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1. $14m renovation plan for Stanley's famed waterfront

2. Rejected Wan Chai street renewal scheme wins award

1. $14m renovation plan for Stanley's famed waterfront
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 12 November 2005

Stanley waterfront is to undergo a major renovation, with its main street being turned into a tree-lined promenade.

The Town Planning Board approved the design yesterday, with the bill for the beautification to cost the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department $14 million.

Under the plan, the waterfront along Stanley Main Street - home to many bars and restaurants - will get a new walkway that will stretch along the promenade and reach the football pitch. It will be built of timber and 107 semi-mature trees will be planted to provide shade and form a green backdrop to the waterfront.

A piazza with 20 tent-like roofs will be built at the site that used to house the temporary market.

Facing the sea, the kiosks will be one-storey only and sell a broad mix of goods, ranging from fresh foods, drinks and refreshments, ornaments and souvenirs.

To maximise the sea views, the waterfront kiosks will be built on a higher platform than the promenade.

The facelift originated from the department's attempt to redevelop the temporary market, which was built in 1999. It proposed redeveloping the market, the refuse collection point and public toilet in early 2003. The board gave the plan conditional approval, demanding the department revise the design with a detailed landscaping proposal.

Board members thought that, given Stanley's popularity with tourists, the market needed to be a tourist attraction while also serving the local population.

Architects and landscape designers were called in with a specific brief to beautify and green the waterfront.

Andy Lewis, a senior landscape architect of the Architectural Services Department, said the kiosks would blend with the character of the central bazaar to the north.

"To echo the eating place business and alfresco dining character on Main Street, four cafes will be grouped together and placed near the restaurant area," he said. "Tables will be provided in the piazza so whoever buys snacks from the cafes can sit down and eat while enjoying a sea view."

He said the roof would be made to the highest engineering standards, able to withstand the strongest typhoon.

Market kiosks will be located at the eastern end of the kiosk line, farthest way from Main Street and the Central Bazaar.

A new refuse collection room and public toilet will be built at the southeastern end of the shop line. Construction will commence later this month and will be completed at the end of next year.

Officials pledged to closely monitor the kiosks' operation to ensure the stores would be in good order.

South District Council supports the plan.

The Hong Kong Tourist Association ranks Stanley as one of the top 10 attractions with about 15 per cent of visitors going to the market.

2. Rejected Wan Chai street renewal scheme wins award
FELIX CHAN, SCMP 12 November 2005

Campaigners may have lost their battle to save Wan Chai's "Wedding Card Street", but their efforts have won recognition from the city's professional planners.

The Hong Kong Institute of Planners has awarded a silver medal to an alternative plan for Lee Tung Street produced by a community group.

The awards adjudicating panel said the "people-oriented" scheme - which aimed at "creating a sustainable Wan Chai" - was a good example of solving development problems by the community, even though it was ultimately rejected by the Town Planning Board in August.

"The submission was significant in heralding a new era of planning professionalism which has not hitherto existed in Hong Kong," it said, announcing the award. "As a local pioneer of advocacy planning in the territory, the process marked a departure from the top-down or developer-led convention."

The proposal was devised jointly by affected residents and shop owners with professional volunteers as an alternative to the Urban Renewal Authority plan for a standard high-rise development.

It included the maintenance and renovation of some tenement buildings in Lee Tung Street, renovation of the street as a pedestrian area, five new apartment blocks and the preservation of pre-war buildings in Queen's Road East.

"In spite of the concern about practicality and that the scheme might push the traffic problems to other parts of the district, the project was commendable as a grass-roots initiative to reach a reasonable scheme accommodating community interests."

Planner Kenneth To Lap-kei, who helped devise the proposal, said he was pleased with the award.

"We are happy that the efforts of residents' participation have been recognised. It also shows that the URA is impenetrably thickheaded as a lot of people are made to suffer because urban redevelopment has been badly handled," he said.

Four other entries were given Certificates of Merit in the annual awards: MTR Corporation's "Master Layout Plan for MTR Tung Chung Station CDA"; the Urban Renewal Authority's "URA Malloy Street Project for Conservation and Revitalisation"; the Planning Department's "Development of 3D Technology in Planning Department and its achievements in improving planning practice and enhancing public participation"; and Urbis Limited's "Xiang Zhou To Tang Jia and Qianshan Waterfront Districts, Zhuhai City".

Eleven entries were submitted.