1 Building reborn as gallery, pub and restaurants
Olga Wong, SCMP 1 April 2008

The verandah of The Pawn, a pub to opern on Saturday in a refurbished Wan Chai shophouse. Photo: Dustin Shum. Source: SCMP

The building containing the Woo Cheong Pawn Shop, one of the Wan Chai shophouses preserved by the Urban Renewal Authority six years ago, has finally passed stringent building regulations and will open to the public this week.
Its 9,701 square feet comprises four shophouses in Johnston Road. The ground floor of the four-storey building will be occupied by an art gallery, the authority said, while the three floors above will house a themed pub called The Pawn and restaurants operated by a private company.

The British-style pub is expected to open on Saturday. Its operator, Joseph Baclay, said hundreds of thousand of dollars had been spent decorating the shophouse. Customers would be able to sit on the large verandahs or the roof-garden to enjoy city views while being served food and drinks. Lifts and fire escapes had been added to meet regulations.

The shophouses, built in 1888, were restored by the authority at a cost of HK$15 million in 2005.

Lee Ho-yin, director of the University of Hong Kong's architectural conservation programme, said the revitalisation project would be more successful if the pawn shop had been invited to stay. The pawn shop moved to another street after the building was acquired by the authority.

Dr Lee, who studied the history of shophouses in Hong Kong, said the shophouses preserved by the authority were different from those found in Guangzhou.

"Shophouses built in Hong Kong have back lanes and larger verandahs," he said, and their style was influenced by British building regulations imposed to improve hygiene after the plague in 1894.

2 26 building plans approved in February
Hong Kong Government, 1 April 2008

The Buildings Department approved 26 building plans in February - eight on Hong Kong Island, six in Kowloon and 12 in the New Territories.

Of the approved plans, eight were for apartment and apartment/commercial developments, four were for commercial developments, 10 were for factory and industrial developments and four were for community services developments.

In the same month, consent was given for work to start on 17 building projects that, when completed, will provide 117,370 square metres of gross floor area for domestic use, involving 1,089 units, and 126,373 square metres of gross floor area for non-domestic use. The department has received notification of commencement of work for 10 building projects.

The department also issued 14 occupation permits - three on Hong Kong Island, five in Kowloon and six in the New Territories.

Of the buildings certified for occupation, the gross floor areas for domestic use were 16,488 square metres, involving 335 units, and 6,757 square metres for non-domestic use.

The declared cost of the new buildings completed in February totalled about $0.6 billion.

In addition, eight demolition consents involving eight building structures were issued.

The department received 1,353 complaints against unauthorised building works in February, and issued 3,984 removal orders on unauthorised works. 

The full version of the Monthly Digest for February can be viewed on the Buildings Department's homepage (www.bd.gov.hk).