Sun Hung Kai Properties makes massive changes to West Kowloon project, drops one tower and adds more open space
- The project, to be completed in phases by 2028, includes a 1.5km walkway, 38,000 sq ft of open space for central plaza, a mall and two office towers
- Last November, SHKP won the tender for the plot above West Kowloon Terminus with a record US$5.45 billion bid, or HK$13,345 per sq ft
According to the developer’s new plan submitted to the board recently, the number of commercial towers will be reduced from three to two, and the amount of open space and green cover will be increased considerably.
“The Approved Scheme with three towers is quite dense and provides limited open space,” Hong Kong’s biggest developer by market capitalisation said in the document released on Friday. “The design does not meet current requirements for Grade A office development.”
Expected to be completed in phases by 2028, the new project design includes a 1.5km walkway that connects the entire West Kowloon neighbourhood and calls for plenty of greenery between the buildings. It will also have 38,000 sq ft of open space for the central plaza, four times that of Times Square.
“The design was made these several months in times of pandemic, which changed a lot of our thinking,” Timothy Mak Mang-tim, SHKP’s project director, said during a briefing. “For instance, we thought office [goers] have to have more opportunities to get in contact with nature and outdoor space. So we designed a lot of greenery including across the buildings.”
Rebecca Wong, planning director at the developer, said that the outer appearance of the knife-shaped buildings in the earlier design has changed to a more rounded one for a better aesthetic appeal.