Villagers blame cracks in historic house on piling, but developer and experts deny it
Twenty villagers in Sheung Shui have demanded a developer halt construction work near their homes and repair a historic building which they say was damaged by piling work on the building site.
They protested yesterday outside the construction site in Kwu Tung South village, where Sun Hung Kai Properties is extending its Europa Garden estate. The villagers claim piling caused cracks in the walls of the grade-three listed Manor House.
The company denies the piling caused the cracks and two reports commissioned from independent consulting engineers by one of the protesters support its contention.
Nevertheless, Tsang Kar-sun, who commissioned the reports and who is a co-owner of the mansion, said: 'I am ready to die for this.' On Monday he threatened to commit suicide unless the developer repaired the house.
He claims cracks appeared in staircases, columns and walls throughout the Manor House after piling began in November 2006.
'Water is flowing through the roof, and I don't even know what to do when it rains,' he said.
Built between 1936 and 1941, the fortified house was owned by Tsang Sin-kin, a Nationalist general and a staff officer of Chiang Kai-shek.
Although Sun Hung Kai agreed to repair the house after piling ended in January, Mr Tsang says he has yet to receive confirmation it would repair the house despite meeting company representatives six times.
Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency said surveys which it had carried out before and after the works at Europa Garden showed the piling did not damage houses in Kwu Tung South.
Consultants Arup have twice reported to Mr Tsang that piling is unlikely to have caused the cracks in the Manor House.
Buildings Department staff had inspected the Manor House several times since it received a complaint in October, a spokeswoman said. They found only hairline cracks, she said.
The building work would not have caused vibration or affected the structure of nearby buildings, she said. The Manor House is 30 metres from the building site.
Sun Hung Kai has said it will help more than 10 villagers, including Mr Tsang, repair their homes out of 'care for the neighbourhood'.
The company said it had tried to reach Mr Tsang, who had not responded.
Village head Iu Wing-loi claims piling did cause some damage. He said complaints about cracks had been received from a dozen villagers - though not from Mr Tsang - but they had ceased when Sun Hung Kai agreed to do repairs. 'They even repaired old houses with damage related to age, not the piling,' Mr Iu said.
A resident of a brick house near the Manor House said she had noticed cracks soon after the piling began, but the developer had repaired them last month and she was 'satisfied with Sun Hung Kai'.
