Here’s the lift but there goes the view

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 11, 2009

FOR some Eunos HDB residents, getting a lift that stops on every floor has been more of a nightmare than a dream come true.

They say that new lift shafts built on the outside of their blocks have robbed their flats of privacy and ventilation and blocked their views, as well as some light.

The external shafts being built under the Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP) affect 14 out of 116 units in each of three 13- and 17-storey blocks near the Geylang Serai market.

Blocks 411, 415 and 417 at Eunos Road 5 are U-shaped blocks combining two-storey maisonettes with single-storey corner units. This means that not every floor has a common corridor, and that is where the problem arises.

Last month, the small group of residents who have objected to the LUP since plans were first mooted in 2006 went so far as to ask that the lift shafts be torn down – even after the Housing Board had made several modifications to the design to address their complaints.

On Thursday, the HDB cited the Eunos example when it said that more such problems are likely to crop up as the LUP moves to other blocks across the island with unusual designs.

When the programme began in 2001, it said, the blocks involved were mostly slab-sided ones.

Providing lift upgrading was thus a straightforward affair of making existing lifts stop on every floor.

But since 2004, the LUP has been moving to blocks with more complex designs.

For example, there are about 180 maisonette-mixed blocks islandwide, at estates like Bishan, Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang and Hougang, among others; and about 180 ‘half-landing blocks’ at places such as Sunset Way in Clementi and in Tampines.

These blocks present different challenges the HDB said, but it would work with residents to come up with solutions to problems, and will tweak its designs to address some of their concerns.

At Eunos, for example, the board made changes to the lift design before polling started because of residents’ feedback, said Mr Sng Cheng Keh, director of the HDB’s development and procurement department.

As a result, he said, the lift shafts are now positioned further away from the blocks – 6.3m, rather than the planned 5m.

More modifications may be in store: To allow more light and ventilation, the HDB is looking into replacing part of the length of brick wall linking the lift shaft to the corridor with aluminium fins instead, so residents of affected units do not look out onto a full brick wall.

Such fins have been used in lift upgrading in other HDB blocks. They also help protect residents’ privacy – the angle at which they are positioned blocks a direct view into a flat.

Despite the changes it plans, the HDB admits it is not possible to eliminate all inconveniences for affected units.

It can only reduce them, said Mr Sng, explaining that LUP solutions had to be ‘technically feasible, cost-effective and practical’.

For blocks with common corridors on just a few floors, for example, only the construction of an external lift shaft can ensure the lift stops on every floor.

ST checks at Eunos and two other estates with external shafts – Dakota Crescent near Old Airport Road, and Hougang – turned up mixed reactions to the new lifts.

But despite the complaints of some, other residents say a lift upgrade is worth it.

Take Eunos Block 415 resident Patrick Lim, 52, who lives on the 10th floor.

The sales executive said he had voted against the upgrading project because he felt construction would be messy.

Now he can see the positive side.

‘When it’s done, I don’t have to lug my golf bag down two flights of stairs.’