Construction Materials Used in Different Generation Public Housing

Construction Materials used in different generation public housing

In the past, the use of bricks and pinboard was widely-used for Hong Kong public housing particularly Old Type Resettlement Building. For example, Wong Tai Sin Estate on Block 14 consists of Gas stoves and stone flower-brick.

Wong and Yau (1999) indicated that HKHA started using the prefabrication including facade, stair flight, floor slab in the late 1980’s.

After a few years, the skills of building with precast materials have been further improved and widely used since 1990. Public housing constructed in the early 1990s consisted of prefabricated outer wall panel, prefabricated stairs, prefabricated drywall and prefabricated kitchen table. For example, The first public housing, being made of prefabricated buildings exterior wall panel in 1990, is the type of Harmony II and named “Yiu Lung House” today.

HKHA (2010) also mentioned that three-dimensional prefabricated bathroom and kitchen, prefabricated beams, stair platforms, rooftop parapet, manholes, wires wells and drainage channels, has also been used since 2000s. From now on, the use of prefabricated roof tanks has been in the test form and will be improved in the future.

Sustainable and Environmental-friendly public housing

Traditionally, the public housing wall in Hong Kong is made of concrete. According to, since cement is cost-effective and can be hardened both in water and in air, it is widely used in the construction buildings such as public housing in Hong Kong. Based on the HK-Place (2015), the first type of public housing building constructed by the use of cement is Resettlement Block.

Despite the cost-effectiveness of cement, there are also disavantages of using cement in construction buildings. One of the disadvantages is the emission of some greenhouse gas. This means that the old public housings in Hong Kong emitted greenhouse gas. According to Housing Authority in Hong Kong, making a ton of cement for the public housing wall emit a ton of carbon dioxide ,which caused harmful effects on the earth. If the public housing is constructed by using concrete, the problem of air pollution will definitely be more serious. Another disadvantage is the durability of the building since the spalling of concrete is not ususal in Hong Kong public housing.