Soon, vibrant, multi-storied residential buildings will replace the drab Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board tenements that are now on the last leg of demolition.
The TNUHDB, formerly the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, recently started pulling down buildings at the three-acre complex on New Avadi Road that comprises 16 blocks having 496 houses.
The new complex will have multi-storied blocks with more space for other facilities including a 1,250 square metre (13,454 sq ft) park. Apart from basic infrastructure like water supply, sewage disposal, elevators, roads, streetlights, storm water it will have rainwater harvesting, a convenience storea and lot of greenery.
Vanessa Peter from Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities said the guidelines on blue-green requirements for adaptive housing and settlement in Tamil Nadu can be adopted. Some of the recommendations for framing guidelines for blue-green integrated affordable housing are inclusion of localised grey water treatment using traditional methods, simplified and localised sewage treatment plans, site level rainwater harvesting to improve ground water asset, and participatory planning on design aspects with the beneficiaries, among others.
“It is important that the design must also address extreme heat situations by distributing common spaces between built spaces and planning of open and closes spaces in a design approach to ensure lighting and ventilation,” she said.
The TNUHDB has been demolishing its tenements that are in dilapidated condition and pose danger to the lives and properties of the occupants. A technical committee appointed by the government inspects the schemes and based on their stability recommends demolition of the buildings for reconstruction.
So far, 32,813 tenements have been taken up for reconstruction of which 11,490 are reconstructed and work on 6,862 is in on. The remaining will be taken up in phases.