The bold decision by New World Development’s Adrian Cheng Chi-kong to keep, restore and revive the mid-century State Theatre is worthy of celebration in the community. More importantly, it has wide-ranging implications for the future of heritage conservation in Hong Kong. First, an internationally unique piece of Hong Kong architecture, distinguished by the concrete arches rising over the building, will be kept and celebrated. State Theatre will return to carrying out its founding purpose as a cultural hub. Opened in 1952 as Empire Theatre, the North Point landmark was Hong Kong’s premier music venue in the post-war years and a forerunner of City Hall. In the decades that followed, it served as a community focal point, hosting a popular cinema as well as music troupes from Taiwan and Japan. Second, New World Development has chosen a nuanced approach to the redevelopment of the King’s Road site. By keeping and integrating State Theatre with a residential tower on the site, the developer sees value in marrying the old and the new, not only to develop the potential of the land lot, but also to benefit the neighbourhood around the building. The conservation of the 90-year-old Capitol Theatre in Singapore offers a good regional comparison here. The historic theatre was restored and reopened in 2015 alongside modern flats suitably blended into the city centre site. These initiatives to fuse the past and the present for the future can promote urban sustainability. Third, the heritage conservation journey of State Theatre is unprecedented in Hong Kong. In the keenly watched process, community advocacy was aligned with the Antiquities Advisory Board’s decision to raise the building’s heritage grade, the compulsory sale of the property, and the developer’s enthusiastic willingness and commitment to go the extra mile by engaging a host of specialists to guide the project. Never had Hong Kong witnessed the care and energy poured into the conservation of a privately-owned Grade 1 historic building before. It is for that reason I joined a team of heritage architects, historians and conservation experts to advise the project two years ago. Can Sham Shui Po be as cool as Brooklyn? Fourth, one key area that will be explored through the conservation of State Theatre but is seldom seen in Hong Kong heritage projects is a large-scale stakeholder and community engagement process. Architectural conservation should go beyond the meticulous care and restoration of the physical fabric of vintage buildings. The conservation of State Theatre would make history by involving multiple parties in the gathering of historical narratives and artefacts, to spark creative programming. The effectiveness of this process will be as important as the project’s outcome. Finally, it is heartening that a private developer has shown rare initiative and taken a landmark step to preserve and revitalise an exceptional piece of modernist architecture in Hong Kong. Increased protection of post-war buildings by the government is long overdue. Since the late 1990s, the government has focused on grading a list of 1,444 buildings from before 1950. While the authorities might have chosen to complete the assessment and grading of the remaining items on the “1,444 list”, it is a matter of urgency for the government to step up its efforts to protect Hong Kong’s post-war architecture as a heritage policy priority. In other words, work in this regard has to accelerate in parallel with the work on the 1,444 list and be given equal – if not greater – importance. In the past year, the well-designed Excelsior hotel in Causeway Bay and the engineering feat that was the AIA building in Wan Chai have been demolished. More modernist gems will probably meet the same fate before long. It is my hope that the precedent that is being set with the conservation of State Theatre will prompt a change in the mindset of both government and private developers. Heritage conservation and urban renewal can and should go hand in hand for the good of the community. Professor Ho Puay-peng is head of the Department of Architecture in the National University of Singapore. He is a former member of Hong Kong’s Antiquities Advisory Board