Wanchai Tower | |
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灣仔政府大樓 | |
View from Gloucester Road | |
General information | |
Status | Complete |
Type | Government building |
Architectural style | Modernist |
Location | 12 Harbour Road Wan Chai, Hong Kong |
Coordinates | 22°16′48.02″N114°10′20.48″E / 22.2800056°N 114.1723556°E Coordinates: 22°16′48.02″N114°10′20.48″E / 22.2800056°N 114.1723556°E |
Completed | 1986 |
Owner | Government of Hong Kong |
Design and construction | |
Architect | Architectural Services Department |
Engineer | Ng Chun Man & Associates |
Main contractor | Shui On Contractors |
Wanchai Tower | |||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 灣仔政府大樓 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 湾仔政府大楼 | ||||||||||||
Literal meaning | Wan Chai Government Tower | ||||||||||||
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Wanchai Tower, located at 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, is home to the District Court and government offices. Neighbouring buildings include Immigration Tower, Revenue Tower and Shui On Centre.
The building sits on land reclaimed from Victoria Harbour in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As Hong Kong grew rapidly, the territory suffered from a shortage of courtrooms. The government and judiciary first discussed building a new courthouse on the land in 1978. [1] The site was temporarily used as an open-air car park. [2]
The building was designed by the Architectural Services Department as well as Dennis Lau and Ng Chun Man Architects and Engineers (now DLN Architects). [3] [4] The HK$212-million construction contract was awarded to Shui On Contractors on 4 November 1984. Foundation and basement work had been completed under an earlier contract. [5] Construction was completed in November 1986. [3]
Originally, the building was built to house 16 district courts, four small claims courts, 12 magistrate's courts, two juvenile courts, four labour tribunals, and a lands tribunal. The existing Victoria and Kowloon district courts were relocated to the building, as was the Causeway Bay Magistracy, which was demolished to make way for Tin Hau station of the new Island line. The government offices were built to centralise the Data Processing Agency, Land Transport Agency, Music Office (of the Urban Council and Regional Council), Census and Statistics Department, Commercial Crimes Bureau, and Correctional Services Department. [6]
When the Causeway Bay Magistracy was moved to the new Wanchai Tower, it was renamed Central Magistracy. [7] In 1991, the Central Magistracy moved again, this time to the Eastern Law Courts Building, where it was renamed as Eastern Magistracy. [8]
Wanchai Tower is owned by the Hong Kong government. It occupies a site of 19,000 square metres (200,000 sq ft) between Gloucester Road and Harbour Road. The District Court occupies approximately 40,000 square metres (430,000 sq ft) of the building's lower floors. Government offices occupy about 25,000 square metres (270,000 sq ft) at the top of the building. The courts and government offices are separated by a refuge floor. The two building uses are expressed in contrasting facade treatments, with the government offices glazed in glass curtain wall. [4]
Financial Secretary John Tsang announced in 2008 that the government would study the feasibility of relocating the departments housed within the Immigration Tower, Revenue Tower, and Wanchai Tower to Kai Tak and Tseung Kwan O New Town in order to open up the valuable Gloucester Road lands for private redevelopment. [9] Surveyors estimated then that the site could fetch up to $20 billion if the site were auctioned by the government. [10] The plan has garnered some criticism for moving government services to locations seen as less convenient. [9] An area of Tseung Kwan O on Po Yap Road, named Area 67, is already zoned to house government offices. [10]
Later, it was announced that the site will accommodate an expansion of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, which is located to the north, as well as office and hotel space. [11]
In her 2017 policy address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the government's proposal to construct a new District Court Complex at Caroline Hill to house the District Court, Family Court, and Lands Tribunal. The government also plans to relocate the government departments housed in Wanchai Tower, freeing the site for redevelopment. [12]
Wan Chai District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. Of the four on Hong Kong Island, it is north-central, and had 152,608 residents in 2011, a fall from 167,146 residents in 2001. The district has the second-highest educationally qualified residents with the highest-bracket incomes, the second-lowest population and the third-oldest quotient. It is a relatively affluent district, with one in five persons having liquid assets of more than HKD 1 million.
Wan Chai is a metropolitan area situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area north of Gloucester Road is often referred to as Wan Chai North.
Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. It has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km2, as of 2008. The island had a population of about 3,000 inhabitants scattered in a dozen fishing villages when it was occupied by the United Kingdom in the First Opium War (1839–1842). In 1842, the island was formally ceded in perpetuity to the UK under the Treaty of Nanking and the City of Victoria was then established on the island by the British Force in honour of Queen Victoria. The island was given as a gesture of goodwill back to China at the end of the New Territories lease, to ensure continued peace and fair trading in the area.
