There is a belief that quality suffers as quantity increases.
The Hong Kong Housing Authority is bucking that trend by building more flats than before while at the same time improving design and building quality, according to Raymond Bates, deputy director (works).
'Quality is absolutely paramount in the mind of the authority. We are particularly conscious of the need to not only maintain quality but to improve it as our housing production programme increases,' he said.
'Under the Chief Executive's target, we are producing an average of 50,000 public flats a year over a 10-year period to 2007.
'But, over the next five years, we are producing more than 300,000 flats so, during that period, we will actually be ahead of that target. And at any one time we will have more than 200,000 flats under construction.
'It's a massive programme, the highest levels of production that the Housing Authority has ever undertaken. It's previous peak was in the late 80s, when, for two years, it was producing about 52,000 to 54,000 apartments. But, in the next few years we'll be producing well above those levels.' At peak production later this year, the authority would be employing about 18,000 construction workers, Mr Bates said.
'Clearly, with those levels of production, there is a need to ensure quality. Over the years, we have been developing our quality systems, hand in hand with improved building design.