Transitional Social Housing is an innovative housing type that breaks the traditional dichotomy of private and public housing, usually run by NGOs or social enterprises to provide decent accommodation and supporting services to help tenants improve their lives.
Initiated by PolyU Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation (JCDISI), the Transitional Social Housing Action Project has picked three sites in Hong Kong to explore implementable schemes under various physical and social environments. WSP, in collaboration with JCDISI and a social innovation design studio C-Lab, has worked on this comprehensive master plan for the Ma Wan Old Village.
Full of heritage value yet being vacated for 20 years, the 250-year-old village is located on Ma Wan, an island close to Tsing Yi and Lantau Island with an area of less than 1 km2. With conservation and community building in mind, our transitional social housing plan is indeed a comprehensive revitalisation scheme injecting life and vibrancy in Ma Wan Old Village to rebuild a sustainable community.
In response to future social demographic trends, our plan proposes to erect two 17.5m high five-storey buildings built by 158 modular integrated construction (MiC) units, which could provide an elderly home, a youth hostel facility and community facilities. To increase Ma Wan Old Village’s resilience against extreme climatic conditions, such as typhoon and flooding. Seawall strengthening works is proposed which will also create for road access, connect the disjointed waterfront and enable the implementation of the heritage walk to improve connectivity to the rest of the island. WSP’s engineers offered technical advisory on the use of MiC technology with MEP and structural solutions for this plan. Adopting MiC will reduce disturbance to the structural integrity of the old village houses and structures nearby while shortening the construction cycle to minimise environmental impact to Ma Wan Island.
Praising the plan as a “people-oriented approach” with “some original, sustainable and resilient planning proposals” through the team’s tremendous and meticulous efforts, the adjudicators credited that the study deserves high commendation and could serve as a model for other village developments to follow.
This award-winning plan can be found in the project report.
Organised by the HKIP, the annual award recognises planners for their outstanding achievement in town planning and encouraging pursuit of excellence in good planning principles and practices. You may read the full list of winners from the HKIP’s website.
