On 30th June 1997, the British Governor handed over Hong Kong to the peoples Republic of China in the newly opened extension of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The new building, with its sculptured roof frames in steel, dominates the Victoria Harbour view. Cleveland Bridge won the contract to supply and erect 16,500 tonnes of complex structural steelwork within a two year site period. DLT were responsible for erection engineering and heavy lifting equipment supply and operation for the 8,000 tonne main roof and 5,500 tonne atrium link structure as well as connection design and fabrication drawings for all steelwork.

The roof steelwork was fabricated and assembled into complete bays in a yard in the Philippines and transported to site by ship. The roof sections, each weighing up to 460- tonnes, were then lifted to full height and skidded along concrete support walls into final position.

 

The atrium link structure was assembled using a stiff leg derrick supported on a temporary skid track. Due to access restrictions the derrick had first to build its own skid track out from one side and then progressively erect the link structure from the far end and remove its skid track as it retreated.