pReservation

Under its mandate to preserve buildings, sites and structures of historical, cultural or architectural interest that forms part of its redevelopment projects, the URA is looking at the issue of conservation in a comprehensive, holistic and practical manner.

URA has been involved in the management, conservation and adaptive re-use of several projects including the Western Market, a Declared Monument in Central and Western District, as well as several pre-war shop houses at No.18 Ship Street, No.60-66 Johnston Road(Johnston Road redevelopment project) and No.186-190 Queen's Road East (Lee Tung Street / McGregor Street redevelopment project) respectively in Wanchai District.

The Urban Renewal Strategy suggests that the "URA should consider setting up an advisory committee under its Board to advise on preservation work." The responsibility of overseeing the preservation work rests on the URA's Planning, Development and Conservation Committee (PDCC), as one of its functions to "to assess, review and recommend proposals for the conservation of buildings, sites and structures of historical, cultural or architectural interest."

PDCC has set up a Conservation Advisory Panel, comprising of four to six local and international advisers to provide advice to URA and PDCC on the proposals of heritage preservation as part of a wider area revitalization approach for certain districts, and more specifically, conservation proposals including adaptive re-use of those identified heritage buildings and features.

The Panel convened for the first time in Hong Kong in September 2002, the main conclusions of the Panel were:

	the opportunity exists for the URA to make a significant impact on its conservation tasks and should strive for a "World Class" standard of conservation;
	new initiatives and legislation which are common overseas such as "Transfer of Development Rights" should be pursued with Government;

	government should also consider conservation friendly policies and practices e.g. establishing heritage funds and statutory mechanisms to protect and fund the maintenance of heritage buildings;

	URA should help educate the public and improve public awareness regarding conservation issues;

	given the success of the Panel discussion involving concerned Government representatives, these forums should be held on a regular basis to exchange views and identify solutions to conservation issues in Hong Kong.

	potential conservation features and buildings should be considered in a wider local context rather than on an individual basis.

The URA is currently studying a number of pre-war buildings in and around target areas. Most of the buildings are found in Wan Chai, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po and Central and Western. Some of them are already graded by the Antiquities and Mounments' Office as historical buildings. We are working with the Antiquities and Mounments' Office on the criteria to assess the conservation merits of the buildings. We are also developing ideas for practical after-uses of the preserved buildings so that the projects could be viable. Some of the old buildings could be conserved in comprehensive development areas where redevelopment, rehabilitation and revitalisation are also taking place.

There are however several difficulties associated with the conservation of the old buildings including the cost to restore the buildings, the need to conform to strengthen building regulations in adaptive re-use of the building, aftercare and maintenance and the 'frozen' development rights. We are actively working with Government and others to tackle these issues.

pReserved Buildings

Last Update at : 13/07/2005