Hong Kong to launch prefabricated home trials to ease housing supply stress

HONG KONG -- The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is planning to put prefabricated homes on trial among efforts to ease housing supply stress, an official said on Thursday.

The trial sites will be in the Science and Technology Park and the University of Hong Kong, said Secretary for Development of the HKSAR government Michael Wong Wai-lun at the opening ceremony for Construction Safety Week.

The prefabricated houses would be dormitories for young employees of the park and for students of the university, he noted.

Different from traditional construction style, modular construction uses units produced in factories and thus can reduce work load for construction workers, Wong said.

The idea of using "container homes" as low-rent residences has been in spotlight this week as a non-government organization, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, advocated to build "container homes" and rent them at very low prices to families on the waiting list for public housing.