pattern (known as Mark III) which in appearance is very similar to the buildings of the Government Low-Cost Housing programme adminis- tered by the Housing Authority. These Mark III blocks have eight storeys and were quickly followed by the 16-storey Mark IV, of which the first was completed in April 1965 at Tung Tau Estate.
77. By the end of the financial year 1966-67, 141 Mark III blocks had been built-the first at Kwai Chung in the New Territories, and others at Chai Wan and Tin Wan on Hong Kong Island, and Yau Tong, Sau Mau Ping and Tsz Wan Shan in north-east Kowloon. Structurally, the fundamental difference in the new design is that access to the rooms is by a central corridor on each floor and not from a communal verandah round the outside. Each room has a small private balcony, and other improvements include the provision of private lavatories which are shared between two or three families (each has a key and a direct interest in keeping the facility clean) rather than the former communal latrines and bathrooms. There are also refuse chutes at the end of each corridor, and whereas previously tenants had to arrange privately with contractors to fit power and light points in their rooms, these are now installed by Government in the course of construction. The Mark IV blocks, having sixteen storeys, are also equipped with lifts which serve alternate floors, and were further improved at an early stage by the provision of an individual water tap and private lavatory on the balcony of each room. These innovations have brought the standard of accom- modation for the new tenants very close to that afforded to the residents of Government low-cost housing estates, the main differences being in the width of the rooms and the quality of the finish. By the end of the financial year, 41 Mark IV blocks had been built, and a typical plan may be seen at Appendix 11.
78. Some of the more recent estates contain both Mark III and Mark IV accommodation, but no more of the former are planned as the Mark IV itself is in turn about to be superseded by a Mark V. This is a modification of the Mark IV with a greater variety in the sizes of rooms, and with the proportions of rooms of different size matching more closely those of actual family sizes which have been found in practice among the people resettled. Mark V blocks are at present under con- struction both at Ngau Tau Kok and in Sau Mau Ping estate, and the first at Ngau Tau Kok is expected to be ready for occupation in July 1967. A point of interest is the growing speed with which each new design becomes obsolescent. The 146 Mark I blocks were completed during a period of 86 months from October 1954 to November 1961;
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