Architects present design for 'inner harbour' at Queen's Pier

Queen's Pier would be able to stand at its original site and face the harbour once again if a recreational 'inner harbour' was created, a group of architects and planners has suggested. The Urban Design Alliance introduced its Central waterfront proposal yesterday, featuring an inner harbour surrounded by long promenades for al fresco dining and strolling, connected to other spots on the shore by boats and a tram.

The old Queen's Pier would stand on the mini-harbour frontage, re-establishing its historic position. The alignment would form a boulevard from the HSBC Building, through the Star Ferry clock tower - restored at the original site - to Queen's Pier and the new Star Ferry Pier.

Patrick Lau Hing-tat, a member of the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee and a landscape architect, welcomed the design. 'A shore location for Queen's Pier is the key to respecting heritage, remembering that colonial governors declared rule by the action of 'landing' on the pier,' he said.

The envisaged mini-harbour is currently a reclamation site. Alliance chairman Paul Chu Hoi-shan said restoration would not involve technical problems.

'It is only about whether the government wants to do it, though with some costs,' he said.

The alliance also doubted that the government's existing plan would be able to launch a 'vibrant' harbourfront, as it claimed.