Subsidised Sale Flats Development at Fat Tseung Street West

The development comprises a 41-storey domestic block providing 811 flats, estate management facilities, a basement car park and associated external works. The project design aims to maximise the development potential and create a sustainable, cost-effective and health living environment with a balanced solution to meet various design requirements under sitespecific and development constraints.

At its early planning stage, views collected from local consultations and public engagement workshops were adequately considered in optimising the master layout with a view to minimise disturbance to wind permeability and visual link to the neighbourhood. Site-specific block layout was adopted to address fixed plant noise source and severe traffic noise from the surroundings.

The block disposition also enables deferred closing of the existing Fat Tseung Street West Playground to minimise disruption to public services. Besides, the site abuts public road and streets on three sides while the vehicular access is segregated from the pedestrian route. Residents can access the development conveniently with the covered walkway system and enjoy a vehicle free pedestrian environment. The footbridge and lift tower adjacent to the main entrance also conveniently connect the residents to the public open spaces, retail facilities, community facilities, covered pedestrian network and transportation hubs at the Hong Kong Housing Authority’s (HA) other development at North West Kowloon Reclamation Site 6.

The project team has taken the opportunity of the different road levels to design a semi-basement car park block with its roof levelled with Sham Mong Road. This facilitates convenient connection between the entrance lobby at the upper ground level and the landscape garden, and minimises cost and time required for bulk excavation for the car park block.

MATERIALS
Cost-effective, sustainable and low-maintenance materials will be used for HA’s developments. To reduce the cost and environmental impact in the transportation of building materials, regionally manufactured building materials will be used as far as practicable.

As the site also covers the existing Fat Tseung Street West Playground, part of its existing paving slabs and fence wall will be preserved for adaptive reuse as hard landscape feature.

To conserve valuable water resources, low-flow fixtures are used for all the domestic flats. Bioretention system and zero irrigation planting system for external area are used to minimise the water use for irrigation.

In order to improve air quality, spent mushroom compost generated from mushroom cultivation is used as the air biofilter and will be placed in the semi-basement car park. These biofilter panels are strategically located at the car park entrance and the rear basement wall openings at a high level to maximise their effectiveness and ease of maintenance.

OVERCOMING CONSTRAINTS
The site is subject to traffic noises from West Kowloon Highway, Sham Mong Road and Ying Wa Street, and the fixed plant noise sources from Yuen Fat Godown and Kerry Godown along Fat Tseung Street West. To address the noise constraints, acoustic windows are used in domestic flats facing Sham Mong Road, and strategically orientated non-standard modular flats facing at Fat Tseung Street West are adopted to avoid direct line of sight to the fixed noise sources. Vertical acoustic fins are also used to combat the noise impact.

To enhance the wind environment in summer, a three-storey-high void was introduced at the Sham Mong Road entrance for better wind permeability and visual link to the surrounding areas.

BEAM PLUS NEIGHBOURHOOD
According to HA’s newsletter Housing Dimensions (17 February 2017), the Subsidised Sale Flats Development at Fat Tseung Street West is a BEAM Plus Neighbourhood pilot project that attained Platinum rating, which acknowledges HA’s exemplary achievements not only in terms of Green and sustainable design, but also efforts in building neighbourhood-friendly communities.

BEAM Plus Neighbourhood is the first tool to address specifically various sustainability issues at the early planning stage of a project. Besidessaving resources in the long run through effective planning at the early stage and demonstrating their commitment to urban sustainability, project proponents may use the tool to engage with the community and major stakeholders to create a sustainable neighbourhood with vibrant public realm, as well as promote the project through third-party verification. It was launched by theHong Kong Green Building Council at the BEAM Plus Neighbourhood V1.0 Launching Ceremony on 6 December 2016, where the Fat Tseung Street West project team was presented the Platinum certificate.

The development is scheduled to be completed in 2020 and will form part of the vibrant community after completion of other new public housing developments in Cheung Sha Wan district.

PROJECT DATA
Project Name: Subsidised Sale Flats Development at Fat Tseung Street West
Location: Fat Tseung Street West, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Status: Under construction
Expected Completion: Mid-2020
Site Area: 6,160 square metres
Gross Floor Area: 49,280 square metres
Number of Flats: 811
Building Height: 120 metres above Principal Datum (mPD)
Client/Owner: Hong Kong Housing Authority
Architect: Hong Kong Housing Authority
Main Contractor: Yau Lee Construction Company Ltd
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer: Hong Kong Housing Authority
Civil & Structural Engineer: Hong Kong Housing Authority
Images: Hong Kong Housing Authority