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Richard Woo

The stepped-building height concept in urban design will be applied for the first time in Hong Kong if the proposed Southeast Kowloon development plan is adopted after present public consultation.

However, insiders still seem reserved about the government suggestion, which entails the imposition of building height restrictions on different lots.

The restriction might reduce design flexibility and land value, they said.

For the Southeast Kowloon development spanning 451 hectares covering the old Kai Tak airport and 123 hectares of reclamation area, the Government's consultant proposes to divide residential lots into five types of density zone.

The highest-density zone allows a plot ratio of seven to 7.5 with building height of 140 metres at most.

The building height descends gradually towards the waterfront area along the future coastal line. The lowest-density zone, comprising buildings on the waterfront, allows a plot ratio of 1.5 with height restriction of 20 metres.

In between there would be three types of medium-density zones with a plot ratio of three to 7.5 and height restrictions of 50 to 115 metres. The arrangement is intended to retain a maximum sea view for the buildings on the reclaimed area.

The Planning Department is also working on a proposal for urban design guidelines, which might result in some regulations on building design, including height.

Assistant director June Li said, while final recommendations of the urban design guidelines were still under preparation, the department had incorporated a lot of preliminary ideas into the Southeast Kowloon proposal.

Apart from the stepped-height concept, some ideas the department believed appropriate were also incorporated. These included the introduction of waterfront promenades, view corridors and the retention of monuments, she said.

As taller buildings would have higher values, more developers were eyeing those projects. It was widely accepted that buildings should not breach the ridgelines except for some cases with strong justification.

To create landmark buildings could be an exception, she said, however, there should not be many of them.

For the Southeast Kowloon reclamation area, residential buildings were proposed to be up to 140 metres. Mrs Li said the arrangement would ensure there would be no additional adverse visual impact. Such residential buildings would not breach the ridgeline of Lion Rock. However, there would be a tall commercial building at the centre of the Southeast Kowloon reclamation area and at the north end of the central park of the area.

Mrs Li said the commercial building would be a landmark building and that the department would finalise its recommendations of urban design guidelines applicable to the whole of Hong Kong, not only to new development areas, at the end of this year.

The department had to strike a balance and suggest some flexible solutions to achieve the protection of ridgelines, said Mrs Li.

However, Francis Lau Tak, chairman of the planning committee of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, said the stepped-height concept needed a rethink. Generally the new plan for Southeast Kowloon was good but the stepped-height proposal implied low-density developments at the waterfronts.

He said such lots were very valuable because they had unobstructed sea views, close to open space and faced the southeast side.

He said the utilisation of reclamation land had to be optimised but the stepped-height concept was not compatible with this principle.

He suggested the Government should consider alternative methods to achieve the same purpose, such as creating view corridors towards the sea.

He said the Government had already introduced view corridors towards the Lion Rock. Mr Lau also expressed his reservation over the proposed town centre 'landmark' commercial building.

The Territory Development Department's Peter Mok said the project would be the sole office building in the Southeast Kowloon reclamation as the area was designed mainly to accommodate residential properties.

The building would be located at the town centre, adjacent to a new railway station.

Providing 1.1 million square feet of office-commercial floor area, the 60 to 70-storey tower would be well above the surrounding residential buildings of 30 to 40 storeys and become a landmark building for the area.

But the building, which would exceed 200 metres, would not breach the ridgeline of Lion Rock, said Mr Mok.

However, Mr Lau said the project would be a stand-alone commercial project and it should be located at the southern end of the new area - Kai Tak Point, which would be a tourist and entertainment centre with a cruise terminal.

Urban Watch chairman Wong Wah-sang said the office tower of 60 to 70 storeys would obstruct views of Lion Rock. That would destroy the view corridors' function, to give an unobstructed view to Lion Rock, he said.

He also dismissed the necessity of having a landmark building for the area and doubted the economic viability of the whole Southeast Kowloon development scheme.

As much of the land in the proposed new area is for roads and public facilities, only 18 per cent is of commercial value.

Taller buildings have higher values, so developers are eyeing those projects Graphic: kai07gwz 



Worries persist over height restrictions on different lots