27799045
1
Li Xueying Hong Kong Correspondent T he air smells of sawdust that dances out from wood workshops. Sweaty men unload crates of goods from all over the world into dark warehouses. Near- by, a factory is dusty with the flour milled there. In a decade or two, all these could be gone; the haphazard slouch of decrepit buildings re- placed by sparkling skyscrapers. The gritty industrial area of Ngau Tau Kok (or Ox Horn), part of Kwun Tong – along with Kai Tak and Kowloon Bay – is slated to be transformed into a glitzy water- front business district called Kow- loon East. Billed as Hong Kong’s second central business district (CBD), it will span 488ha and yield 52 mil- lion sq ft of office space – double that of Central. The man given the task of trans- forming the area, Mr Raymond Lee, head of the government’s Energis- ing Kowloon East Office, enthuses about how it will become a place to work, live and play. In particular, it will be key in sat- isfying a voracious appetite for of- fice space in the city – demand grows at an estimated 1.1 million sq ft a year. “We are running out of space,” says Mr Lee simply, in an interview with The Sunday Times. Compared with other financial centres, the size of Hong Kong’s CBD in Central is relatively small, at 23 million sq ft. London weighs in at 130 million sq ft and New York City at 200 million sq ft. Hong Kong’s closest rival, Singa- pore, has 21.6 million sq ft in its CBD, but that is being supplement- ed by Marina Bay’s 30.4 million sq ft. This year, Singapore’s prime CBD office rents dipped to half those of Hong Kong. But in Hong Kong, where urban living is compressed in pockets amid verdant hills, any ambitious development plan will mean a tug between the old and the new. And the creation of Kowloon East will mean the loss of the rough-and-tumble streetscape that featured prominently in films such as Johnnie To’s Mad Detective. Mr Lee pledges that his office will embark on a “new approach in managing our urban transforma- tion in an organic way”. The gov- ernment will not bulldoze existing buildings where “economic activity is still vibrant”, he says, as it had done in the past. Instead, it will improve public in- frastructure and offer “one-stop ser- vices” to facilitate developers seek- ing to develop new skyscrapers. The first step has been taken: re- branding the area, changing direc- tional signs from “Kwun Tong In- dustrial Area” to “Kwun Tong Busi- ness Area”. He paints a vision of how it will look: There will be waterfront parks and walkways linking key nodes. There will be areas beneath a flyo- ver where artists can perform. There will be a 9km monorail net- work with 12 stations to trundle around the district, currently served by three MTR stations. For now, the area is a bit of a trek for bankers used to Central. But the 45-minute train ride from the city will be halved when a line linking Kai Tak to Admiralty is up in 2020. The focus on connectivity is lauded. Mr Simon Ng, from public policy think-tank Civic Exchange, says: “Before planning the land use, they are planning the transport modes and walkways. This is a new approach which we welcome.” Within the district, Kai Tak – a blank slate, as it was the site of the former airport until 1998 – will be the first to be ready. A cruise termi- nal designed by British architect Norman Foster has been complet- ed, and will open on June 12. The town will have a mix of of- fices and homes, plus a sports stadi- um. In five years, it will provide 5.4 million sq ft of office space, which will double to 11 million sq ft in a decade, says Mr Lee. There is no fixed timeline for the other two towns. Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong – in Hong Kong’s old- est industrial area – host factories and homes. Manufacturers started moving out to southern China from the 1980s, leaving some units empty. In came artists and musicians, tak- ing advantage of the sprawling space and relatively low rents. About 1,000 indie bands have reset- tled in the area. Developers were equally intrep- id, converting some factories to commercial use, housing 25,000 of- fices now. It is this “organic trans- formation” that the government wants to facilitate, says Mr Lee. A recent delegation of compa- nies visited his office to sniff out op- portunities. This month, Manulife Financial Corp paid HK$4.5 billion (S$720 million) for an office tower in Kowloon East – the second-high- est price on record for a Hong Kong tower. There are challenges though. So far, only 26 out of about 300 indus- trial buildings in the district – 80 per cent of which are strata-titled – have redevelopment plans. There are also fears that the local identity – creative hipsters toting electric guitars at cha chan teng (Hong Kong-style cafes) along with handymen wielding electric saws – would be supplanted by grey suits and sterile skyscrapers. But there was little sentimentali- ty from long-time denizen Lam Fu Kung, 56, who has owned a work- shop fashioning wooden crates for logistics companies for 35 years. Instead of sawdust, he is waiting for glittering stardust from develop- ers to land. With a shrug, he says matter-of-factly: “Times have changed. My business and I are part of old Hong Kong.” [email protected] On a Sunday afternoon, Yip Tai Street is desolate. Listen closely though, and you may hear the beat of drums. Electronic rock band Resi- dence A, just arrived from Beijing, is rehearsing on the second floor of Wing Fu Building in preparation for a gig that night. The grimy facade of Kwun Tong’s industrial