safety, economy in beauty, and sustainability in progress.
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Hong Kong, with its high population density, torrential rainfall, and dynamic natural terrain, has had its fair share of landslides. Today the number of landslide-related fatalities is low, compared to 30 years ago, but there are still around 300 landslide reports every year on average. The hilly Chinese University campus has a large number of slopes approximately 500* over an area of 134 hectares, including 300 man-made slopes registered in the governments Slopes Catalogue, and 200 natural slopes. Although there have been no landslide-associated deaths or casualties to date, the University remains vigilant against potential landslide risks in the interest of a burgeoning campus community. At CUHK, slope safety policy is the responsibility of the Standing Committee on Campus Geotechnical Matters, while execution and maintenance fall into the hands of the Campus Development Office (CDO) and the Estates Management Office (EMO) respectively.
The committee was set up in 1998 at the initiation of the then vice-chancellor Prof. Arthur Li after a landslide near the old railway tracks following the infamous downpour of 1997. The committee comprised the chairman Dr. George Hung Hon-cheung, inventor, engineer and then chairman of the Chung Chi College Board of Trustees and member of the University Council; Mr. Vincent Chen, then director of the Campus Development Office (CDO); Mr. David Lim, current director of CDO; Ir. Francis Wong, geotechnical engineer of CDO; the chief geotechnical engineer from the government's Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO); and a geotechnical consultant from industry. Subsequently the GEO representative retired from the committee after the engineering aspects of policy were in place and two landscape architects from the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects and the Highways Department were invited to join.
The committee was soon confronted with another problem, that of drainage. Leakage from underground water-carrying pipes can have a major impact on slope erosion and stability.
Two years ago, the rock slope along Central Avenue facing the Mall on main campus was studied and found to be in need of stabilization measures. The consultant engineer proposed the use of over 6,000* rock dowel bars to reinforce the slope. After discussions within the committee and with the Campus Planning and Building Committee, the committee acquired a second opinion from a geotechnical expert who redesigned the stabilization method by reducing rock dowel to over 300* bars coupled with localized trimming and buttresses, before the hammer was dropped.
