South Horizons

South Horizons (Chinese: 海怡半島) is a private housing estate located in Aberdeen, Hong Kong at the western end of Ap Lei Chau (a.k.a. Aberdeen Island), in the Southern District of Hong Kong.[1] Developed by Secan Limited,[2] a Hutchison Whampoa associate company,[3] it consists of 34 blocks, ranging in height from 25 to 42 storeys, completed between 1992 and 1995.[4] Census data indicated that South Horizons had a population of 31,496 in 2011 and was the most populated among the private and public estates of the district.[5]

South Horizons
Traditional Chinese海怡半島
Simplified Chinese海怡半岛
Literal meaningOcean Harmony Peninsula
South Horizons Phases I and II at the western end of Ap Lei Chau, viewed from the north, across Aberdeen West Typhoon Shelter.
The former Ap Lei Chau Power Station in 1971, viewed from the north, across Aberdeen West Typhoon Shelter.
Map of South Horizons
South Horizons Phase II (middle) and Phase I (right), with Marina Square West on the left.
Fountain Plaza. The building housing the operational headquarters of Hongkong Electric is on the right.
South Horizons Residents Club
Amphitheatre
800m long Water Promenade
West construction site of South Horizons Station in May 2016. The building in the middle is Marina Square East Centre.

Description

South Horizons was built in four phases,[4] with Phase I and Phase IV closer to Ap Lei Chau Estate, a public housing estate in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. The property is currently owned and managed by Hutchison Whampoa Limited. The estate has a total of 9,812 residential units.[1] It has been described as a "middle-class estate",[6] with a median monthly domestic household income of HK$ 54,300 in 2011.[5]

South Horizons covers two of the 17 constituencies of Southern District Council, South Horizons East and South Horizons West. Each of these two constituencies returns one district councillor to the Southern District Council, with an election every four years.

South Horizons has been marketed as Hutchison Whampoa's second "Garden City" project, the first one being Whampoa Garden, completed in Hung Hom in 1991.[7] More than 50 plant species are cultivated there, and a nature trail along the shore features information boards on tree species.[8] In 2004, Phases II to IV received a Silver Award for Landscape Design as part of the Best Landscape Award for Private Property Development.[9]

History

Prior to modern development, the land occupied by South Horizons was occupied by hillside and village houses, farmlands, and a sea bay.[10] It was acquired by Hongkong Electric in 1964,[11] and the Ap Lei Chau Power Station of Hongkong Electric and an adjoining oil depot of Shell Hong Kong Ltd were built subsequently.[10][12] The power station was in operation from 1968 to 1989. Its generators were relocated to Lamma Power Station,[13] while the operational headquarters of Hongkong Electric remained on the site. The Shell Oil Depot was in operation between 1970 and the late 1980s.[10][14] In 1973, failure of the foundations of the oil depot led to 3,600 metric tons of heavy marine diesel oil being released into Picnic Bay and Aberdeen Harbour.[15][16] Shell replaced its Ap Lei Chau depot, together with another one in Kwun Tong District (current site of Laguna City),[17] by a new site opened in 1991 on the south side of Tsing Yi.[18]

Property market

A new computer balloting scheme was put to use at South Horizons to determine the order in which prospective buyers could purchase flats. It was advanced by the government and developers alike as a replacement for the first-come, first-served sales system, which resulted in long queues plagued by disorder and triad intimidation, for example a 1990 incident where 1,000 triad-led men descended upon a sales queue at another Hutchison Whampoa development, Laguna City.[19] Police and the Consumer Council stated in 1992 that the new system "appeared to be working fairly".[20]

In 1995, the ownership structure of South Horizons Phase IV (a.k.a. The Oasis): Hutchison Whampoa Properties: 50%, Cheung Kong (Holdings): 30%, and Hongkong Electric Holdings: 20%. The introduction of 7 blocks of The Oasis on the market in 1995 was one of the largest that year and was followed by analysts as an indication of the state of the market.[21]

All retail space in the estate is provided at the Marina Square West and Marina Square East shopping centres. Hoping to capitalise on the impending opening of the South Horizons railway station, the Taiwanese owner of Marina Square West (Estate Dragon Group) issued eviction notices to 30 small businesses housed in the shopping arcade. More than 1,000 residents of South Horizons staged a demonstration in 2014 against the plan to transform the arcade into a "high-end shopping outlet for mainland tourists" in spite of local needs and shopping habits.[22][23]

Facilities

Facilities of the housing complex include:[1]

  • Garden
  • Harbour-front Promenade[24]
  • Residents Club (near Phase II)[7]
  • Playground in every phase
  • Car Park
Sports
  • 3 swimming pools: 1 indoor and 2 outdoor[24]
  • Outdoor Playground (located in Phase IV) including both football and basketball court
  • Sports Complex
    • Indoor: squash, table tennis, badminton, snooker, etc.
    • Outdoor: golf practice driving range and tennis courts[24]
Shopping centres