buildings belies the creative energy that throbs within. This is also true for other in- dustrial clusters across Hong Kong – about 500 visual artists work alongside makers of chee cheong fan and soap in Fotan in the New Territories, while groups of perform- ing artists rehearse in Tai Kok Tsui, near Mongkok, and San Po Kong, in the New Territories. These areas used to hum with ac- tivity from factories that churned out everything from textiles to toys and electronics during the heyday of Hong Kong’s manufacturing in- dustry in the 1970s and 1980s. In the late 1980s, some fell silent as manufacturers moved to main- land China. Today, there are 1,435 private industrial buildings in Hong Kong. Of these, 6 per cent of units are vacant, says the Develop- ment Bureau. That amounts to about 11.2 million sq ft of vacant floor space. A decade ago, noise of a differ- ent kind started to fill these disused spaces, when the creative commu- nity – indie bands, theatre groups and designers – moved in. Occupying older and often dere- lict buildings, they usually pay rents at the lower end of the spec- trum ranging from under HK$10 (S$1.60) to HK$30 psf. The Development Bureau says that while “artistic creation, produc- tion and rehearsal for perform- ance” may be allowed, it draws the line at activities such as exhibitions that will draw a large number of vis- itors, due to fire safety concerns. Even so, it has allowed certain events to go on, such as exhibitions at Fotan as well as gigs at Hidden Agenda, the live music venue in Kwun Tong. It notes that wholesale conver- sion of industrial buildings will al- low them to be used for these pur- poses. As of March, it had received 80 such applications; 52 were ap- proved. Among them, 10 applied for change into “place of recrea- tion, sports or culture”. But what the artists fear are mar- ket forces. Building owners will be tempted to convert these buildings into commercial use – a more profit- able venture – if they think there is demand. Thus, the government’s plans to turn Kowloon East into Hong Kong’s second central business dis- trict (CBD) have given rise to wor- ries that the artists will be driven out. Mr Phil Kan, 37, an artist who has been renting a 1,000 sq ft stu- dio in Easy Pack Industrial Building for the past nine years, says he has received calls from four bands in re- cent months asking if they can store equipment at his place, as they have had to move out. “Why do we need a second CBD in such a small city?” he asks. “Where can the artists go? This is a great area as it is, why change it?” Mr Raymond Lee, head of the Energising Kowloon East Office, tells The Sunday Times that one possibility is to look at relocating arts groups and small businesses to two buildings now occupied by gov- ernment offices. Together, they contain 5.4 million sq ft of space. “We will look at whether it’s pos- sible to offer them subsidised rents,” he says. But the idea has been met with scepticism from the community. Aside from what they deride as an attempt to create an artificial en- vironment – “That’s not how we produce art,” says Fotan-based visu- al artist Chow Chun Fai – there are practical issues. For instance, says Ms Kimi Lam, 24, manager of Hidden Agenda, her outfit will not be able to co-exist with other groups such as drama troupes “because we are very loud”. More crucially, say the artists, they have built up an organic com- munity. Mr Alex Lam, 35, co-found- er of a bag and jewellery design busi- ness, points to a wooden door out- side his office. It was discarded by a scrap shop downstairs. He will find a way to use it, he says. What the artists want is for the status quo to remain. But are they claiming a privileged status for themselves? “All along, we have survived in the free market, finding these plac- es ourselves and paying market rate,” says Mr Chow. “But now, through the government’s policy, we are being forced out.” Li Xueying Decrepit buildings will make way for office space in Kowloon East Beijing band Residence A rehearsing at live music venue Hidden Agenda on the second floor of an industrial building in Kwun Tong. The space which hosts indie gigs is neighbour to a food manufacturer. Designer Alex Lam in his studio where he designs and makes leather bags. He says the artists have built an “organic community” in the industrial complexes. HONG KONG’S SECOND CBD Gritty area to get glitzy makeover Artists fear they may be left out in the cold ST PHOTOS: LI XUEYING Old industrial buildings like this one in Kwun Tong will make way for gleaming office towers as the gritty industrial area of Ngau Tau Kok (or Ox Horn), part of Kwun Tong – along with Kai Tak and Kowloon Bay – is slated to be transformed into a glitzy waterfront business district called Kowloon East. ST PHOTOS: LI XUEYING Artist Phil Kan creates furniture in his 1,000 sq ft studio in Easy Pack Industrial Building. Some other artists have already been asked to move out of the area. (Left) Businessmen visiting the waterfront space along Kwun Tong, trying to spot opportunities for development. Mr Lam Fu Kung (right), 56, who has owned a workshop fashioning wooden crates for 35 years, says he would be happy to sell it to developers. 45 think April 28, 2013 thesundaytimes
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Transcript of 27799045
Li XueyingHong Kong Correspondent
The air smells of sawdustthat dances out fromwood workshops. Sweatymen unload crates ofgoods from all over the
world into dark warehouses. Near-by, a factory is dusty with the flourmilled there.
