on the scale of one to about 35 domestic rooms; and a number of ground floor rooms were converted into shops or workshops to allow squatters who had shops or workshops before being resettled to continue in business.
68. Since the first blocks were built at Shek Kip Mei, the Public Works Department has constructed 115 resettlement blocks to the initial 'H' type design and an additional 31 'I' shaped blocks designed to make use of small sites. These are all known as Mark I blocks. A major modi- fication introduced in 1961 altered the external appearance of the design very considerably, whilst not appreciably affecting the layout or number of the internal rooms. The ends of the arms of these 'H' blocks were connected by a hollow block concrete screen, and additional rooms of a new and enlarged size, each with its individual balcony, were provided. Ninety-four of these Mark II blocks were built between 1961 and 1964; Appendix 11 shows a typical layout plan.
69. Each wing of the Marks I and II blocks is divided structurally into a series of bays, 10 feet wide and about 25 feet deep. Originally these bays were sub-divided by partitions down the centre line, producing rooms of approximately 120 square feet (12 feet 6 inches x 9 feet 6 inches) which is still the standard size of room in the Marks I and II estates. Ventilation is afforded by a door and by a large window which open on to the communal balcony, and also by openings in the common partitions at the back of each room, Government decided in 1954 that these rooms should accommodate five adults (two children under 10 counting as one adult), at a density of 24 square feet for each adult. It was not an easy decision to accept such a high density; but bearing in mind the very large number of people who had to be resettled, the heavy public ex- penditure involved, the need to keep rents to a minimum, and the high densities in existing private domestic accommodation-not to speak of the squatter huts which were being replaced--it was necessary and justi- fiable in the context of emergency housing.
70. By adjusting the positioning of the partitions in these blocks, the sizes of the rooms could be altered to meet the needs of those being resettled. For example, a full-bay could be turned into one larger room of 152 square feet and a smaller one of 86 square feet, while the standard basic room of 120 square feet could be partitioned or sub-divided to make smaller rooms for childless couples or for two or three individuals who were willing to live together. The result is that there are now in the old
25
Page 30Page 31