Tai Hang Sai Estate 大坑西邨

Tai Hang Sai Estate is going to disappear soon. It is a unique private housing estate in Shek Kip Mei.  

It was developed by a privately owned company rather than some government agency or statutory body such as the Housing Authority and the Housing Society.  

THS is almost 60 years old now.  It is not surprising that it is going to be torn down and re-developed.

I used to lived in a public housing estate in Ho Man Tin Estate in the 1970s which share some familiar characteristics with THS. 

There is along corridor running the length of the building.  Units on either side of the central corridor, with doors facing each other, windows on the opposite side.  

In hot summers. we open our doors and windows, and pull the gates closed, so that air currents come in through one set of windows, flow through both sets of doors, and out the windows of the opposite set of windows.  

We know our neighbours well, and look after each others’ children.  Particularly when they come home after school, before the parents return from work or grocery shopping from the market. 

The process of re-development is controversial because many residents are unhappy with the compensation provided.  

Some are holding out, but there seems little hope that they will win. 

I

n any case, many are coming to take a final look.