Thursday, August 16, 1973
RECORD NUMBER OF NEW BUILDING PLANS APPROVED
A total of 163 new building plans was approved by the Buildings Ordinance Office in June this year the highest for any single month in the past 10 years.
More than half of the new plans were for residential or for combined apartment/commercial buildings, and included a 27-storey apartment block in King's Road and a 27-storey apartment/commercial building in Quoon's Road West.
The new plans were among some 1,400 submissions and re-submissions
dealt with by the office during the month. A spokesman explained that
the high number of new building plans approved was the result of a new and faster checking system adopted in May this year to clear the backlog of building plans brought about by the June 1972 rainstorms, the lack of staff and the rapid growth in the building industry.
One of the aims of the new system is to clear the backlog of 1,923 plans outstanding on May 1, 1973. By the end of June, all but about 40 of such plans were processed.
While the new processing method is not as rigorous as the old, "strict attention is paid to the safety standards of proposed new buildings," the spokesman said.
The safety aspects of new buildings, are of paramount importance and no corners are being cut for the sake of speed, "he stressed.
In addition