<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>July 10, 2009
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>No stairs, no view <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Ang Yiying
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
Residents have complained about the loss of privacy and blockage of light from walls built at the additional lift shaft. -- ST PHOTOS: ALBERT SIM
</TD></TR><!--<tr><td>
View more photos
<div class="border_dbl2_bn"">
</div> </td></tr>--></TBODY></TABLE>
<DIV class=border_dbl2_bn></DIV><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD><DIV class=vclearleft>
View more photos </DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<DIV class=clear></DIV><DIV class=border_dbl2_bn></DIV><DIV class=clear></DIV><DIV class=marginb5></DIV><!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><DIV class=story_text>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, among others at estates like Bishan, Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang and Hougang; and about 180 'half-landing blocks' at places such as Sunset Way in Clementi and in Tampines.
</DIV>
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>No stairs, no view <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Ang Yiying
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Residents have complained about the loss of privacy and blockage of light from walls built at the additional lift shaft. -- ST PHOTOS: ALBERT SIM
</TD></TR><!--<tr><td>
<div class="border_dbl2_bn"">
<DIV class=border_dbl2_bn></DIV><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD><DIV class=vclearleft>
<DIV class=clear></DIV><DIV class=border_dbl2_bn></DIV><DIV class=clear></DIV><DIV class=marginb5></DIV><!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><DIV class=story_text>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, among others at estates like Bishan, Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang and Hougang; and about 180 'half-landing blocks' at places such as Sunset Way in Clementi and in Tampines.
</DIV>
