What can we do with city's oldest public housing flats? You decide
A contest is being held to decide what to do with Mei Ho House, the oldest building in the city's first public housing estate.
People are invited to send their ideas for the building, in the Shek Kip Mei estate, to the Institute of Architects between August 18 and 31.
Mei Ho House, or Block 41, is a grade-one historic building. It is among the housing blocks built in 1954 and 1955 after a fire swept through the district's squatter area on Christmas Day in 1953, leaving more than 50,000 people homeless.
The government built a two-storey bungalow to house victims and then built several seven-storey public housing blocks, the first official involvement in providing housing for the poor.
The earliest estates had no toilets, showers or kitchens in the flats.
In the 1990s, the Housing Department said it would demolish the estate but preserve Mei Ho House.
'We hope the competition will deepen people's understanding of cultural conservation and harmonious development,' said Billy Tam, head of the institute's competition committee.
The Institute of Architects, the Institution of Engineers, the Institute of Planners and the Institute of Surveyors are jointly organising the contest.
Mei Ho House will be open to the public from tomorrow until July 29, with exhibits showing the life of its residents in the old days.
Also, some lawmakers visited the endangered historic Nga Tsin Wai Village yesterday. They urged instant action to preserve the city's last walled village in an urban area.
Surrounded by high-rise flats, the 800-year-old village in Wong Tai Sin is under threat of demolition. In a disputed project, the Urban Renewal Authority plans to redevelop the area.
Developer Cheung Kong (Holdings) now owns 80 per cent of the property. Despite an activists' campaign, only a clan hall, a temple and an ancient arch will be preserved.
Legislator Chan Yuen-han urged authorities to help poor villagers relocate before better conservation measures were enforced.
'They are now living in dire conditions. The new government should make it a priority to move them to a better place,' Ms Chan said.
