Severn 8, Private residential complex at The Peak, Hong Kong

Severn 8 is a residential estate of 22 detached houses on Severn Road, Mount Kellett, at about 400 metres above sea level. The houses, of two and three storeys, are arranged in two rows: 16 in the front row and 6 in the back, with houses 6 and 7 joined as semi-detached. Built areas are 3,300, 4,300 or 5,100 square feet. A 20,000-square-foot clubhouse has a pool, aromatherapy spa, gym and banquet hall.

The site was formerly government quarters for senior civil servants and was sold at the February 2000 land auction, where Sun Hung Kai Properties won it for HK$490 million, an average floor price of HK$8,353 per square foot. The 22 houses were completed at the end of 2005, and sales ran until mid-2008. The developer spent HK$8 million converting units 1, 3, 15 and 26 into showflats themed on Italian hotels.

The estate's name, Severn 8, refers to its position built into the hillside, backed by the mountain and facing the sea. House numbers 4, 13, 14 and 24 were left out because they are considered inauspicious, so the 22 houses carry other numbers. The developer spent HK$80 million turning houses 1, 3, 15 and 26 into showflats themed on the four seasons, modelled on Milan's Four Seasons, Bulgari and Park Hyatt hotels and the Ferragamo family's Continentale in Florence.

The estate sits on Severn Road on Mount Kellett, about 400 metres above sea level, and the developer widened the road outside the compound into a two-way carriageway for residents' vehicles. The 22 houses stand in two rows: 16 in the front row and 6 in the back, with houses 6 and 7 joined as semi-detached. Access is by private car or taxi; the steep hillside lanes are not a walking route to the harbourfront.

The Peak is one of the few areas in Hong Kong where building density is kept very low, so homes here have far more open space around them than almost anywhere else in the city. This stands in sharp contrast to the tightly packed neighborhoods visible from below.