Co-organised by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) and HOPE worldwide (Hong Kong), “Volunteer for Seniors Day 2014” was held on 19 January. Officiating at the kick-off ceremony, the HA Chairman Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung showed his support to the volunteers and sent his regards to the elderly tenants of public housing.

This year, a record-breaking 2 800 volunteers visited over 1 200 elderly households in 60 public housing estates. The volunteers gave fortune bags for the Chinese New Year to the elderly tenants and disseminated to them the messages of home safety and fall prevention. They also helped to clean and refurbish the homes of those in need.

Professor Cheung said the HA is concerned about the rising trend of ageing population in public housing estates. “Ageing in place” is one of the guiding principles of the HA when formulating housing policies and designing public housing. The elderly or families living with the elderly are given priority in flat allocation. Universal design with barrier-free access has since been adopted in the newly built public housing estates some years ago. The new phase of lift installation was launched in 2013 to facilitate easy access of the elderly.

Marking its 18^th occasion in 2014, Volunteer for Seniors Day has mobilised over 39 800 volunteers and served more than 12 200 single elderly residents in public housing estates over the past years.

Jointly organised by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA), the Antiquities and Monuments Office and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the “Growing up with Public Housing” Exhibition held since September 2013 has been well received by the public. It will be held until 2 March.

The exhibition commemorates the 60th anniversary of public housing development in Hong Kong. It is divided into five zones, namely “Milestones in public housing development”, “Transformation of public housing design”, “Evolution of public housing estate management”, “New town development – urbanisation and public housing planning”, and “Memories of public housing”. Historic photos, videos, artefacts and models are displayed.

The exhibition is held at the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, Kowloon Park, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, until 2 March. Opening hours are from 10 am to 6 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays; closed on Thursdays; and from 10 am to 7 pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Do take the last chance to visit the exhibition. Admission is free.

We introduced some recently completed public rental housing (PRH) estates in one of the January issues of Housing Dimensions. In this issue, we invite you on a visit to another three, namely Cheung Sha Wan Estate, Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate and Kai Ching Estate.

Cheung Sha Wan Estate

Located in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, Cheung Sha Wan Estate is close to the MTR Cheung Sha Wan Station. It has two domestic blocks with around 1 390 flats in total, and one ancillary facilities block.

The estate is provided with a rest garden, recreational facilities, parking spaces and shops. In the ancillary facilities block, there would be a day activity centre, a hostel for severely mentally handicapped persons, a district support centre for persons with disabilities, a supported hostel and a residential care home for the elderly, providing various kinds of social services.

Two magnificent old trees in the estate were transplanted from the ex-Cheung Sha Wan Police Quarters. A solar-powered outdoor lighting has been installed to help boost residents’ awareness of environmental protection. The lighting system for the indoor public staircase area has motion-sensors installed to save energy.

Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate

Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate has five domestic blocks with around 4 000 flats in total.

The estate incorporates a host of environmentally friendly features to strengthen environmental awareness among residents. One example is the rooftop rainwater harvesting system, which collects rainwater for irrigation and thus reduces the use of tap water. In addition, the roofs of the parking spaces and the pedestrian bridge have been planted with different species of plants to create a green environment. The public area inside the domestic blocks of Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate adopts a two-level lighting system, while solar-powered public lighting has been installed outdoors.

The central square inside the estate has been built with an adjacent convenience store and a restaurant, which provide daily necessities for residents. Recreational facilities such as a children’s playground and a basketball court are also available. Access to transportation and other facilities from Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate is also convenient with the pedestrian bridge connecting the estate with the MTR Kowloon Bay Station, Upper Ngau Tau Kok Estate and the wet market in the municipal services building. A bus terminus is nearby, offering travel links for residents to all parts of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories.

Kai Ching Estate

Kai Ching Estate is located in the new Kai Tak development area which has six domestic blocks with about 5 200 flats and a shopping centre.

The estate is equipped with a wide variety of facilities for residents. These include a children’s playground, basketball court, badminton court, table-tennis tables, fitness equipment for the elderly, a sitting-out area and carpark. In terms of community services for residents, there are a kindergarten, an integrated children and youth services centre, as well as a neighbourhood centre for the elderly. The carpark provides 188 parking spaces and about 30% of private car parking spaces are equipped with electric vehicle charging facilities. The nearby Ching Long Shopping Centre, with an internal floor area of about 5 000 square metres, provides a wide variety of shops, restaurants and a wet market.

There are many innovative energy saving systems in the estate. The cooling water for air-conditioning at the shopping centre, estate management office and the kindergarten premises is supplied from the district cooling system of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department. Photovoltaic panels are installed on the upper roof of domestic blocks, supplying clean power to building facilities. Rainwater harvesting system and root zone irrigation system are combined in operation to irrigate some of the plants in the estate for saving fresh water.