150
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
Colonial Development and Welfare Funds. The buildings are being planned on cross-contour development, and at its highest point the site is 285 ft. above street level. 640 flats will be constructed here, in 5 blocks, averaging 9 storeys in height, and designed to accommodate about 4,500 persons. There will also be a 3-storey community centre, 10 ware- houses and a number of shops; provision has been made for playgrounds and open spaces within the development. The flats on this estate are generally of a simpler type than at North Point but are likewise self-contained, and provided with shower, balcony, kitchen and lavatory. The type of plan adopted is the gallery approach system, with blocks only one flat deep this ensures that all flats are airy and well- ventilated. An interesting feature of the arrangements is that with very little structural alteration two adjoining single-room flats can be converted into a flat with a living-room and 2 bedrooms, should this prove practicable at some future date. Lifts and refuse chutes will be installed. Rents are likely to vary from about $65 to about $90 a month, exclusive of rates and water charges. Building construction is scheduled to start in February 1957, and the flats should be completed about 12 months later. The total cost of this scheme, which is designed by Mr. T.S.C. Feltham, A.R.I.B.A., is estimated at $7,500,000.
The Authority's third project will be at So Uk, Cheung Sha Wan. This will probably be the largest domestic housing development ever carried out as an integrated scheme in the Far East. Site formation, which has been planned to a master lay-out plan produced by Mr. Eric Cumine, is expected to commence in February 1957 and will take just over a year to complete. The major part of the cost of site formation work will be met from Colonial Development and Welfare Funds. At the end of the year four private architects were appointed to design the estate, working as a consortium under the chairmanship of Mr. Cumine. Standards and details of the