Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1966-1967 — Page 34

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THE DESIGN OF THE BUILDINGS

71. The design of the first six-storey blocks was simple, not to say spartan, in conception for two reasons. One was the overwhelming need for speed in construction: but it was also essential to ensure that rents would bear a reasonable relation to the earnings of the tenants. The basic design was H-shaped in plan, with sixty-four rooms on the long arms of the H on cach floor, and two water standpipes, six communal flush latrines and a communal open space for washing clothes on the cross-piece. Access to rooms was by balconies running round the four sides of each wing on every floor, the buildings being entered by four staircases, one at each corner. After these buildings were completed and occupied, they were subjected to careful scrutiny in order to determine what improvements in design should be made in the light of experience. Subsequent buildings were of seven storeys instead of six, and had flat roofs strengthened and fenced so that they might add to the recreational space. Another improvement was the provision of communal bathrooms on the scale of one to about 35 domestic rooms. A further modification was the conversion of a number of ground floor rooms into shops or workshops measuring 120 or 240 square feet in which those squatters who had shops or workshops before being resettled could continue in business. Some of the later blocks built from 1961 onwards also have shop spaces of 155 and 310 square feet.

72. Since the first six storey blocks were built at Shek Kip Mei, the Public Works Department has constructed 115 resettlement blocks to the initial 'H' type design and an additional 31 'I' shaped blocks designed to make use of small sites. These are all known as Mark I blocks. A modification introduced in 1961 altered the external appear- ance of the design very considerably, especially when viewed from the ends, whilst not appreciably affecting the layout or number of the internal rooms. The ends of the arms of these 'H' blocks were connected by a hollow block concrete screen, and additional rooms of a new and enlarged size, each with its individual balcony, were provided. Ninety- four of these Mark II blocks were built between 1961 and 1964, and Appendix 10 shows a layout plan of one of them.

73. One striking feature of the resettlement programme has been the speed with which blocks have been planned and constructed. By the end of 1954, the Architectural Office of the Public Works Department had produced standard drawings which made it possible to prepare working drawings and specifications for a building contract at very short notice.

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