Central is the central business district of Hong Kong. It is located in Central and Western District, on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, the southernmost point of Kowloon Peninsula. The area was the heart of Victoria City, although that name is rarely used today.
The Sai Kung District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. The district comprises the southern half of Sai Kung Peninsula, Clear Water Bay Peninsula in the New Territories and a strip of land to the east of Kowloon. Areas in the district include Sai Kung Town, Hong Kong Global Geopark, Tseung Kwan O and over 70 islands of different sizes. The administrative centre had been located in Sai Kung Town until the Sai Kung District Office was relocated to Tseung Kwan O recently. The district's population is concentrated in Tseung Kwan O, as of 2011. In 2011, the district was the third youngest district, with a median age of 39.3. Known as the "back garden of Hong Kong", Sai Kung has been able to retain its natural scenery. Many traditional customs and cultures are still retained in the rural villages.
Admiralty is the eastern extension of the central business district on the Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong. It is located on the eastern end of the Central and Western District, bordered by Wan Chai to the east and Victoria Harbour to the north.
Tiu Keng Leng is an area of Hong Kong in the Sai Kung District adjacent to Tseung Kwan O.
Po Lam is a neighbourhood in northern Tseung Kwan O, New Territories. An MTR station with the same name, Tseung Kwan O Village, Yau Yue Wan Village, King Lam Estate, and Po Lam Estate are located there.
The Wan Chai Pier, or Wan Chai Ferry Pier, is a pier at the coast of Wan Chai North on the Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong. The pier is operated by Star Ferry, and provides ferry services to Tsim Sha Tsui. The pier is near the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Southorn Playground is a sports and recreational ground in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. It comprises a football pitch, four basketball courts, and a children's playground.
Junk Bay known in Chinese as "Tseung Kwan O" is a bay in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. In the northern tip of the bay lies the Tseung Kwan O Village.
The North Island line is a proposal to provide rapid transit service for the area between the existing MTR Island line and the northern coast of Hong Kong Island in order to relieve the already congested Island line.
Central and Wan Chai Reclamation is a project launched by the government of Hong Kong since the 1990s to reclaim land for different purposes. This includes transportation improvements such as the Hong Kong MTR Station, Airport Express Railway & Central-Wanchai Bypass, as well as public recreation space such as the Central Harbourfront Event Space, Tamar Park and the Hong Kong Observation Wheel.
French International School "Victor Segalen" of Hong Kong is a French international school in Hong Kong. It is the only accredited French school in Hong Kong (linked by an agreement with the Agency for French Teaching Abroad. It has over 2,500 students in four different campuses. Since September 2014, FIS expanded its operations to a new campus in Hung Hom. In September 2018, the FIS opened its new campus in Tseung Kwan O.
Immigration Tower is a skyscraper located in the Wan Chai District of Hong Kong completed in 1990. The tower rises 49 floors and 181 metres (594 ft) in height. Immigration Tower, which stands as the 93rd-tallest building in Hong Kong, is composed entirely of office space. The building houses government offices, principally those of the Immigration Department.
The Revenue Tower is a skyscraper located in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The tower rises 49 floors and 181 metres (594 ft) in height. The building was completed in 1990. The Revenue Tower, which stands as the 93rd-tallest building in Hong Kong, is composed entirely of office space. The building, along with its twin tower, the Immigration Tower, house government offices. The building is unique in that it houses a sky lobby on the 38th floor; this is designed to ease vertical transportation in the tower.
The Kai Tak Development, abbreviated as "KTD" and formerly called South East Kowloon Development (東南九龍發展計劃), refers to the redevelopment of the former Kai Tak Airport site in Kai Tak, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
The East Kowloon line is a proposed Hong Kong rapid transit line that would run from Diamond Hill to Tseung Kwan O New Town. The route would pass through the hilly Sau Mau Ping residential area, which is not directly served by any local railway service at present. The scheme was first revealed by the Hong Kong Government in the "Railway Development Strategy 2014", published September 2014. The transit scheme is related to government-led redevelopment of the East Kowloon area as well as planned residential development in the Anderson Road/Sau Mau Ping district.
Susi Law Wai-shan (羅偉珊) is a District Councillor for the Oi Kwan constituency in Hong Kong and a manager of artist hub Foo Tak Building in Wanchai.