Apartment buildings fill the Mid-Levels area of Hong Kong. The government announced new rules Friday to regulate floor arrangements for new residential buildings. Paul Hilton / Bloomberg News

Exemptions allowed for 'unlucky' Chinese and Western numbers

Following widespread complaints that some luxury residential projects have skipped dozens of floors in order to appear taller than they actually are to potential buyers, the government Friday announced new rules to limit such arrangements.

As from September this year, the government will allow developers to skip only floors numbered 4 (which sounds like "death" in Chinese), the traditional Western unlucky number 13, and floors that end with the number 4, e.g., 14, 24 and 34.

"Subsequent to a series of discussions among the relevant stakeholders, a consensus was reached on a floor numbering system. Under such a system, all floors of a building should be assigned with floor numbers in a logical and consecutive numerical series," a government spokesman said.

The government said the omission of floor numbers may affect emergency services as well as property owners, potential property buyers, visitors to buildings and utility service providers, who may also find it confusing if the floor numbers do not follow logic.

However, the government said it recognized that the omission of floor numbers "4", "13" and those ending with a "4" has been adopted widely in buildings in Hong Kong.

"To strike a balance between the concern arising from the omission of floor numbers and the long established local practice and customs in floor numbering for buildings, it is proposed that the omission of floor numbers '4', '13' and those ending with a '4' may be accepted. Except for this type of acceptable omission, assigning floor numbers with other omissions will not be allowed," the spokesman said.

Under the new guidelines, the use of non-numerical names (unless indicated together with the normal floor numbers, e.g., "20/F Sky Garden"), alias names, alternative floor numbers (e.g., in the form of "also known as x/F"), illogical or non-consecutive numbers will also not be acceptable.

If the Buildings Department or other government departments consider the floor numbers are not arranged in a logical sequence or are confusing, the Buildings Department will advise the applicant to make amendments.

A luxury residential project in Conduit Road at Mid-Levels in Hong Kong Island, owned by Henderson Land Development, raised eyebrows with some creative floor numberings that many people considered excessive. The developer skipped over 40 floors to achieve a lucky and high-sounding 88th floor. Some units were sold at record prices, but many of the deals, involving prices per square feet far higher than comparable properties in the neighborhood, have still not been concluded.

A spokesman from Henderson Land Development said Friday that creative numbering makes up only part of the attraction to buyers; what is most important is the quality of the project, suggesting that the absence of such numbering will not substantially diminish the appeal of the suites.

The new guidelines on floor numbering will take effect on new development projects where an application for occupation permit is submitted on or after September 1 this year.

The government consulted with members of the Building Sub-Committee of the Land and Development Advisory Committee, Registered Structural Engineers and Registered Geotechnical Engineers Committee on the new guidelines, and found members agreeing with the principles of the proposal.

China Daily

(HK Edition 04/17/2010 page3)