Goodbye to falling ceilings as old buildings make way for HK$1.7 billion development in Tai Kok Tsui

Leather craftsman Ha Kin-ming, who has lived in Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon for more than four decades, considers himself lucky to have cheated death after a part of his ceiling collapsed.

“Lucky no one was home at the time – slabs of concrete just fell directly onto the bed where someone would have been sleeping,” Ha, 55, said, pointing to the re-plastered ceiling.

But such incidents will soon be a thing of the past. Ha’s 800 square foot leather crafts shop is in a row of buildings along a block at Man On Street and Tai Kok Tsui Road slated to be torn down and rebuilt by the Urban Renewal Authority into a residential and commercial development.

Tai Kok Tsui, an area near to Mong Kok, is a predominantly old industrial and residential area, with car repair shops and small boutiques in the neighbourhood.

The HK$1.7 billion plan, selected from 19 applicants, is the authority’s 12th demand-led project since the pilot scheme was introduced in 2011.