Kwun Tong Garden Estate
In 1960, the Housing Authority established ten low-cost housing estates, including the Kwun Tong Garden Estate. Garden estate is the first estate of Government Low-cost Estate Scheme built in Kwun Tong.Lotus Tower is the reconstructed part of Kwun Tong Garden Estate. The garden's exterior wall has a striking red and white pattern. It was redeveloped in 1990, formerly known as the seven buildings named after flowers, and after redevelopment it was named Lotus Tower.The other five blocks (phrase ll) are planned to be reconstructed in 2025. They are the first of public housing estate completed in the 1960s, in different names of birds. Yin Chee Lau, Wah Mei Lau, Hay Cheuk Lau, Pak Ling Lau, and Hung Cheuk Lau. The reconstruction plan will be carried out in two phases, the first phase will be to demolish the Yin Chee Lau and Hay Cheuk Lau to allow residents to move into the Ting On Street resettlement.
Tsui Ping Estate
Tsui Ping Estate is a Hong Kong public housing as know as chicken coop (雞寮) and Kwun Tong New Territory. Before building the Tsui Ping Estate, there was a Kung Tong resettlement area which was built in 1959. In 1973 Hong Kong housing authority renamed it to Kung Tong estate. In 1972, because of a landslide near Kung Tong estate, a lot of log cabins were destroyed, so the Hong Kong government decided to rebuild the estate and rename it to Tsui Ping estate. The estate finished in 1982 to 1994. The estate is called Tsui Ping because it is built in Tsui Ping road, Kowloon. This estate was built with nineteen buildings and included a wet market, shopping mall, parking, school, entertainment center and playground. In 1995, devolved to south Tsui Ping est and north Tsui Ping est. in this tour we will focus on north estate first because we want to talk about a scheme called tenants purchase scheme which is held by Hong Kong housing authority.As a place where public housing is the mainstay, Kwun Tong District has nurtured a unique grassroots and ground-based Kowloon housing village culture. However, with the relocation of residents and redevelopment, the appearance of Kwun Tong's public housing will change. In order to preserve this cultural taste, the Kwun Tong District Development and Reconstruction Task Force of the Kwun Tong District Council decided to use the title "History of Public Housing Development in Kwun Tong District" to invite scholars to analyze and record the development history of Kwun Tong public housing in different years. Learn and incorporate past experience to improve urban planning.A very strong sense of place and a love for land have been derived. When the residents of the old chicken coop moved into their new houses after reconstruction, even if they were resettled in the original site (that is, they are currently living in Tsui Ping Estate), they still have more or less nostalgia for the old chicken coop. Myanmar.This scheme was held in 1991 for supplying house purchasing needs to people who are renting public housing. Let the tenant buy the house at a cheap price and be the owner. HKHA also has a special deduction for the price of land in that scheme.Of course, as we talk about this estate, North Tsui Ping estate was also included in the tenants purchase scheme in 2002. North Tsui Ping Est has 12 buildings, but does not sell all the buildings. It just sells 11 buildings and Tsui Mei House because of Alderney flat so not for sale. This estate has an alternative building design, one is called H block, the others call linear 1, linear 3, new linear, old linear and Y2.Another important scheme that can relate and reflect government housing policy was the Ten-Year Housing Plan in 1998. It is the plan suggested by Sir Murry Mclehose. It is the huge plan to build many more public houses in Hong Kong. Aim to 1973 to 1982 provide comfortable and have daily necessities housing to 1.8 million Hong Kong citizens. The reason why is that in the mid to late 1960s, Hong Kong was exploring a large social unrest. The Hong Kong government thinks less of a good living enviroment is the reason that causes social unrest, so they would like to improve the living enviroment via the Ten-Year Housing Plan.In fact, we watched a video which is the resident a Tsui Ping Estate resident. In the video, the woman reminisces about a past memory in Tsui Ping Estate. She reminds us that Tsui Ping Estate before the rebuild is called chicken coop, leak of public transportation.She also reminds us of the H shape structure. The middle of the building was public facilities, like public washrooms which are not complete just like temporary facilities. It is built with concrete and does not have the hot water to use, so it is difficult to bathe in winter. They need to take the hot water far away. Some memories she think is interesting like when it is time to have dinner, mothers will shout at their children to come back home and have dinner.They think it is lucky to live in Tsui Ping Estate because at that time there was a leak in the public house. because they are excited to get in, they will also go to see the house before the house builded. They are very happy to live in this estate. She thinks Tsui Ping Estate is like a haven to let her take a rest there. They would not be willing to move away. They feel happy to live in there.The reason why is that in the mid to late 1960s, Hong Kong was exploring a large social unrest.
On Tai Estate
Lastly, come to the last checkpoint ─ On Tai Estate, which represents the modern public housing development.Anderson Road Quarry was a major resource for the construction industry in Hong Kong since the 1950s. (Hong Kong Green Building Council Limited, n.d.) Then, in 1996, the government formulated the "1996 Territory-wide Development Strategy Review", in which the Anderson Road development project was selected as one of the backup housing sites to meet the housing demand in the early 21st century (Planning, Environment and Lands Branch Hong Kong Government, 1996) Finally, the Anderson Road Quarry site will cease operations in mid-2016 (Legislative Council, 2013)On Tai Estate was built under the project of Development at Anderson Road. The project started in 2008 and the leveling works were completed in stages from 2011 to 2013 and handed over to the Housing Department in stages for the construction of public housing units. (Hong Kong Green Building Council Limited, n.d.) Later, in order to respond to the public's demand for public housing, the 2014 Policy Address mentioned the construction of On Tai Estate. Finally, On Tai Estate was completed and occupied in 2017 and is a relatively recently completed public housing estate in Kwun Tong. Special about On Tai EstateThere are different artworks and exhibitions in the estate so that people can learn about the history of the former quarryprovided more than 30% of greenery including vertical greenery, at-grade planting, green roof, etc. to expand urban greenery.Zero irrigation system to reuse rainwater to irrigate gardens; install solar photovoltaic power generation system in each residential building (Hong Kong Housing Authority and Housing Department, 2021)On Tai Estate is more modern than the other two estates. In addition to being a newly completed estate, a lot of greening and environmental protection elements have been added to the planning. It can be seen that the future development of public housing in Hong Kong will also tend in this direction.
