Flat gutted to give Kowloon couple and adult son privacy

Kevin and Linda Cheung know the grass on the other side isn’t always greener.

Having lived near Kowloon Station for 18 years, in 2015 they decided to sell their apartment and look further afield. They knew they didn’t want to move to Hong Kong Island because most of their family lived in Kowloon. They also needed easy access to Hong Kong International Airport because they both work in the aviation industry. Those criteria aside, they kept an open mind and viewed apartments in many areas, but ended up going back to where they started.

“I couldn’t find anywhere that suited us better than the area in which we already lived,” says Kevin Cheung. “However, since I’d bought my first apartment, the whole neighbourhood had been substantially redeveloped. Previously, there had really been nothing apart from this building and now it is the shortest tower in the area. When we were looking to buy a second time, we had a lot more choice.”

The 1,600 sq ft apartment they even­tually settled on needed a complete over­haul. The previous owner had kept all the original fixtures and the space was dated. Cheung remedied this with a tried-and-tested solution, by contacting designer Clifton Leung Hin-che, of Clifton Leung Design Workshop, who had renovated his former home.

Leung gutted the couple’s new apart­ment and changed its layout, opening it up and maximising the useable space.