This agreement between HKR and the Hong Kong Government allowed HKR to develop the entire Siena, Chianti, Amalfi and Positano area, as well as Club Siena, Hotel Auberge and the DB North Commercial Centre.
Comparing master plans 5.7 and 6.0E1, you can see that, apart from the additional gross floor area (GFA), the major change involved moving public recreation from the lowland area in north DB to the upland area in the southwestern part of the Lot (from Area 7b on 5.7, to Areas 2a-2b on 6.0E1).
The Approval Letter also marked the beginning of Lands Department’s attempt to fit DB into its existing land administration model, with severe adverse consequences for all small owners in DB.
Specifically, Lands Department imposed a definition of Gross Building Area (GBA) on the Master Plan. GBA had been used on all master plans since MP 5.0, without Government defining the term. Whether through ignorance or bureaucratic rigidity, Lands Department chose to impose a definition of GBA in the Approval Letter for MP 6.0E1, defining it to mean the same as GFA, the term normally used within Government.
GBA in fact originates from and is defined in the DB Deed of Mutual Covenant (DMC) from 1982. The definition of GBA contained in the DMC is critical to the allocation of Management Units (MU) and the sub-allocation of undivided shares to all units in DB.
All management expenses are shared among the owners based on the allocation of MU, so any mis-allocation means that some owners are paying more and some less than their fair share of the management expenses for DB.
The under-allocation of MU to Hotel Auberge can be traced directly back to the decision to impose a different definition of GBA in the Approval Letter.
Redefinition of the term GBA has also undermined the share regime under the DMC. This will be the subject of a future post.