news review
Residential site - HK$122.6 per sq. ft.
A price of HK$7.1 million, more than double the upset price, was paid for a residential lot in Tin Hau Temple Road, Hong Kong, at a government auction last month. The 57,900 sq. ft. site was bought by Tai Ling Investment Co. Ltd. at a cost equivalent to HK$122.63 per sq. ft.
A spokesman for the company said that it was planned to build two 20-storey blocks on the site. These would contain 320 luxury apartments which would be ready for occupation in early 1973.
One flat per floor in Singapore block
Construction began recently on a site at the junction of Holland Road and Belmont Road, Singa- pore, where an unusual block of luxury apartments is to be erected for Unique Homes Pte. Ltd. at a cost of about $$2 million.
Maxima, Holland Road, Singapore
Architect, Timothy Seow of Seow, Lee, Heah & Partners, has combined the convenience of flat- living with the privacy of house-living by stacking the dwellings one per floor in a 14-storey block. Each flat has its own lobby and foyer.
The bottom two levels of the development, known as Maxima, will be for communal use and feature a swimming pool, landscaped garden, bar- becue terrace, playgrounds and covered car park. The two top floors will be a penthouse with roof garden.
Shanghai plaster will be used as the external finish on the building, which is design for slip-form construction. Air-conditioning will be from a cen- tral packaged unit to avoid unsightly window units. Cost of the dwellings, due for completion at the end of next year, will be between S$200,000 and S$300,000.
Second power station planned at Tsing Yi
The Tsing Yi Island power station which will have a capacity of 720,000 kW by 1973 is to be supplemented by a B station with an 800,000 kW capacity.
Cost of the B station, including plant and civil works, will be about HK$500 million. It will be completed in 1977 and will comprise four units of 200,000 kW.
Civil works and construction, to start this year, will be carried out by Universal Construction Co. Ltd. under the general supervision of the construc- tion engineer of China Light & Power Co., Mr. George Gavriloff. Consultant Services Ltd. will be responsible for the civil engineering design and services.
The building to house the turbines will be one of the largest in Hong Kong with an estimated in- side dimension of 16 million cu. ft. Orders for the first two generating sets have been placed with British manufacturers, International Combustion Holdings Ltd. for boilers, and English Electric- Associated Electrical Industries for generators.
Urban planning in Hong Kong ‘lacking'
In an address to the American Institute of Architects' seminar held recently in Hong Kong, Professor W. G. Gregory, Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong, described the colony's efforts at urban planning as 'lessons in how not to do things'.
He said that planning, particularly environ- mental planning, was not practised. There was a lack of overall planning policy, or regional policy, that led to ad hoc decision making. While solving immediate problems, this created others for the future. In this type of atmosphere urban design was stunted.
Of the Government's pilot project for urban renewal in Western District, the professor said: 'Here is a golden opportunity for environmental planning, but it is feared that the policy will be to
Far East BUILDER, October 1970