Union boss Derrick Burgess has called for high rise blocks to be erected to ease Bermuda's housing woes.

He said the island didn't have sufficient land to continue to build outwards so it was time to build upwards. The Government MP stressed he wasn't calling for skyscraper-style tower blocks but buildings of four or five stories high for public housing - similar to private apartments now being put up in Victoria Street by Sir John Swan.

He said: "It would be best in Hamilton because you already have buildings over three stories high."

Mr. Burgess has been trying to get interest free loans from the banks for such a project on BIU-owned land on Union Street, adding: "We are still talking." Mr. Burgess admitted high density housing would be a new concept in Bermuda where gardens were common.

Housing Minister Nelson Bascome said he was in favour of the union's own plan and would consider other similar plans. As well as building new units government has a vacant/derelict programme in which private housing is renovated and rented out to housing corporation tenants. Property owners benefit by getting favourable government mortgages for the building work and they are guaranteed rent by the Corporation which finds tenants. Around 30 properties have come into the rental sector via this method and Government is in negotiation with owners for more than 200 more.

A commitment by the Corporation to guarantee rents from tenants they put forward is also being used to entice reluctant owners of already serviceable apartments to let them out. But Mr. Bascome said Government had difficulties when landlords were demanding rents which were outside the affordable bracket.

Asked about the idea of high rise blocks Environmentalist Stuart Hayward said it was a stop gap measure which could escalate into higher and higher buildings. He said it was time Government looked at the reasons for the burgeoning demand for housing. He said: "We have limited land into which we can't keep pouring 800 to 1,000 new people each year."

He said there was a resident population growth of around 400 people a year while another 400 or so were imported workers.

"The first thing we need to do is acknowledge the problem," said Mr. Hayward.

He said putting 200 families in the space where five families used to live might save on land but it still put a growing burden on other demands such as sewage, food and water.

He said: "As Einstein said you can't get out a problem using the same kind of thinking which got you into the problem." Opposition Housing Spokesman Michael Dunkley said higher blocks would be a better use of space but he said they should be built in partnership with the private sector using private capital.

And he added: "Government needs to come clean on the breadth of the problem so we can address it. "But the latest housing corporation report is six months late. If more insurers come to the island it could have a further crunch on housing."

Mr. Dunkley said Government were putting all their eggs in the reinsurance and insurance market. He said: "If that's the case then maybe Mr. Hayward's comments have some merit. It would strain our infrastructure. Sustainable development is something we need to look at."