HACTL Superterminal

The Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal (HACTL) Superterminal at Hong Kong International Airport is the largest and most technologically advanced single cargo terminal in the world. Designed to reinforce Hong Kongs status as a major centre for international commerce and communications in South-East Asia, it consists of two buildings: the Express Centre, a two-storey express cargo and courier facility, and the Cargo Terminal, a seven-storey cargo-handling facility. Together, these two buildings have the capacity to handle an astonishing 2.5 million tonnes of cargo annually - more than two-and-a-half times the capacity of the nearest rival at Heathrow Airport.

The Express Centre provides express cargo and courier operators with their own sorting facilities and can process 200,000 tonnes of cargo a year. Specialist facilities allow the Centre to handle anything from livestock to precious items, including diamonds, cash and gold bullion. The Cargo Terminal is a building on a vast scale. Like the Chek Lap Kok airport terminal, its vital statistics are record-breaking: 200 metres wide by 290 metres long, it has two container storage racking systems, each 250 metres long and 45 metres high, and two bulk storage racking systems - the largest fully automated, combined racking system ever built. The container racking lines the perimeter of the building, visible from the runway through fully glazed walls, while the bulk storage racking systems are located in a concrete enclosure at the heart of the building, where cargo can be stored for up to two months. Accommodation at each end of the building includes HACTL and airline offices, and a customer service hall.

While the building sets new standards in terms of capacity and performance, it also breaks new ground socially, providing an unprecedented level of amenities for staff members and their families. In that sense, it continues a drive on the part of the practice to incorporate amenities in the workplace that began with the Willis Faber & Dumas building in the 1970s. In addition to a restaurant capable of serving 600 people at one sitting, HACTL employees have access to a swimming pool, a sports centre with squash, badminton and tennis courts, and they can relax on the largest roof garden in the world. Taken together, these amenities give the building an extraordinary social focus.

Client: Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal Ltd
Consultants: Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd, Levett & Bailey, Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd