High-rise apartment buildings could be on the horizon for Hamilton in future, according to Mayor Jay Bluck.

The Corporation is in the process of updating the 2001 city plan to allow for taller buildings in certain parts of Hamilton.

At the moment, said the mayor, buildings of six and occasionally seven storeys are the maximum permitted, with possibly another floor if it is residential.

However, he is in favour of allowing eight- to ten-storey-high residential buildings in the east of the city, and to the north of Church Street.

?I don?t see how Bermuda can continue to grow except vertically,? he said. ?I would love to see apartment buildings. Although Bermudians aren?t used to it, people who come from abroad are. If we could provide urban living for a better rent than in the current market it?s a no-brainer.?

Asked what the maximum height should be, he responded: ?I?d let the experts advise, but eight to ten floors would not be totally out of line.?

Mr. Bluck said that the view of the cathedral from the Paget shoreline was what the Corporation had always sought to protect, but he saw no reason why taller buildings should not be erected behind it.

Mr. Bluck added that the Corporation hoped to be able to insist in future that residential accomodation be supplied when new office buildings are developed. He said that at the moment, building residential floors in such properties is ?not workable financially? as it is more profitable for developers to stick to office accommodation.

Mr. Bluck highlighted the issue of building development during an address to Hamilton Rotary Club on his first two months of office.

?I believe that the City of Hamilton and indeed the Island of Bermuda are at one of those periods in history when we have the opportunity to re-invent ourselves,? he told Rotarians.

?We are being driven by the success of Bermuda in adapting to the pressures of the outside world which are increasing day by day. We have to adapt or die.?

He said of his impressions since being elected: ?I have found that our city is slightly tatty, unpoliced and being driven by the demands of a modern society. We have very little retail space and very few office spaces despite the building boom currently being experienced in the city. We need to come into the modern world with all its requirements and expectations.?

He said the Corporation was working to acquire extra traffic officers to tackle problems such as double parking. He acknowledged that there had been ?a number of false starts? to build a new hotel in the city, but said this was a goal he continued to pursue. He insisted that the development of the waterfront had not been put on the backburner and pledged to push for more Police on the city streets. He also advocated new underground car parking in the city and pledged to wage war on the menace of chewing gum ? expressing admiration for Singapore?s gum ban.

?I hope to leave office with a safe, attractive, modern and sophisticated capital for Bermuda. We earn our living serving the international community be they tourists or international business people, so this dream must become the reality,? said Mr. Bluck.