S for Housing visits Barcelona (with photos)
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In the morning, Ms Ho met with Deputy Mayor of Barcelona Mr Jordi Valls Riera, who oversees housing policies, economic affairs and tourism matters. They exchanged views on areas such as housing policies and construction technologies. Ms Ho shared Hong Kong's experience in expeditiously building government-led Light Public Housing (LPH) using Modular Integrated Construction (MiC). For instance, the first LPH project at Yau Pok Road, Yuen Long, took only about one year to complete. As for the Choi Hing Road project in Ngau Tau Kok, which is the first 19-storey LPH project with elevators, its first phase was completed in less than one and a half years, breaking the record for rapid construction of high-rise buildings in Hong Kong. She also shared that the Housing Bureau (HB) and the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) have been continuously optimising Hong Kong's housing ladder to encourage more young people and families to move up the housing ladder. She mentioned that the HB will organise an international symposium to be held in Hong Kong in November this year, to showcase to the world the latest developments of construction technologies in Mainland China and Hong Kong. She expressed hope that friends from around the world could attend the symposium.
Afterwards, Ms Ho visited a social housing project, Modulus Matrix: 85 Social Housing, which used timber frame construction to reduce carbon emissions and a modular design to shorten construction time.
In the afternoon, Ms Ho toured a social housing project, APROP-Glòries, which was converted from containers to provide temporary accommodation to people in need. Ms Ho said that both the Hong Kong and Barcelona governments are dedicated to increasing their housing supply with swift and pragmatic approaches, and providing accommodation to families with urgent housing needs. She said she hoped that the two places would continue holding close exchanges on relevant initiatives.
Ms Ho then paid a courtesy call on the Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Barcelona, Ms Meng Yuhong, to share with her various housing initiatives being implemented by the HB, which include promoting the development of housing construction technologies by leveraging the strengths of the Mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Ms Ho today (July 5, Barcelona time) visited another social housing project, 72 Social Housing Units, to see its architectural design that creates a simple, livable and energy-efficient living environment.
Concluding the trip, Ms Ho said, "Hong Kong enjoys the unique advantage of having the strong support of the motherland while maintaining unparalleled connectivity with the world, as well as the strategic geographical location of being connected to the GBA. This visit demonstrated how Hong Kong gives full play to its important roles as a 'super connector' and 'super value-adder'. I look forward to maintaining close exchanges with Portugal and Spain in areas including innovative construction technologies, people-oriented 'Well-being design' concepts and sustainable smart city development, and exploring further collaboration to create more opportunities for the industries and enterprises of the three places."
Ms Ho will return to Hong Kong tomorrow morning (July 6).
Ends/Saturday, July 5, 2025
Issued at HKT 15:05
Issued at HKT 15:05
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