Revitalising Historic Buildings
51. In my view, revitalisation, rather than preservation alone, should be pursued to maximise the economic and social benefits of historic buildings. This is in line with the concept of sustainable conservation.
52. The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) has done a great deal to preserve and revitalise historic buildings. I call on the URA to extend the scope of historic building protection to cover pre-war buildings. In so doing, it is necessary for the URA to consider not just preservation but also ways of revitalisation.
53. At present, quite a number of historic buildings are owned by the Government. I will seek to revitalise them by introducing a new scheme which will allow non-governmental organisations to apply for adaptive re-use of these historic buildings. As a start, six to eight buildings will be offered under the scheme. We hope they can be transformed creatively into unique cultural landmarks. The modus operandi of social enterprise under commercial management will be adopted to achieve a win-win situation. The Government will provide appropriate financial support to ensure that the scheme is practicable. I have earmarked $1 billion under the Capital Works Reserve Fund for this purpose. As for other historic buildings with commercial value, we welcome the business community's participation in their adaptive re-use. To highlight revitalisation as the guiding principle of heritage conservation, I put forward the following specific proposals:
(1) The Central Police Station Compound at Hollywood Road: We have accepted in principle an innovative revitalisation proposal of $1.8 billion submitted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
(2) The Original Site of the Central School: The Former Police Married Quarters Site at Aberdeen Street, which is the original site of the Central School, will be removed from the List of Sites for Sale by Application for a year and proposals will be invited on its revitalisation.
(3) Open-air Bazaar in Wan Chai: Our plan for preserving the open-air bazaar in Tai Yuen Street and Cross Street has been finalised. Once endorsed by the Wan Chai District Council, we will further beautify the bazaar with local characteristics. The Development Bureau and the URA will adopt a district-based approach in considering the development and revitalisation of Wan Chai.
