Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1968-1969 — Page 27

CHAPTER 5

RESETTLEMENT ESTATES

THE BEGINNING OF MULTI-STOREY RESETTLEMENT

55. The origins of multi-storey resettlement and the formation of the Resettlement Department early in 1954 have been outlined in the first chapter. Fifteen years later, at the end of March 1969, most of the 1,098,080 people living in accommodation administered by the Resettlement Department are housed in multi-storey estates. These are mainly in urban Kowloon, but there are also estates at Chai Wan and Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island, and at Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung and Yuen Long in the New Territories.

56. As a first stage in rehousing the victims of the Shek Kip Mei fire of Christmas 1953, the Public Works Department erected on the site of the fire two and three-storey temporary buildings known as 'Bowring Bungalows', after the then Director of Public Works. These were soon replaced by six-storey blocks, also designed by the Public Works Department and built under its supervision; eight of these blocks were completed and occupied before the end of 1954. The design of these six-storey blocks was simple and austere, for two reasons: the overwhelming need for speed in construction; and the need to ensure that rents would be low enough to be afforded by the squatters to be rehoused. The basic design was H-shaped in plan, with sixty-four rooms on the long arms of the H on each floor, and water standpipes, communal flush latrines and a communal open space for washing clothes in the cross-piece. Access to rooms was by balconies running round the four sides of each wing on each floor, the buildings being entered by four staircases, one at each corner. A number of modifications were made to the design of the blocks as more experience was gained of the needs of the tenants: the number of storeys was increased from six to seven and the flat roofs were strengthened and fenced in to add to the recreational space; communal bathrooms were provided on the scale of one to about 35 domestic rooms; and a number of ground floor rooms were converted into shops or workshops to allow squatters who had shops or workshops before being resettled to continue in business.

57. Since the first blocks were built at Shek Kip Mei, 115 resettle- ment blocks have been built to the initial 'H' type design and an

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