MUR team members visit Iao Hon to brief residents about the local area plan. Property owners agree with the design and hope that redevelopment could start as soon as possible.
The local area plan for Iao Hon Estate has been preliminarily completed and Macau Urban Renewal Limited (MUR) representatives recently visited Iao Hon property owners to brief them about the plan. MUR continues to collect views and suggestions of property owners and relevant entities in order to build a consensus on creating a new community that integrates business, service, culture and recreation.
Iao Hon Estate is MUR’s first urban renewal project. As issues with the building blocks there are wide-ranging, it is necessary that aspects of different levels are factored in when drawing up the local area plan, including gauging property owners’ views and ensuring that they are compatible with the urban master plan. MUR Chairperson of the Board of Directors Peter Lam Kam Seng, Vice-Chairperson Leong Keng Seng and team members recently went to Iao Hon Estate and met residential and non-residential property owners to explain to them the area’s design plan to let them have a clear understanding of the plan, thus attracting more property owners to participate in redevelopment.
The urban renewal plan for Iao Hon Estate puts emphasis on transformation. While preserving the area’s existing urban fabric, the plan proposes to restructure street connectivity as well as vehicular and pedestrian circulation in accordance with the SAR government’s urban master plan. Optimising the circulation system would improve community facilities and enhance public green space.
After thorough research and analysis, as Iao Hon is a densely populated district, the local area plan adopts the “stock optimisation” approach. This means that for Iao Hon Estate, redevelopment will take place under the premise of not increasing the density of resident population nor the number of households. The plan, covering the seven plots of land that form Iao Hon Estate, adopts a vertical city concept, where low-rise buildings are transformed into high-rise buildings that consist of underground car parks, podiums and residential towers. Some of the podiums will have setback areas to create platforms for greening. Greening initiatives would be extended throughout the neighbourhood through the vertical greenery system and greening on footbridges and pedestrian streets.
To meet residents’ needs, the plan proposes the provision of footbridge connections between malls on the podium levels to improve the area’s business environment and place-making. For pedestrian facilities, the plan proposes two 16-metre-wide intersecting pedestrian streets that would connect to the urban master plan’s pedestrian system, providing links to the nearby border crossing checkpoints, forming nodes in the pedestrian network that would further enhance the geographical advantages of the area.
MUR will take the plan to relevant entities for consultation and seek approval. As an executing entity responsible for urban renewal in Macau, MUR will participate in Iao Hon Estate’s redevelopment project in the role of co-ordination and promotion.
During recent meetings with property owners, topics such as ownership transfer, business environment and redevelopment incentives were discussed. Property owners generally agree that the local area plan would contribute to a better quality of life and add value to the buildings. Business owners agree that the pedestrian street network and footbridge connection system could help improve foot traffic, pointing out that with a good planning proposal, they were ready to discuss in detail. Overall, they hope the pace on securing enough ownership for redevelopment to start could be accelerated so that their living and business environment could be improved as soon as possible, ultimately reaching the goal of urban revitalisation, effectively adding value to the buildings, basic amenities, public facilities and public space.
