Hong Kong Housing Society tests ‘instant homes’ to speed up building flats at two projects
- Modular units are built in mainland China before being installed at project sites in Hong Kong
- Twenty-five-storey block of flats and 64-unit project, designed for elderly residents, will have prefab parts
The Hong Kong Housing Society is experimenting with a prefabricated construction method to shorten the time it takes to build new homes for two of its projects.
The society, the city’s second-largest public housing provider after the Housing Authority, plans to build 28,000 homes over the next decade.
It is testing the approach, known as “modular integrated construction” (MiC), at a 300-unit project at Hung Shui Kiu in the New Territories and a 64-unit project for elderly residents at Jat Min Chuen estate in Sha Tin.
The prefab technique involves making free-standing, integrated modules at a mainland Chinese factory. Once finished, they undergo quality inspections before being transported across the border to be installed at the project site.
Commonly used on the mainland, the method has been found to reduce construction time by 10 to 15 per cent, or about three months, compared to building at a site from scratch.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor urged the Housing Authority last October to adopt the MiC approach in more projects to quickly increase the supply of housing and shorten the long queue of applicants.