Shaw Studios site gets top heritage status despite development plans

Government advisers have given the former site of Shaw Studios, a one-time cradle of the city's film industry, top heritage status - but it could still be developed for flats and hostels accommodation.

In November, the Town Planning Board approved the development plans - unaware that a task force under the Antiquities Advisory Board had already proposed grade one heritage status for the site.

Yesterday, the Antiquities Advisory Board unanimously agreed to confer grade one status on the 7.8-hectare Clear Water Bay site, which has 23 buildings.

Gradings in the three-tier heritage classification system do not protect buildings against alteration or demolition, but grade one status flags them as potential declared monuments; monuments are protected by law.

"What we did today is that we have affirmed the value of the site as a whole," board chairman Andrew Lam Siu-lo said after the meeting.

While board members agreed on the significant contribution Shaw Brothers and Shaw Studios had made to the Hong Kong film industry, many had reservations about the status of buildings not even built when the site first came into operation in the 1960s.

"The site has huge historical value, but some of the buildings were built in the 1970s and the 1990s. Should we give all the buildings grade one status? Can we be clear that we are giving some specific buildings a grade one status?" said board member Rebecca Chiu Lai-har.