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In response to media enquiries about the premises at 64 MacDonnell Road owned by a company of the Chief Executive, the Buildings Department (BD) said that upon the receipt of the enquiries, the department had deployed staff to conduct a site inspection at the building concerned.
Site inspection revealed that large glass panels were used to enclose the verandah of the living room of the flat concerned. Follow up action in accordance of the Buildings Ordinance was required. The BD would issue an advisory letter to the flat owner according to the current enforcement policy advising the owner to take initiative to remove the large glass panels mentioned above, or appoint an authorised person (AP) to substantiate that the works comply with the requirements of the relevant regulations. If the AP failed to provide adequate justifications within a month, the BD would issue a removal order to the owner and order him to remove the large glass panels within 60 days.
In fact, the AP appointed by the Chief Executive had already taken initiative to contact the BD. The Department would liaise with the AP and follow up on the above matter.
In response to further media enquiries about the enforcement action taken by the BD in 2006 at the flat concerned, the department explained that the building at 64 MacDonnell Road was one of the target buildings of the BD’s large scale operation on removal of unauthorised building works on the external walls (the operation). The aim of the operation was to remove all actionable items projected from the external walls of all flats of the whole building in one go. Other unauthorised building works (UBWs) were not included in this operation. In view of the scope of the operation, the BD did not inspect the glass panels works at the time.
Because of the circumstances mentioned above, the removal orders issued by the BD in that operation required only the removal of those actionable UBWs projected from the external walls of the building. Regarding the flat owned by the Chief Executive, the owner was only required to remove two items of UBWs projected from the external wall of the flat, i.e., a metal frame attached to the external wall and the railing of verandah at the front of the building, and a structure attached to the external wall adjacent to the bathroom. The glass panels were not included in the removal order at the time. The owner had completed the removal works required prior to the deadline specified in the order. The BD thus issued a letter confirming that the owner had complied with the order.
Ends/Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Issued at HKT 21:34
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