81. In September 1958, with the appointment of a Housing Architect, and subsequently a small architectural staff, the Authority formed the nucleus of a section to undertake some of its planning and building work as well as general co-ordination of contracts and work in hand, and for liaison with the private architects employed by the Authority.
82. From that time until the start of the period covered by this report, the Architectural Section, as part of its routine duties, has carried out research and investigation into the technical aspects of low-cost housing in Hong Kong and elsewhere, examined type designs, costs and use of materials, compiled data and statistics, advised on tender pro- cedure, set up a technical library and trade catalogue reference and assisted with the preparation of papers, estimates and reports for the Authority and its Committees. A long term building programme was drawn up which, although not adopted in its entirety, is being imple- mented piecemeal.
83. The scheme originally drawn up for Blocks A, B, C and D at the So Uk Estate, which provided for 11-person flats, was abandoned in 1959 and modified sketch plans were prepared for smaller units to house about 9,520 persons in these four blocks. During the same period, a site at Ma Tau Chung (Ma Tau Wai Estate) was surveyed, and the Authority decided that the estate would be designed by its own archi- tectural staff. Mr. Leslie OUYANG, B.Sc., A.M.I.Str.E., was appointed as structural engineer for this scheme. The project was fully described in the Annual Report for 1959-60.
84. The year covered by this report has been one of consolidation, where previously approved schemes have been carried on—as in the various sections of So Uk-or have been started as at Choi Hung and Ma Tau Wai, This has involved the Architectural Section in liaison with contractors, service and public utility agencies, P.W.D. sub-departments and the various private architectural firms concerned. Within the Authority there have been some serious and complex deliberations on the financing of future projects, the relative merits of self-contained and communal accommodation, building costs and economics, and planning and programming generally. For the Architectural Section this has meant much research into building costs, the economics of planning, the com- piling of data and other statistics.
85. During the period under review, progress on the various schemes in hand has been as follows:
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