Two shopping centres are located in the middle of the complex: Marina Square West (海怡西商場), managed by Savills[6] and owned by Estate Dragon Group, and Marina Square East (海怡東商場), owned by Hutchison Whampoa.[25]

Education

Clubhouse playgroup: one private playgroup organised and located at the sports complex

South Horizons has about five kindergartens. There are also two primary schools:

  • Precious Blood Primary School (South Horizons) (next to Marina Square East)
  • Hong Kong Southern District Government Primary School (Phase IV)

Public transport
MTR
Buses [26]

See also

References
  1. Chan, Chi-kau Johnnie Casire (1995). Community development and management of private sector housing estates in Hong Kong (PDF) (Master of Housing Management thesis). University of Hong Kong. pp. 113–125. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-24. Retrieved Sep 14, 2014. Note: the author of this dissertation was a member of the management team of Hutchison Whampoa Group at the time of its publication (see page 115).
  2. Lands Department: List of Consents to Sell, Consents to Assign and Approvals of Deeds of Mutual Covenant issued from 1/10/1984 to 31/12/1993
  3. Moir, Jane (November 28, 1998). "Secan wins in tax challenge". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  4. Emporis: South Horizons
  5. 2011 Population Census: Fact Sheet for South Horizons in Southern District Council District. For the purpose of the 2011 census, each of the "Major Housing Estates", among which South Horizons was listed, so it had its own census data entry. Such estates were thus defined: "A group of residential buildings developed by the same developer (either in the public sector or in the private sector) in one or more phases in a neighbourhood and with at least 3,000 residents or 1,000 domestic households in 2011."
  6. Kao, Ernest (May 2, 2014). "South Horizons residents demand local shops, not a tourist mall". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. Retrieved Sep 16, 2014.
  7. Lynam, Robin (August 2009). "Face Lift. How urban renewal can change people's lives" (PDF). Sphere (The international journal of the Hutchinson Whampoa Group) (25). pp. 10–15.
  8. Jim, Chi-yung (2008). Urban Greening in Hong Kong; Exemplary Designs and Delights. Green Fun Committee. ISBN 9789881732514. LCCN 2010396656. OL 25009089M.
  9. LCSD: Best Landscape Award for Private Property Development, 2004 Awards
  10. MTR Corporation Limited: Consultancy Agreement No. NEX/2301. South Island Line (East). Environmental Impact Assessment Report (Volume 1 of 4). Report No.: 248137/51/F. Chapter 9. Land Contamination, August 2010
  11. Industcards: Gas- and Oil-fired Plants in China, South Korea & Taiwan Archived 2013-01-03 at Archive.today
  12. Hutchinson Whampoa Limited: Property Development
  13. Hongkong Electric Holdings Ltd. History on fundinguniverse.com
  14. Royal Dutch Shell: Our history in Hong Kong
  15. Valencia, Mark J. (April 1979). "South China Sea: Present and potential coastal area resource use conflicts" (PDF). Ocean Management. 5 (1). p. 25. doi:10.1016/0302-184X(79)90011-8. Retrieved Sep 15, 2014.
  16. Legislative Council: LC Paper No. LS80/02-03. Annex II, p.3
  17. Leung, Sum-cheung (1996). Planning in Hong Kong for industrial relocation (Master of Science in Urban Planning thesis). University of Hong Kong. Retrieved Sep 15, 2014.
  18. Royal Dutch Shell: Looking to the Long Term. The Story of Shell in China, August 2004
  19. Yeung, Linda (20 May 1990). "27 arrested after queue disruption". South China Morning Post.
  20. Ng, Kang-Chung (12 March 1992). "Computer ballot system helps flat sales go without a hitch". South China Morning Post.
  21. Ma, Josephine (March 17, 1995). "Hutchison cuts South Horizons prices 15pc". South China Morning Post. Retrieved Sep 14, 2014.
  22. Chiu, Karen (2 May 2014). "Residents protest mall plan". The Standard. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  23. "Is the new West Island Line extension a good thing?". Time Out Hong Kong. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  24. Tomlinson, Peta (December 9, 2002). "Green concept adds to fishing traditions". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. Retrieved Sep 14, 2014.
  25. Chiu, Karen (May 2, 2014). "Residents protest mall plan". The Standard. Hong Kong. Retrieved Sep 14, 2014.
  26. Citybus & NWFB website

Further reading

The following dissertations, article and book explicitly include South Horizons in the scope of their study:

  • Successive land reclamation can be identified in the northwestern part of Ap Lei Chau, now occupied by South Horizons. A 1924 aerial picture (see p.7) shows a bay, which had been reclaimed by 1973, and occupied by the oil depot next to the power station (1979 picture). Further land reclamation was later performed to build South Horizons (2013 picture). The former bay is now the site of Phases III and IV.

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