The World's Foremost
Resettlement Programme
Hong Kong's resettlement programme, the most ambitious the world has ever known, is now well into its second decade. But it has increased, rather than diminished, the pace of its momentum and the scale of its achievement. At the end of July 1966, 12 years after the multi-storey building programme began, 878,095 people (or 151,095 families) had been resettled, representing 23 per cent of the Colony's total population. Resettlement estates are a vital integral part of the new Hong Kong.
As the programme has advanced, so has its evolution in the field of architectural design. The original seven-storey H-block, known as Mark 1, was subsequently modified with a Mark II version.
In 1964 both types were abandoned in favour of the Mark III block, developed by architects of the Public Works Department from a new basic concept, with central corridors and private balconies in place of the common external access balconies. 1965 saw the introduction of the Mark IV, a 16-storey block with
lifts, retaining the Mark III floor plan, but replacing centralized toilets with one in each apartment. Mark V is also 16 storeys high, but with room sizes more closely related to the expected demand.