Mount One

Mount One is an island site surrounded by three roads and one lane in the old town centre of Fanling. This residential development occupies a site area of approximately 2,560 square metres, with a gross floor area of around 12,900 square metres. The building consists of 22 residential storeys and four storeys of car park. It offers a total of 144 residential units—with sizes varying from around 33 to 214 square metres—plus 68 parking spaces. The 106-metre tall building overlooks the Fanling and Sheung Shui cityscape, and is expected to become the new landmark of the district.

There is a three-storey annex building with a curvy façade housing recreational facilities, which is linked to the main building through a bridge, forming a gate-like entry between the buildings and the bridge. There is an open plaza between the main building and the annex building, allowing residents and visitors to walk through before entering the main lobby.

An existing Champion tree is maintained at the centre of the open plaza to reflect the distinctive past of the site and to raise public awareness on sustainable development. It reinforces a sense of entrance, while creating a focal point for the development. This 15-metre tall Champion tree and its 18-metre crown area was hatched as a non-building area in a lease condition, which occupied approximately 14 percent of the site area. This created design constraints and required careful site planning during the construction stage to ensure the good health of the mature tree.

The idea of preserving the mature tree was carried from outdoors to indoors, with the interior design concept featuring the mature tree, nature and universe. The glowing glass wall installed at the main lobby presents the silhouette of the mature tree. Elements of nature were integrated in the interior space through a modern interpretation, including the 3.3-metre high starry glass chandelier at the main lobby, amber glass butterfly wall decorations, lotus leaf glass pendants, metallic tree trunks, metallic petals decorations, etc. The ceiling designs in the party room on the third floor also applied this concept by using patterns that resemble the growth ring of the tree and lotus leaf shaped pendant, to create a distinct and attractive space for residents to enjoy.

A precast façade system was used to produce higher-quality concrete and tiling finish. The use of precast façade brought a better quality concrete and tiling finish, saving manpower on-site and reducing waste. There were 10 types of precast units out of a total of 200 pieces. During the early design stage, the team worked closely to fine-tune the layout and minimised the types of modules for cost savings, simplifying the logistics and installation sequence. Sixty of the precast units were longer than 6 metres and weighed 6.8 tonnes, which required early design of location and type of tower crane.

A unitised curtain wall system—which has better water tightness, craftsmanship and quality control than a stick curtain wall system—was installed due to a drastic rise in on-site labour costs. The increase in construction costs also forced the project team to survey and opt for other materials to meet the budget. For example, aluminium trimming and reflective glazed ceramic tiles were adopted instead of the previously designed spandrel glass and stone at the podium façade facing Luen Hing Street, which achieved a lower budget while maintaining the stylish outer appearance of the development.

Natural cross ventilation is achieved in the podium car park area by incorporating a low-level parapet wall at the perimeter to save on mechanical and electrical engineering capital and operating cost, while promoting low carbon emissions. Compared to a traditional enclosed car park design which requires mechanical ventilation, the natural cross ventilation car park design will help to save approximately HKD10,000 electricity cost per month.

LED lighting was installed at all lobbies to promote energy savings and reduce long-term operational costs. Dimmers and light zoning controls are provided at all public areas for flexible lighting control based on various times of the day and occasions.

A telescopic type building maintenance unit (BMU) is provided at the rooftop and ample parking space was designated at the podium flat roof for the BMU, in order to ensure efficient and safe operation. The type and positioning of BMU was carefully designed to eliminate any unreached area, which facilitated the long-term maintenance of the building.

Across the lane is a one-storey red pitched roof St. Joseph’s Church Chapel built in the 1950s, which was listed as a Grade 3 Historic Building by the Antiquities and Monuments Office in 2011. The project took the local setting into account, and the construction and site planning were given extra monitoring to avoid adverse effects on this monument.