A ceremony to celebrate Gammon Construction (“Gammon”) commencing installation of modular integrated construction (MiC) units at City University of Hong Kong’s student hostel in Ma On Shan was held on site today.

The entire student hostel consists of six buildings ranging from 13 to 18 storeys, and will provide over 2,000 residential units. It will be the world’s largest student hostel, in terms of bed places, to be constructed using MiC.

By adopting an MiC approach, reengineering the foundation design, and overlapping foundation and superstructure works, it is expected that the construction programme will be reduced.

With MiC, a total of 1,344 prefabricated components will be manufactured off site, which will reduce noise and waste at the site by 75% and 68% respectively. In addition, the application of low carbon concrete and rebar and replacement of site diesel generators with grid power will reduce the project’s carbon footprint significantly. A mist-spreading system has been installed at the site to prevent airborne dust affecting nearby residents.

Gammon Executive Director Mr Gilbert Tsang said, “MiC not only helps to overcome some of the construction industry’s current challenges such as tight schedules, shrinking manpower and increasing environmental requirements, it also provides better protection for workers, improves site safety and reduces the risk of working at height and in adverse weather by taking the prefabrication of components off the site.

Construction began in early 2022 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023.