Arup has been awarded first place at Sustainable Slope Excellence Award for our design and construction of natural terrain hazard mitigation and soil bioengineering works for a hillside catchment in Upper Keung Shan in West Lantau, Hong Kong.
Organised by the Civil Engineering and Development Department of the HKSAR Government, the award recognises excellence in sustainable engineering and landscape design for man-made slopes and natural hillsides.
The project was to provide landslide hazard mitigation and rehabilitate 4,500m² of shotcrete covered landslide scars – a typical urgent treatment to repair natural terrain landslide. To restore the shotcrete covered area, we pioneered the use of soil bioengineering approaches, a self-sustaining, natural and aesthetically unobtrusive method of catchment management. This approach was a first in Hong Kong, with embedded site-specific ecological surveys to determine suitable species that would promote further long-term natural colonisation. To intercept landslide debris at the catchment toe and prevent further landslide impact on facilities, we also introduced a flexible debris-resisting barrier that was carefully placed to minimise vegetation clearance.
Our works helped enhance the stability of the hillside, control surface run-off for strengthened protection against surface erosion, and reduce the risk of future landslide occurrence overall.
Other innovative sustainability features included the reuse of excavated shotcrete materials on-site to avoid generating construction and demolition material, as well as the solar-powered irrigation system to water the plants throughout the establishment phase.