Graceful Mansion, Siena II — Two Flats on One Floor, One Campaign
Flat B on the 6th floor, renovated alongside Flat C on the same floor. On an island with controlled vehicle access, running two flats as one campaign changes the economics of the whole job. See how it works, the property notes, or request a quotation.
Apartment Flat B, Floor 6, Graceful Mansion, Siena II, Discovery Bay
D-8 Limited is an integrated design firm on interior design. It emphasizes on details in its design philosophy, which could be reflected on both the user experience and form of its works. As an evolving design studio, it offers animation visualization as an advanced presentation tool for their client to easily understand the design and outcome in a more comprehensive way.
Running two flats on one floor is where clear communication stops being a slogan. Two owners, two briefs, two budgets and two variation records — but one works application, one protected corridor and one delivery programme. That only works if the documentation is disciplined enough for both households to see exactly what is theirs and what is shared.
About Graceful Mansion, Siena Two, Discovery Bay
Graceful Mansion — also designated Block H2 — forms part of Discovery Bay Phase 12, Siena Two, at 27 Discovery Bay Road on Lantau Island, within the Islands District. It was developed by HKR International, with an occupation permit dated 29 July 2002 and intake from July that year.
Phase and block facts
- Phase 12 Siena Two comprises 30 blocks and houses — 22 apartment blocks and 8 houses — with 757 units in total
- Graceful Mansion itself is a single block of 24 storeys with six units per floor, giving 133 units
- Saleable areas within this one block range from about 447 square feet for a one-room layout to about 1,629 square feet for a three-room layout
- Efficiency around 82 per cent — a 1,068 square foot gross unit is roughly 876 square feet saleable
- Occupation permit 29 July 2002
- Extensive Phase 12 facilities including clubhouse, gymnasium, banquet hall, indoor pool, beauty centre, spa, reading room, dance studio, bowling and children's play areas
- Primary One Admission school net 99
A wide spread inside one building
From 447 to 1,629 square feet in the same block means the flat letter matters far more than the estate name. A 447 square foot one-room unit is a compact-planning exercise; a 1,629 square foot three-room unit is a large-apartment project with dressing rooms and long joinery runs. We always work from the plan for the specific flat, never from a neighbour's finished result.
Quote on saleable area
At roughly 82 per cent efficiency, any per-square-foot figure must state which area it uses. Using gross inflates every line — one of the checks in our 18-point quotation checklist.
Renovating Two Flats on the Same Floor
Flat B and Flat C sit on the same floor of the same block. Treating them as one campaign rather than two consecutive projects changes access, procurement and programme — without merging the two designs.
- One works application, one programme. Where the management office permits, a single application covers both units, with one schedule, one insurance position and one protection set-up. Two separate applications double the paperwork and halve the available access.
- Survey both before designing either. Identical shells diverge in practice — beam positions, duct routes, sill heights and existing service points are seldom exact mirror images, and orientation changes sun and wind exposure. Assuming a mirror image is how joinery ends up cut to the wrong hand.
- Share the access, not the design. One lift booking sequence, one protected route, one corridor hoarding, one waste stream — but two independent briefs, because two households live differently in the same floor plan.
- Consolidate procurement where it saves money. Boards, tiles, paint, adhesive and hardware ordered together mean better rates and fewer deliveries, which matters disproportionately on an island. Finishes stay individual wherever the clients want them individual.
- Sequence trades across both units. While wet trades proceed in one flat, electrical first fix runs in the other. Two units on one floor support parallel working that a single flat cannot, so the total programme is shorter than two projects back to back.
- Keep separate cost records. One campaign, two quotations, two variation records. Genuinely shared items — protection, access, mobilisation, waste removal, consolidated material orders — are apportioned transparently rather than bundled.
- Hand over separately. Each flat gets its own snag list, testing records, finishes schedule and warranty, because each owner needs their own documentation years later.
When it is worth proposing to a neighbour
If you know another owner on your floor is planning works within a few months, ask. The savings sit in access, protection, mobilisation, waste and bulk material — not in the design fee — and on an island site they are material. It also halves the disruption for everyone else on the floor, which management offices appreciate.
