Press Release

HKHS’s First MiC Project “Chung Yuet Lau” Completed
Promoting Ageing in Place and Optimising the Use of Housing Resources

The Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) held a completion ceremony for its brand new elderly housing project “Chung Yuet Lau” at Jat Min Chuen in Sha Tin recently.  Among the officiating guests were the Secretary for Housing of HKSAR Government Winnie Ho, HKHS Chairman Walter Chan and Chief Executive Officer James Chan, and District Officer (Sha Tin) Frederick Yu.  The project marks HKHS’s first venture into Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) and is the first elderly housing project built with steel MiC in Hong Kong.  The ceremony was also joined by guests including HKHS members to celebrate the completion of this iconic project.

Officiating at the ceremony, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho said, “The Housing Society has always been flexible and innovative in playing the pioneering role of a ‘housing laboratory’.  ‘Chung Yuet Lau’ was developed with the residual plot ratio of Jat Min Chuen, a housing estate with over 40 years of history, aiming to encourage the elderly under-occupation (UO) households to make a transfer to the new flats.  The UO units surrendered will then be reallocated to other families in need.  Such an initiative is indeed an exemplar of optimising the use of housing resources.”

HKHS Chairman Walter Chan said, “‘Chung Yuet Lau’ has three notable features.   In addition to optimising the use of housing resources, age-friendly designs are adopted for all the units with the provision of various facilities such as low door curbs, handrails and more, achieving the Housing Society’s objective to promote ageing in place.  Lifetime full rent and rates exemption will be offered to eligible ‘Chung Yuet Lau’ residents as an incentive of transfer.  ‘Chung Yuet Lau’ is the first elderly housing project in Hong Kong built with steel MiC, an environmentally-friendly and time-saving construction method.  The installation of all MiC modules for the eight residential floors of the project was completed in just five months.”

While traditional reinforced concrete construction method was applied for the ground and the first floors of the 10-storey “Chung Yuet Lau”, the eight residential floors from the second to the ninth were built with steel MiC modules.  All the 64 age-friendly and barrier-free units, with eight units on each floor, are equipped with double door viewers, low door curbs, bathroom with sliding doors, user-friendly faucets, low-height kitchen cabinets with rounded corner, toilet and bathroom handrails, non-slip shower chairs, and more.  The corridor on each floor is specially designed with thematic colour for easy identification of different flats and with curved wall corners to avoid collision.  The lounge located on the ground level will be used for organising intergenerational activities for “Chung Yuet Lau” and other Jat Min Chuen residents.

“Chung Yuet Lau” had received a total of 100 eligible applications earlier on.  After a computer ballot drawing, flat selection was arranged and completed according to the ballot results and all the units have been selected.  The first batch of residents is expected to move in in the second quarter of this year.

A highlight video showing the development process of “Chung Yuet Lau” is available for downloading here.