Overseas-trained architect Mark Panckhurst has benefited from a wealth of opportunities and challenges during a 13-year career in Hong Kong. But, at times, he is still left scratching his head in bemusement at some of the rules, policies and prevailing attitudes that affect, or afflict, the governance and evolution of the local property sector.
One perpetual puzzle for the New Zealander, who works for Head Architecture and Design, a 15-person firm also handling projects in Macau and the mainland, is the continuing reluctance of developers and the powers that be to accept that conservation and a deep-seated respect for architectural history are essential elements in creating a genuine 'world city'.
'I think Hong Kong has as bad an attitude to building conservation as any city I have been in,' Mr Panckhurst said. 'People should be smart enough to realise that the only way you become a world city is by keeping some of that heritage. The older buildings may not be masterpieces but, crucially, they add up to something that is Hong Kong.'
He said that the oldest buildings in New Zealand might be no more that 170 years old, but no one would dream of knocking them down. Similarly, in international terms, what caused the likes of Paris, Rome and London to be classed as great cities was their painstaking preservation of the old as much as their embrace of the new.
'It takes conservation and some respect for your own history, not just a big building contest. The 'big and new' mentality is a risk. If you want to play that game, you just get tower blocks and pollution, or find yourself competing with somewhere like Dubai.'
He said Singapore provided a good example in the way it had protected its older shophouses. And, while the mood and outlook might be shifting in Hong Kong, there was still some distance to go. Too often, it seemed that the imperative was to 'improve' a building - such as the latest plans for the former Central Police Station compound - or replace it with something of notionally the same style, rather than just let it be.