My new office is in the International Commerce Center (ICC) in West Kowloon.
The ICC is a 484m high skyscraper which is the tallest building in Hong Kong and currently the 5th tallest in the world. It has 108 real floors, but because unlucky floor numbers like 13 and 14 are missed out the tallest floor is officially 120.
My company's offices are about half-way up, and the views are pretty impressive on a clear day. The building is built on reclaimed land as part of the union Square development, almost directly above 'Kowloon' MTR (subway) station, which is one stop from Hong Kong station on Hong Kong Island and 20 min from the airport.
This is the view from our coffee-shop on my floor looking north-west across the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter to Stonecutters Island. You can just see the towers of Stonecutters Bridge which is the worlds 2nd longest cable-stayed bridge and carries the Route 8 expressway towards the airport.
Looking north across the typhoon shelter to the apartment buildings at 'Olympic', one stop on the MTR on from Kowloon, and where some of my colleagues live.
Looking west at sunset
My colleagues in our main meeting room.
My desk is near the window on the north side overlooking Kowloon. It also overlooks the rooftop swimming pool of the 'W Hotel' next door.
View looking north-east across Kowloon towards Lion Rock. Kowloon is home to 2million people with a population density of 43,000 per km2, one of the more densely populated cities.
Video panorama: from our coffee shop. looking south-west to the east tip of Hong Kong island,then west across Victoria Harbour to Lantau Island in the distance then north-west to Stonecutters Island and finally north to Olympic.
Video panorama: from our main lobby, looking south-east overTsim Sha Tsui (TST), then the Ocean Ferry Terminal, then south over Victoria Harbour to the IFC building in Central Hong Kong with 'The Peak' in the background.
Video panorama: the same view as above at night. The shot finishes looking down to where the West Kowloon highway enters the Western harbour crossing tunnel. This is a dual tunnel 2km under the harbour with 3 lanes in each direction. It was built over 1993-7 by Japan's Nishimatsu Construction in 12 sections each 35,000 tons which were sunk into position then joined-up, pumped out and covered over ('cut and cover' method).
Looking south from our lobby at night towards the IFC in Central.
Another view looking south across Victoria Harbour. The IFC with ferry terminals in front of it on the shoreline, and Victoria Peak to the right.
Victoria Peak, with Sheung Wan in the foreground and Sai Wan, Kennedy Town and Green island to the right.
The blue building in the foreground is the ventilation for the West Harbour Tunnel. There is a similar building on the opposite side , with a black-looking rectangular building behind it. Just to the right of that building is a skinny building which is Chi Residences, where we lived in Feb.
The same view in video:
On the top '120th' floor of the ICC is a bar called 'Ozone' which is apparently the highest bar in the world (or more accurately the bar highest above street-level).
The extra 200m makes the views truly spectacular - more like being in a light aircraft than being in a building. This is the view south-east across Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), and the star ferry terminal.
Of course the air isn't always clear. This is the view from my desk on a few hazy days.
