Press Releases
Year 2013
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7 Nov 2013
URA’s first project successfully sold by public auction under Facilitating Services (pilot scheme)
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) announced the first successful joint sale by public auction for a project under its Facilitating Services (pilot scheme) at 67 - 71 Lion Rock Road in Kowloon City today (Thursday) with 100% owners' participation. This marks another milestone of the Authority in Hong Kong's urban renewal. The facilitating services is one of the initiatives set out in the 2011 Urban Renewal Strategy which states that the URA may take up a "facilitator" role to help property owners in amalgamating their property interests for joint sale in the market. This enables the redevelopment model of the URA to take a more diverse form and speed up the pace of urban renewal. Occupying a site area of about 3,534 square feet, this project involves three four-storey blocks built in 1
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17 Oct 2013
URA’s Mallory Street/Burrows Street revitalisation project receives Silver Award of HKIP Awards 2013
The first standalone preservation cum revitalisation project of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) at Mallory Street/Burrows Street in Wan Chai has been conferred the Silver Award of Hong Kong Institute of Planners (HKIP) Award 2013 for its remarkable adaptive reuse of a cluster of historic buildings, said the URA today (Thursday). The Mallory Street revitalisation project, which officially opened in July this year, is now the Comix Home Base under the management of the Hong Kong Arts Centre as it serves as a platform for exchange and interaction of the comic industry both locally and overseas. "We are delighted that our efforts in preserving and revitalising the pre-war building cluster at Mallory Street have been recognised by the HKIP. All along, it has been our objective to revitalis
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7 Oct 2013
URA Press Statement on Peel Street/Graham Street Project
就傳媒查詢市區重建局（市建局）中環 卑利街╱嘉咸街發展計劃內參加「准用協議安排」的商戶表示如期遷出有困難一事，市建局會在短期內約見所有商戶，了解他們的訴求。 市建局提供以下背景資料供參考： 市建局在2007年公布卑利街╱嘉咸街發展計劃時，已經了解社區人士及販商的聲音，希望露天市集的小販可以延續下去。嚴格來說，嘉咸街露天市集在重建項目範圍之外，但市建局認為可藉此重建項目改善該區居民的居住環境的同時，協助毗鄰的市集。 市建局因此在2008年7月公布實施卑利街／嘉咸街發展計劃時，表示會分兩期進行工程。第一期發展地盤B，第二期發展地盤A及C，並會採取相應措施，以延續毗鄰以小販攤檔為主的市集及提昇其活力。分階段進行項目的重建工程，當時估計會令項目的發展期延長18至24個月，以及增加發展成本超過二億元。 市建局在過去5年，實行了一系列的短期措施協助市集販商，包括為小販提供電錶、重新設計新的露天攤檔及斥資舉辦推廣市集活動等。 除街上的小販外，地盤內有些商舖也是售賣新鮮食品。市建局計劃先在地盤B興建一座四面臨街的兩層鮮貨市場，並在2009年5月，推出「地區新鮮食品店安排」(Local Fresh Food Shop Arrangement，簡稱「鮮貨店安排」)，待重建完成後，重建範圍內選擇了「鮮貨店安排」的有關商舖，可獲優先考慮以該行業市值租金搬遷至市建局的兩層鮮貨市場。 「鮮貨店安排」只有兩家店舖參加，他們放棄數十萬元的營商特惠津貼，以確認選擇此安排。市建局承諾這兩家參加「鮮貨店安排」的店舖，會盡量做到無縫銜接地盤B的兩層鮮貨市場。 由於項目分兩期發展，市建局讓地盤B有興趣繼續營運的商舖（包括一些並非售賣鮮食品的），在獲得所有賠償後仍可以「准用協議」(License Agreement)形式，臨時使用未動工的地盤A及C空置店舖。 「准用協議」在2010
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30 Sep 2013
Some 50 applications for third round of demand-led redevelopment project pilot scheme received
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) announced that some 50 applications have so far been received for the third round of the demand-led redevelopment project (pilot scheme) by 5 pm today (Monday). A spokesperson for the URA said: "We are pleased to see that the pilot scheme, having been introduced for two years, is well received among many property owners. There seems to be better understanding of the eligibility criteria for the pilot scheme and co-ordination among the owners in making their submissions." The applications will go through a screening and scoring process. In the next couple of months, the URA hopes to be able to select suitable projects for inclusion in the 2014/15 Annual Business Plan, which will be subject to the approval of the URA Board and the Financial Secretar
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18 Sep 2013
URA and HKHS: New tendering arrangement for OBB building contractors
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) today (Wednesday) announced the introduction of a new tendering arrangement for building contractors under the Operation Building Bright (OBB) with an aim to provide an open and fair tendering platform free from interference of the process. The Government launched the OBB scheme in May 2009 which is a special operation to promote building rehabilitation and also an initiative to create employment opportunities. The Scheme involves a total subsidy of HK$3.5 billion and is helping owners of over 3,200 buildings aged 30 years or over to carry out repair works. HKHS and URA in collaboration with the Buildings Department are responsible for the implementation of the scheme. Under the new tendering arrangement, three
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11 Sep 2013