How Identical Plans Legitimately Diverge
The interesting part of a two-flat campaign is watching where the designs separate. These are the decisions that almost never match.
Storage volume, not storage style
One household may need double the hanging length of the other, and no amount of styling fixes an undersized wardrobe. We measure capacity separately for each flat using the method on our storage audit case study — hanging metres, folded stacks, shoes, luggage — and design to those numbers rather than to a standard cabinet count.
The second bedroom's purpose
Child's room, guest room, study, or a combination. Each answer produces a different fit-out: a platform bed with drawers, a high bed with a desk beneath, a convertible desk, or a wall bed. The options are set out on our children's room case study.
Kitchen ambition
One family cooks daily and wants drawer stacks, a tall larder and appliance housings; another rarely cooks and would rather spend the money on the living area. Both are correct, and both change the electrical and plumbing scope.
How the outdoor relationship is used
In a Discovery Bay flat the connection to view and air is the reason people live there. One owner keeps the window wall entirely clear; another wants a window seat or a low storage run beneath. The technical requirements for anything near an opening are on our balcony and opening case study.
Finish palette
This is where shared procurement stops. Common materials — boards, adhesives, paint bases, hardware families — can be bought together, but visible finishes belong to each household. We keep two finishes schedules from the first meeting.
Discovery Bay Logistics
Access is confirmed before the programme
Vehicle access within Discovery Bay is controlled, so permitted routes, vehicle permits, loading points and time windows are confirmed with the management office before any dates are agreed. On an island site those rules define the schedule more than labour does.
Consolidate, order early, carry spares
- Batch a whole flat's components into one or two deliveries rather than daily drops — and with two flats, into a shared delivery programme
- Order long lead-time items early: stone, specific hardware, appliances
- Carry a full spares kit with each delivery — connectors, hinges, runners, edge banding, touch-up materials — because a missing screw on an island costs a day rather than an hour
- Protect the entire route including any external walkway, and take packaging out on the same trip
Estate requirements
- Works application with schedule, contractor insurance details and a refundable deposit
- Vehicle and delivery permits, service lift booking, timed slots
- Protection of lift car, lobby and corridor before material moves
- Permitted working hours for noisy operations
- Controlled waste removal off site
Our island experience
Alongside this project and Flat C, we have worked at Peng Chau and, for joinery, at Poggibonsi in Discovery Bay — where the full island logistics method is set out in detail.
Specifying for a Coastal Flat
Humidity is the constant
Ventilation gaps behind deep cabinets, sealed edge banding, moisture-rated substrate near openings and wet areas, ventilated shoe shelving, and airflow above skirting. A closed dressing area needs deliberate ventilation, because a sealed damp cupboard here turns musty within a season.
Salt air attacks hardware first
Hinges and runners in rooms that open to the outside stiffen and stain over time, so corrosion-resistant hardware is specified rather than upgraded later — and it is quoted as a line item so the client can see what it costs and why.
Sun on finishes
Open views mean sustained daylight. Finishes in the sun path are chosen for light stability, and curtains or blinds are planned as part of the joinery with a recessed pocket rather than added afterwards as a surface-mounted track.
Habits we hand over
Do not hang damp swimwear or towels in a closed wardrobe, dry floors near openings after rain, vacuum ventilation grilles periodically, and run air conditioning in dehumidify mode during long humid spells. In coastal homes maintenance behaviour outperforms specification — the full care notes are on our Poggibonsi case study.
What a 2002 Building Needs
Young by Hong Kong standards, but past twenty years of service. The list is shorter than in an older estate, and the order is identical.
