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Architects say bureau refuses to discuss preservation options

The Civil Engineering and Development Department is refusing to meet  architects to discuss feasible plans to save Queen's Pier and the Star Ferry Pier from demolition.

But in less than three weeks, on November 12, the government will close the piers in preparation for demolition.

Under the government's plan for Central's new waterfront, the piers will give way to the P2 road, a four-lane Central-Admiralty link.

The Hong Kong Institute of Architects  said it was technically feasible to preserve the piers by slightly altering the road's alignment.

'We have had discussions among ourselves and agree it is possible and feasible to preserve the two piers,' said the institute's vice-president, Vincent Ng Wing-shun.

'The government does not have much work to do. It just has to adjust the alignment of the road slightly.'

Mr Ng said the institute had met planning officials last Wednesday on how to save the two piers from demolition.

But the Civil Engineering and Development Department, which is leading the project, had not responded to calls for a similar meeting. 'There isn't much the planning department can do in this issue,' Mr Ng said. 'We demanded a meeting with the CEDD, but we heard nothing from them.'

The department did not reply to the Post's inquiry.

The institute conducted an on-line survey in the past two months. Among the 114 responding architects, 102 said the piers should be preserved. Among those, 58 viewed the piers as having historic and cultural value,  and 33 said they should be kept because they had architectural value. Four cited personal sentimental reasons.

Among  the architects who want the piers preserved, 30 wanted to see the building house museums or other cultural facilities. Forty-seven  said they were not convinced the demolition of the Star Ferry pier's clock tower was inevitable.

Mr Ng said his group understood it might be difficult to preserve the two-finger berth of the Star Ferry pier. But it believed Queen's Pier, the main building of the Star Ferry pier and the  clock tower should be easy to preserve.

Queen's Pier and Edinburgh Place were the landing points for six former governors and the first port of call for a host of British royals over the past  half century. The two sites, along with the Star Ferry pier, built in 1957, will be demolished as is part of the  Central reclamation phase three, which the government promises will give the city a new waterfront.

After the closure of the historic harbour landing, junks and other public vessels will berth at a new site, named Central Pier 9, at the eastern edge of the cluster of outlying islands ferry piers.

A new pier will cater  to ferries operating  between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui.



Engineers 'ignoring' pleas to save piers