Works of Red Market completed for stall vendors to relocate back to the market by end of May

The reorganisation works of the Red Market have taken place for around two years. After months of continuous work to catch up with the schedule, the construction was pushed forward as planned despite the pandemic, weather and other factors. All works have now been completed and the project has entered the acceptance and facility testing stages. The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) has been in constant contact with the stall vendors of the Red Market to finish the preliminary work of the relocation, such as drawing lots for allocation of stalls and holding briefings. IAM will arrange on-site inspections for the stall vendors in the next few days, plan to arrange for their orderly relocation back to the market at the end of May, and strive to reopen the Red Market in early June.

Currently, 127 stalls from the original Red Market will be relocated back to the market, including 12 vegetable stalls, 76 fish and seafood stalls, 17 pork stalls, 2 beef stalls, 8 chilled product stalls, 7 grocery stalls, 4 tofu and bean sprout stalls, and 1 frozen meat stall. IAM has earlier completed drawing lots for allocation of stalls for the above-mentioned vendors and holding briefings about the relocation. In the next few days, the stall vendors will be arranged to have on-site inspections and measurements for them to plan the layout of the stalls and prepare for the relocation as soon as possible.

The reorganisation works of the Red Market started in May 2022. Under the premise of balancing conservation and optimisation of the market, the reorganisation works have rebuilt some structural columns and floor slabs to increase the durability and load-bearing capacity of the building. At the same time, all walls and floor tiles have been replaced; the ceilings have been renovated; the drainage network has been rebuilt; the entrances, exits and passages have been optimised; and the spatial layout and hardware and software of the stalls have been improved. Newly added facilities include air-conditioners, barrier-free lifts, goods unloading platforms, optimised lighting systems, more public toilet space, male and female toilets to a reasonable ratio etc., to provide the public with a more comfortable shopping environment in the market.

The major difficulty in reorganising the Red Market was to keep its exterior walls and upper structure while carrying out works to install large temporary steel support structure in the internal space, improve the ground foundations and rebuild the interior infrastructure and structure. Due to space limitation, the environment for carrying out the works was also restricted and large machinery could not be used. The works had to be done area by area, with attention paid to the connections between each area. At the same time, during each stage of construction, close attention had to be paid to whether the existing condition of the retained structure changed. Only when the monitoring data showed normal conditions could the next process be carried out. An inspection system was also installed to complement the construction and observe the changes in the building for maximum protection. In addition, the pandemic and bad weather also affected the progress of the works to some degree.

During the construction period, IAM increased the frequency of having technical meetings with each party and simplified the process to promptly solve various technical problems that occurred in the works and to coordinate construction arrangements. It also urged the contractors to increase manpower input and work overtime to catch up with the schedule for the construction works of each phase to be completed according to the construction arrangements in an orderly manner.