Page 62 - URA Annual Report 2020-21

CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY
Contributing to Our Society
The URA supports various programmes to improve social inclusiveness and mobility of under-resourced people. We are committed to providing opportunities for the public to learn, bringing love and care to the residents, instilling arts and culture in old districts and creating a vibrant environment for the community. We care about the living environment from community hygiene to building and housing quality, and employ design measures to improve land use efficiency and district walkability, in addition to harmonising our projects with the surroundings.
Educating the Community
To align with the Government’s anti-pandemic measures, the URA closed its public facilities including the Urban Renewal Exploration Centre (UREC) and the Urban Renewal Resource Centre (URRC) for more than three months respectively from March to May 2020 and December 2020 to February 2021. Despite the closures, the UREC still received 844 visitors while the URRC served around 15,745 members of the public addressing enquiries, conducting briefings, meetings and community activities on matters relating to building repair and maintenance in 2020/21. Since 2014, the URRC has also been serving as a meeting venue for mediations relating to building repair and maintenance, property valuation and construction arranged by the Joint Mediation Helpline Office. A total of 23 mediation meetings were held at the URRC during the year.
Although docent tours at the UREC were suspended, the URA produced a three-minute video to take the public on a virtual tour of the UREC to promote the work of the URA and the significance of urban renewal. The video, which was published on the URA’s Facebook page, has reached around 5,000 target audience.
Reaching Out to the Community
Our care for the people extends beyond our urban renewal works. As part of the Corporate Social Responsibility programme, the URA has partnered with local universities and NGOs in the Community Service Partnership Scheme (CSPS), in which URA colleagues and university students join hands to serve residents in old districts through various programmes. In 2020/21, our volunteers, whose number increased by over 30 to more than 160, took part in a wide range of activities including making bespoke furniture for families living in sub-divided units, producing handy study toolboxes to give children living in sub- divided units a better home-learning environment, arranging online visits to elderly care centres
during festive occasions and making cupcakes with the elderly. More than 120 household beneficiaries in districts covering To Kwa Wan, Kwun Tong, Central & Western District and Sham Shui Po were served. Since the launch of CSPS in 2012/13, more than 1,500 volunteers have achieved a total of 11,000 service hours, benefitting over 2,500 people.
58 URA ANNUAL REPORT 2020-21
CSPS volunteers produce bespoke furniture for families living in sub-divided units in old districts.