URA issues offer letters to owners affected by two remaining projects in second round of demand-led pilot scheme
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (Wednesday) issued conditional acquisition offers to property owners affected by two remaining redevelopment projects in the second round of demand-led pilot scheme in Tai Kok Tsui and Sham Shui Po commenced in June this year. Eligible owner-occupiers of domestic properties affected by the two demand-led projects at No. 8 - 10 Fuk Chak Street/7 - 9 Li Tak Street in Tai Kok Tsui, and No. 25 - 31 Wong Chuk Street in Sham Shui Po will be offered $11,020 and $9,863 per square foot of saleable area respectively which are equivalent to the unit rate of a notional replacement flat of seven-year-old situated in similar locality and of similar size. The URA offer letters spelt out details of the conditional offers to owners of 109 property interests who wi
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10 Sep 2013
Two demand-led projects of URA in Sham Shui Po take a major step forward
The two demand-led redevelopment projects in Sham Shui Po under the second round of the pilot scheme of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) are set to move forward as owners representing more than 80 percent of the undivided shares per lot in both projects have signed agreements to sell their properties to URA within the 75-day offer period expiring today (Tuesday). Director (Acquisition & Clearance) of the URA, Mr Ian Wong, congratulated the property owners of 270 - 286 Tung Chau Street/1 - 5 Kweilin Street, and 1 - 3B Kowloon Road/1 - 5 Kiu Yam Street for their efforts in taking the projects a significant step forward on fulfilling one key condition of the URA's conditional offers. "We are delighted to see that the two projects initiated by owners have achieved a major breakthrough whic
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6 Sep 2013
Property acquisition for two demand-led redevelopment projects to start soon
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) will soon issue conditional acquisition offers to property owners affected by its two demand-led redevelopment projects in Tai Kok Tsui and Sham Shui Po commenced earlier in June this year. Eligible owner-occupiers of domestic properties of No. 8 - 10 Fuk Chak Street/ 7 - 9 Li Tak Street in Tai Kok Tsui, and No. 25 - 31 Wong Chuk Street in Sham Shui Po will be offered $11,020 and $9,863 per square foot of saleable area respectively which are equivalent to the unit rate of a notional replacement flat of seven-year-old situated in similar locality and of similar size. The conditional offers for the two projects are deliberated and approved by the Land, Rehousing and Compensation Committee of the URA Board after careful deliberation today (Friday). Let
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30 Aug 2013
URA’s industrial building redevelopment project in Cheung Sha Wan: Authorisation by Secretary for Development
The Secretary for Development has authorised the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to proceed with its industrial building redevelopment pilot scheme project at Nos. 777 - 783 Yu Chau West Street, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon. The authorisation for the project is given under Section 24(4)(a) of the Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance (URAO) and is published in the Gazette today (Friday). The project was implemented by way of a development project in accordance with Section 26 of the URAO. The implementation notice of the Yu Chau West Street industrial building redevelopment project was published in the Gazette on 18 January 2013 under Section 23 of the URAO. It was followed by a two-month publication period, during which three objections were received. In accordance with Section 2
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18 Jul 2013
URA’s Art Community in Wan Chai takes off with the opening of the Comix Home Base
The first pure preservation cum revitalisation project of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) at Mallory Street/Burrows Street in Wan Chai is officially open today (Thursday). The URA has appointed Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) to be the Main Operator of the Mallory Street project to operate and manage the "Comix Home Base" under a five-year contract. The HKAC endeavours to use the Comix Home Base as the platform for exchange and interaction of the comic industry both locally and overseas. The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, witnessed the opening of the Comix Home Base together with the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan; Chairman of the URA, Mr Victor So; and Chairman of Board of Governors of HKAC, Mr Nelson Leong. Speaking at the ceremony, Chai