In a decade or two, all thesecould be gone; the haphazardslouch of decrepit buildings re-placed by sparkling skyscrapers.The gritty industrial area of NgauTau Kok (or Ox Horn), part ofKwun Tong – along with Kai Takand Kowloon Bay – is slated to betransformed into a glitzy water-front business district called Kow-loon East.
Billed as Hong Kong’s secondcentral business district (CBD), itwill span 488ha and yield 52 mil-lion sq ft of office space – doublethat of Central.
The man given the task of trans-forming the area, Mr Raymond Lee,head of the government’s Energis-ing Kowloon East Office, enthusesabout how it will become a place towork, live and play.
In particular, it will be key in sat-isfying a voracious appetite for of-fice space in the city – demandgrows at an estimated 1.1 millionsq ft a year.
“We are running out of space,”says Mr Lee simply, in an interviewwith The Sunday Times.
Compared with other financial
centres, the size of Hong Kong’sCBD in Central is relatively small,at 23 million sq ft. London weighsin at 130 million sq ft and NewYork City at 200 million sq ft.
Hong Kong’s closest rival, Singa-pore, has 21.6 million sq ft in itsCBD, but that is being supplement-ed by Marina Bay’s 30.4 million sqft. This year, Singapore’s primeCBD office rents dipped to halfthose of Hong Kong.
But in Hong Kong, where urbanliving is compressed in pocketsamid verdant hills, any ambitiousdevelopment plan will mean a tugbetween the old and the new.
And the creation of KowloonEast will mean the loss of therough-and-tumble streetscape thatfeatured prominently in films suchas Johnnie To’s Mad Detective.
Mr Lee pledges that his officewill embark on a “new approach inmanaging our urban transforma-tion in an organic way”. The gov-ernment will not bulldoze existingbuildings where “economic activityis still vibrant”, he says, as it haddone in the past.
Instead, it will improve public in-frastructure and offer “one-stop ser-vices” to facilitate developers seek-ing to develop new skyscrapers.The first step has been taken: re-branding the area, changing direc-tional signs from “Kwun Tong In-dustrial Area” to “Kwun Tong Busi-ness Area”.
He paints a vision of how it willlook: There will be waterfront parksand walkways linking key nodes.There will be areas beneath a flyo-ver where artists can perform.There will be a 9km monorail net-work with 12 stations to trundlearound the district, currentlyserved by three MTR stations.
For now, the area is a bit of a trekfor bankers used to Central. But the45-minute train ride from the citywill be halved when a line linkingKai Tak to Admiralty is up in 2020.
The focus on connectivity islauded. Mr Simon Ng, from publicpolicy think-tank Civic Exchange,says: “Before planning the land use,they are planning the transportmodes and walkways. This is a newapproach which we welcome.”
Within the district, Kai Tak – ablank slate, as it was the site of theformer airport until 1998 – will bethe first to be ready. A cruise termi-nal designed by British architect
Norman Foster has been complet-ed, and will open on June 12.
The town will have a mix of of-fices and homes, plus a sports stadi-um. In five years, it will provide 5.4million sq ft of office space, whichwill double to 11 million sq ft in adecade, says Mr Lee.
There is no fixed timeline for theother two towns. Kowloon Bay andKwun Tong – in Hong Kong’s old-est industrial area – host factoriesand homes.
