A unit in the capital of Sunrise Cannes in Tseung Kwan O was revealed to have removed part of the main wall during the renovation and converted it into a door to the master room. The Buildings Department confirmed that the unit had violated the law and requested the owner to make repairs. Director of Buildings Yu Po Mei explained the incident on the 30th, she pointed out that the main wall demolished by the unit involved accounted for 6% of the structural wall of the unit and about 1% of the structural wall area of the floor. She pointed out that there is no immediate danger in the building after the calculation, "but no danger is equivalent to nothing to do, in fact, they do not meet my standards." She also said that those responsible may include owners, designers and construction contractors who will act according to the law if they find evidence. Yu Po Mei admitted that she would follow up on other renovation projects of the designers involved and invited the other party to explain the details to the Buildings Department.

The unit was originally designed as a three-bedroom, and the designer opened the three-bedroom corridor and changed it into a large master suite and cloakroom, and the master door was also relocated, so the designer pierced a wall between the living room and the bedroom and changed it to a door. (Online video screenshot)

Director of Buildings Yu Po Mei said that some units in the capital of Sunrise Kangcheng demolished part of the structural wall, and the department was highly concerned about the incident, and after learning about it on Saturday (27th), it has been seriously handled, and contacted the management company, until yesterday (29th) contacted the owner of the unit, the design person in charge of decoration, and the property management personnel were present.

The Department has made a preliminary assessment of the structural wall, which accounts for about 6% of the structural wall area of the unit, and about 1% in terms of the area of the entire structural wall. She added that the DH also took into account the situation on the ground and went to the upper and lower floors of the unit to reach a preliminary assessment, that is, the overall structure was not dangerous, "but there is no danger is equivalent to nothing to do, in fact, they do not meet my standards." The owner has been requested to repair the structural wall on the order of the Authority.

Director of Buildings Yu Po Mei said that some units in the capital of Sunrise Cannes had demolished part of the structural wall, and the Department was highly concerned about the incident. (Photo by Lv Yingshan)

To improve the temporary bracket

The owner told the Buildings Department today that the structural engineer had been contacted, but the developer had not been contacted and had not yet received the application form for the repair proposal, but knew that the other party was following up and would improve the new staffolds, and she believed that the relevant scaffolds had a certain effect and were needed. The DH has also requested the owner to submit a report detailing the impact of the demolition on the overall building structure.

Yu Baomei said that the relevant investigation is still ongoing, and the person responsible may include the owner, designer, and construction contractor, and if evidence is found, they will act in accordance with the law and complete the investigation. As for how long it would take to approve the restoration plan, she said that it would be possible soon, "in days", as she had already started to conduct a structural assessment and had contacted the structural engineer to discuss how to repair it when he designed it.

Yu: We will follow up on the renovation works in which the designers involved have participated

Yu Baomei also mentioned that she would follow up on the projects in which the designers involved were involved and would invite the other party to undergo further investigation. She said that there are many ways to do interior decoration, such as building structural safety, qualified professionals are required, the current regulation can balance the choice of owners, general decoration does not need to be regulated by building ordinances, and owners should also be aware that the interior structure should not be changed.

Yu Po Mei pointed out that it is not impossible to change the structure, the main thing is to remove part of the structural wall, you can hire professionals, apply to the signatory, and calculate whether it has an impact on the structure, which will be approved by the department, "If you want to do it, you can ask a professional to teach you to do it, but I can't approve it."

As for how to find the illegal cases in the future, Yu Po Mei pointed out that as it is in an individual unit, I hope everyone understands that the Department cannot go to the unit to find out, and it is necessary to rely on reporting, and there is no detailed information on how long it has been since the demolition of the structural wall in this case, but I believe that it was only demolished not long ago.

The Buildings Department issued a press release yesterday expressing its great concern about the incident, dispatching officers to inspect the incident and issuing statutory orders to the owners of the units concerned under the Buildings Ordinance, and launching a full investigation into whether there was a breach of the Buildings Ordinance, depending on the results of the investigation, punitive action (including criminal prosecution) will be taken against the persons concerned. According to the Buildings Department, it had inspected the upper and lower floors of the unit concerned and found that the overall building structure was not in danger, and learned that the owner had taken the initiative to arrange for the contractor to install temporary support under the beams of the new door.

Temporary scaffolds have been installed in the units involved. (Courtesy of Fong Kwok-shan)

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