No_5_1955 — Page 64

the

electric

provision of brackets for

The population is thought to have risen It had never in the past been the policy installation and positioning of again to about 21 millions during 1952. of the Government to build houses for lighting, The policy described in the previous anybody except its employees, and this clothes lines and other minor matters. paragraph was applied and developed, latter recommendation of the sub-commit- provision being made for squatter shops, required very serious consideration. factories and workshops to be replaced by committee's conclusions were: resettlement shops, factories etc.

to

During 1953 the population is believed have remained stable at about 24 millions. The resettlement policy describ- ed above continued to be applied and the population of resettlement areas continued to grow.

The main obstacle to rapid large-scale clearance and resettlement operations by the methods so far described was the cust of the cottages, which was over $1,000.00 in "approved" areas and several hundred dollars in 'tolerated" areas. Few squat- ters were destitute but most were poor, and whilst some could afford to take ad- vantage of the forms of resettlement of- fered to them, very many could not.

ter

The

1.

2.

1.

5.

6.

It has already been emphasized that this emergency sub-standard accommodation was built to meet a serious emergency. But

That the routine of huge fires each the buildings are necessarily of permanent year was quite unacceptable,

That considerations of health and pubiic order demanded rapid and ef fective action,

That it was ridiculous for the econo- mic and social progress of the Colony to be strangled through a land short- age

which could be to a great ex- tent relieved if illegal structures could only be removed from large tracts of valuable land,

That the squatter areas were a very serious blot on the Colony's prestige.

That the problem should now be faced and dealt with even if it meant very heavy capital expenditure, That resettlement accommodation constructed by Government ought to let at a rental related not only to the capacity of the settlers to pay but also to the cost of construction.

construction and those responsible for their design had from the start been con- scious that the building on a large scale of permanent sub-standard cubicle accom- modation would in the long run be likely to prove an embarrassment rather than an To meet this asset to the community. point the buildings were so designed that they could be converted at a later date into orthodox self-contained flats. Each flat would be of about 250 square feet,

a small including

private balcony, an could probably be let for about $40 a month. There was no way of foresceing the social and economic developments which would in the future determine how soon and to what extent such conversion could be carried out; but it was consider- ed that this potentiality would ensure that the buildings would always be an asset to the Colony.

In mid-December, 1953. under 9,000 units of accommodation existed in reset tlement areas. Of these about 4.400 were "approved" type domestic units and about 1.350 were

units. **tolerated" domestic

By the end of the year the Architectur- The remainder consisted of about 140 re- It was also recommended that there al Office of the Public Works Depart- settlement shops and about 40 resettlement should be an administrative reorganization ment had produced standard drawings factories and workshops. About 45.000 designed to bring under one unified control which made it possible to put together people had to some extent been brought all functions related to the prevention of working drawings and specifications for a within the scope of resettlement adminis- squatting and to the clearance and re- building contract at very short notice. The tration, and it was estimated that per- settlement of squatters. These functions buildings need not be of the same size haps 250.000 squatters remained to be re- had previously been divided between three but may be varied in size to suit any par settled. This was the position when over departments.

ticular site. Larger buildings require six 50,000 persons lost their homes in a single night in the great Shek Kip Mei fire of

As a result of these conclusions Govern- staircases instead of four and two cross- The largest build- 25th December, 1953. The resulting situr ment had authorized the carrying out at pieces instead of one, tion constituted a crisis of the first or- Shek Kip Mei of an experiment in multi-ing constructed during the period under review is situated at Li Cheng Uk near der. The Government at once put In storey resettlement. In the light of the

the north end of Tonkin Street. Sham- hand, on the site of the fire, the construe. results of that experiment it was to be

shuipo. tion of temporary emergency

It is a seven-storey building and decided whether large scale multi-storey two-storey

contains eight hundred and forty TOOMS. accommodation on a large scale. At the construction should be authorized. Dur-

Once the piling had been completed this same time the Urban Council appoined an ing the last three months of 1954. the Emergency Sub-Committee on Resettle eight six-storey buildings at Shek Kip Mei building was finished in about eight weeks. This was the most striking example of the ment; its terms of reference included the were completed and occupied. and the elaboration of the emergency measures al construction of eight more buildings, each way in which Hong Kong's outstandingly efficient building industry enabled the realy agreed on for the rehousing of the of seven storeys,

work of resettlement to move ahead quick- fire victims, and the sub-committer

Iv: but the building of the Tai Hang Tung also invited to put forward proposals for

Estate was also extremely rapid. The site the solution of the overall squatter pro-

of this estate was covered with squatter structures until 22nd July, 1954 when they were all destroyed by fire. Plans for the permanent development of this area with eight seven-storey blocks were being

blem.

Formulation of Policy

was

The committee's conclusions were:

was authorized on the site of the Tai Hang Tung fire.

all

the

4.000

When the eight prototype buildings at Shek Kip Mei had been completed and oc- cupied they were subjected to very care ful scrutiny, in order to determine what improvements in design should be made in the light of experience. Surprisingly First, that the most immediate problem few suggested themselves. It was decid- prepared even before the clearance of de was the fire risk presented by the 1 ed that future buildings could reasonably bris had been completed. A piling con- maining large squatter areas, and they be of seven storeys instead of six and tract was let on 29th September, 1954 and proposed that fire lanes should be clear should have flat roofs strengthened and on 31st October. 1954. before ed, by whatever means might prove most fenced so that they might add to the re-

piling had been done, a building contract rapid and effective, in all such areas. creational space. Another quite important was jet. The construction of the eight Second, that the squatter problem could improvement was to be the provision of seven-storey blocks. comprising not be solved unless squatters could be communal bathing rooms on the scale of rooms, was completed on 6th March, 1955. rehoused in areas substantially smaller about one to every thirty five domestic than those which they occupied in squat rooms. These bathing rooms would have ter conditions; in order to achieve this no water laid on but would consist simply such was the density of population

in of seven

partitioned stalls where settlers squatter areas resettlement must take could take a bath by the bucket and place in buildings of six or seven storeys, scoop method. A further modification was a possibility which had already been dis- the conversion of a number of ground cussed in the Public Works Department. Aloor TOOMS into shops measuring 240 It was furthermore clear that the construc- square feet in which those who had kept tion of the permanent multi-storey build- substantial shops could continue in busi The basic design of the multi-storey ings now thought to be necessary could ness provided they were able and willing Resettlement building was a six-storey be undertaken only at the direct expense to pay a realistic rent of $100 a month. block, H-shaped in plan. The long arms of the taxpayer.

Other improvements related chiefly to the of the H consist on each floor of sixty

By the end of the financial year seven- teen permanent buildings of six or seven storeys, containing in all 8,518 rooms had been completed and plans for the con- struction of an seven-storey buildings, containing "12,008 additional twenty five

rooms, were well advanced.

The Design of Buildings

62