towers would have a shear wall core design. The cruciform shape would provide more external wall area per flat without adding to the wall area for the building.
He said that internal light wells and long dismal corridors had been eliminated by having the flats radiat- ing from the central core which houses the lifts (four in each block), a refuse chute and fire stairs.
A refuse disposal chamber adjoins the small lift lobby at each floor level. It is separately ventilated by a me- chanical system and gives access to a 24in. diameter chute which carries refuse to the basement level for col- lection.
It is planned to make the external walls of the blocks as maintenance- free as possible. Mosaic tiles will be used on balconies and below sill levels, and research is now being con- ducted on permanent materials suit- able for finishing the larger wall
areas.
Middle Income Group
The Laichikok estate is designed to appeal to Hong Kong's middle in- come group. Flats in the first stage will vary in size from one-bedroom to four-bedroom. All are of the European type.
Prospective buyers will be able to obtain mortgage money from Mei Foo Investments, Ltd.. the terms be- ing ten per cent on signing the con- tract, another ten per cent. paid dur- ing the 18 months construction period, and the balance paid over the following one to 12 years.
The expected size of the families living in the estate will range from four to 12 persons. The family in- come will probably range from HK$900 to $2,500 per month, the number of income earners in each family being from one to four.
The flats will sell at between $21,000 and $80,000 for a minimum number large apartments.
Sir David Trench, Governor of
Hong Kong. speaking at a founda- tion stone laying ceremony оп November 17, said that there were two aspects of the development which he particularly welcomed.
System of Management
First. it represented a switch in thought among developers from over-concentration on high-priced accommodation for the few only, to the construction of a type of dwelling more within the reach of the ordin- ary Hong Kong family.
"The Government,'
" he said, "has already directly or indirectly. provid- ed the funds with which to house some one million people or roughly a quarter of our population. We have said on several occasions that public funds obviously cannot be provided to house everybody, and we have welcomed and continue to welcome the very great part that private de- velopers have played in the provision of housing.
"The need now is for private de- velopers to enter the medium and low-cost housing field to a greater ex-
tent than they have perhaps done in the past.
"The second feature of this pro- ject which I greatly welcome," he con- tinued. "lies in the fact that the com- pany have also entered into an agree- ment whereby they have undertaken to provide a relatively complete sys- tem of management of the estate. whether the housing units are sold or leased. This undertaking is binding not only on the company but on any successor in title to the company.
"We all know only too well the dif- ficulties, both practical and legal, of providing for an efficient system of management in large buildings whose ownership is sub-divided; just as we are all only too well aware of the ex- treme ill-effects that can result from the lack of efficient management and control."
It was, he said, most gratifying to know that these difficulties would be forestalled and that, as in the case of the Hong Kong Land Investment scheme at Taikoo, arrangements would be made to provide the best protection so far devised for pros- pective tenants or purchasers of flats.
First stage with proposed Kowloon/Tsuen Wan motorway in foreground
33-0"
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Far East Architect & Builder December, 1966
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4 B
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40 €
40 B
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101 0
22-0
8
14 8
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THE
48-0
Typical floor plan
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8. A
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