- Electrical capacity — original provision assumed fewer appliances; circuit review, additional socket and data points, and dedicated air conditioning circuits, with positions confirmed against cabinet internals before boards are cut
- Waterproofing — bathroom and kitchen membranes may be reaching the end of their first life; renewed and flood tested for roughly 24 to 48 hours with the result recorded before tiling
- Drainage — inspected rather than assumed, particularly at connections to the common stack
- Floor level — close to level but rarely perfect; adjustable feet and scribed fillers at run ends
- Window sealant and fittings — coastal exposure ages them faster than in an urban block
- Spalling — less likely than in an older building but still checked, and repaired by a prescribed registered contractor where found, under our Spalling Repairing Works scope
For comparison with far older stock, see our Chevalier Garden case study from 1987 to 1988 and our older-building diagnostic guide covering 1967 to 1996.
Planning Across 447 to 1,629 sq ft
The 447 to 477 square foot one-room unit
One consolidated full-height storage wall, an entrance cabinet with ventilated shoe storage and a drop shelf, a TV or work wall concealing equipment, and a decisive bed strategy — platform with drawers or a fixed bed with a top box. Keep the window wall and the longest diagonal clear, because in a Discovery Bay flat the view is the asset.
The 608 to 876 square foot two-room unit
Primary bedroom takes a full wardrobe run with stacked short-hang and a top box, plus a bedhead panel with reading light and charging. Second bedroom takes one decisive option depending on use. A utility cabinet absorbs vacuum, drying rack and cleaning equipment — which matters more in a humid coastal flat than in the city.
The 1,629 square foot three-room unit
Storage stops competing with circulation: a dressing run in the primary suite, a study wall with adjustable shelving and concealed cable routes, and a genuine laundry and utility area. Long runs demand tighter tolerances and batch-matched finishes, since a two millimetre drift compounds visibly across nine metres — the large-unit discipline is on our Beverly Hills case study.
Common to all sizes here
Somewhere to put outdoor and sports equipment, a defined laundry drying position, and ventilated storage — the three things island households always need and urban plans always omit.
Timeline for a Two-Flat Campaign
Single-flat durations
Design, drawings and quotation commonly two to four weeks. Construction for a flat in this size range typically runs eight to fourteen weeks — demolition three to seven days, wet trades and waterproofing five to ten days, electrical and plumbing seven to fourteen days, joinery fourteen to twenty-one days, painting five to ten days, installation and cleaning five to seven days.
Why two flats are not twice as long
Because trades alternate between units. Wet trades in Flat B while first fix electrical runs in Flat C; joinery installation in one while painting proceeds in the other. The total is meaningfully shorter than two consecutive projects, and the shared access set-up only happens once.
What can still delay it
- Island delivery windows and permit processing
- Long lead-time materials, especially stone and imported hardware
- Two sets of owner decisions on layouts and finishes — the most common cause of slippage in a two-flat campaign
- Any spalling or drainage discovery requiring curing and drying time
Statutory submissions
Where works fall under the Minor Works Control System, Class II submissions use Form MW03 as the notice of commencement and Form MW04 as the certificate of completion. D-8 Limited is a Registered Minor Works Contractor Class II — see the compliance section.
Where a Two-Flat Campaign Saves, and Where It Does Not
Genuine savings, shared and apportioned
- Protection set-up for lift car, lobby and corridor — done once
- Mobilisation and site set-up — once instead of twice
- Delivery and island transport — consolidated loads
- Waste removal — shared skips and trips
- Bulk material rates on boards, tiles, paint and hardware
- Management office administration and deposits, where a single application is permitted
No savings here, and you should not expect any
- Design time — two briefs means two sets of drawings
- Joinery — cut to each flat's measured dimensions
- Electrical and plumbing — each flat has its own scope
- Finishes chosen individually
- Testing, commissioning and handover documentation, which is per flat
How it appears in the quotation
Each owner receives a full itemized quotation for their own works, with shared items listed separately and their apportionment stated. That transparency is the point — a bundled two-flat lump sum is impossible for either owner to check. Compare with our 18-point checklist and read the warning signs.
Siena II Renovation FAQ
Ask Your Neighbour Before You Book the Lift
If two flats on your floor renovate together, the access and logistics costs are shared. Free site visit, free measurement, written itemized quotation. Call 9135 3998 or email enquiry@designd8.com.
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