which is about 31 acres in extent, are extremely steep, the highest point being about 285 feet above street level. The difference in levels has entailed extensive cutting and site formation, and the buildings have been planned on cross-contour development in order to make the best use of the site this means that successive storeys extend towards the rising ground, and stop at their respective floor levels upon meeting the slope.
The estate will contain 636 flats, in five blocks averaging 10 storeys in height, and designed to accommodate a total population of about 4,000. Also included is a 3-storey welfare centre/estate office, and a number of godowns (warehouses) which will be rented. In view of the steepness of the site it has been difficult to provide much recreational space, but there will be one or two small children's playgrounds, and there are play areas on the floors where there are no lift openings, in the space otherwise taken up by lift lobbies.
PROGRESS SO FAR
Proposals for development of the site were approved in principle by Government in August 1955, and at the same time a loan of $7m from the Development Fund, to be amortized over forty years at 31% per annum, was authorized to finance the project. The site, which was almost virgin hillside, was cleared of about 900 squatters by the Resettlement Department in April 1956, without difficulty (it was, incidentally, the first occasion on which squatters had been transferred from one side of the harbour to the other--they were re-housed at Li Cheng Uk, in Kowloon).
The P.W.D. started work almost simultaneously on construction of the approach road to the site, leading from Victoria Road. The road, which is 20 ft. wide, with a 5 ft. footpath, has a tarmacadam 4′′-mix base course, with a bituminous wearing surface, and will cost about $200.000 (to be paid by the Authority). Work went very well, and within three months there was almost uninterrupted vehicular access to the top of the site, and the road had been entirely completed by the end of 1956, with the exception of the wearing coat, which it is not intended to apply until site formation is finished.
Plans for development of the site were approved by the P.W.D. in April 1956, and soon afterwards tenders were invited for the site formation contract. When received, tenders were found to be higher than anticipated owing to the long distance spoil had to be hauled (to Aberdeen-it was originally envisaged it could be dumped on the
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