Just one building in Hong Kong's Shaw Studios proposed for top heritage grading

Only one out of the 23 buildings at the Shaw Studios in Clear Water Bay has been recommended for a grade one heritage listing, even though the Antiquities Advisory Board earlier decided that the whole site should be given the top grade.

Nine of the blocks on the 54-year-old site will be accorded grade two historic status, eight others grade three, and five will not be listed at all as historic buildings under a proposal by an assessment panel, which will go to the full board today.

The 7.8-hectare site, seen as a cradle of Hong Kong's film industry, will be turned into a private residential and commercial development with 642 flats and 115 hostel rooms under a plan approved by the Town Planning Board in November.

Amid conservationists' calls for the site to be saved, the government approached the owners for talks about possible amendments to the development plan so that some buildings of higher historic value could be preserved.

The owners withdrew their application for a demolition order just hours ahead of the antiquities board meeting that endorsed a proposal to give the whole site a grade one listing, pending public consultation and a final decision.

In a paper to be discussed by the board today, the panel recommended giving grade one status to the studios' iconic administrative building, also known as the old Shaw House, which was designed by well-known architect Eric Cumine.