Manufacturers started movingout to southern China from the
1980s, leaving some units empty.In came artists and musicians, tak-ing advantage of the sprawlingspace and relatively low rents.About 1,000 indie bands have reset-tled in the area.
Developers were equally intrep-id, converting some factories tocommercial use, housing 25,000 of-fices now. It is this “organic trans-formation” that the governmentwants to facilitate, says Mr Lee.
A recent delegation of compa-nies visited his office to sniff out op-portunities. This month, Manulife
Financial Corp paid HK$4.5 billion(S$720 million) for an office towerin Kowloon East – the second-high-est price on record for a Hong Kongtower.
There are challenges though. Sofar, only 26 out of about 300 indus-trial buildings in the district – 80per cent of which are strata-titled –have redevelopment plans.
There are also fears that the localidentity – creative hipsters totingelectric guitars at cha chan teng(Hong Kong-style cafes) along withhandymen wielding electric saws –
would be supplanted by grey suitsand sterile skyscrapers.
But there was little sentimentali-ty from long-time denizen Lam FuKung, 56, who has owned a work-shop fashioning wooden crates forlogistics companies for 35 years.
Instead of sawdust, he is waitingfor glittering stardust from develop-ers to land. With a shrug, he saysmatter-of-factly: “Times havechanged. My business and I are partof old Hong Kong.”
On a Sunday afternoon, Yip TaiStreet is desolate. Listen closelythough, and you may hear the beatof drums.
Electronic rock band Resi-dence A, just arrived from Beijing,is rehearsing on the second floor ofWing Fu Building in preparationfor a gig that night.
The grimy facade of KwunTong’s industrial buildings beliesthe creative energy that throbswithin. This is also true for other in-dustrial clusters across Hong Kong– about 500 visual artists workalongside makers of chee cheongfan and soap in Fotan in the NewTerritories, while groups of perform-ing artists rehearse in Tai Kok Tsui,near Mongkok, and San Po Kong,in the New Territories.
These areas used to hum with ac-tivity from factories that churnedout everything from textiles to toysand electronics during the heydayof Hong Kong’s manufacturing in-dustry in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the late 1980s, some fell silentas manufacturers moved to main-land China. Today, there are 1,435private industrial buildings inHong Kong. Of these, 6 per cent ofunits are vacant, says the Develop-ment Bureau. That amounts toabout 11.2 million sq ft of vacantfloor space.
A decade ago, noise of a differ-ent kind started to fill these disusedspaces, when the creative commu-nity – indie bands, theatre groupsand designers – moved in.
Occupying older and often dere-lict buildings, they usually payrents at the lower end of the spec-trum ranging from under HK$10(S$1.60) to HK$30 psf.
The Development Bureau saysthat while “artistic creation, produc-tion and rehearsal for perform-ance” may be allowed, it draws theline at activities such as exhibitionsthat will draw a large number of vis-itors, due to fire safety concerns.
Even so, it has allowed certain
events to go on, such as exhibitionsat Fotan as well as gigs at HiddenAgenda, the live music venue inKwun Tong.
It notes that wholesale conver-sion of industrial buildings will al-low them to be used for these pur-poses. As of March, it had received80 such applications; 52 were ap-proved. Among them, 10 appliedfor change into “place of recrea-tion, sports or culture”.
But what the artists fear are mar-ket forces. Building owners will betempted to convert these buildingsinto commercial use – a more profit-able venture – if they think there isdemand.
Thus, the government’s plans toturn Kowloon East into HongKong’s second central business dis-trict (CBD) have given rise to wor-ries that the artists will be drivenout. Mr Phil Kan, 37, an artist whohas been renting a 1,000 sq ft stu-dio in Easy Pack Industrial Building
for the past nine years, says he hasreceived calls from four bands in re-cent months asking if they canstore equipment at his place, asthey have had to move out.
“Why do we need a second CBDin such a small city?” he asks.“Where can the artists go? This is agreat area as it is, why change it?”
Mr Raymond Lee, head of theEnergising Kowloon East Office,tells The Sunday Times that onepossibility is to look at relocatingarts groups and small businesses totwo buildings now occupied by gov-ernment offices. Together, theycontain 5.4 million sq ft of space.
“We will look at whether it’s pos-sible to offer them subsidisedrents,” he says.
But the idea has been met withscepticism from the community.
Aside from what they deride asan attempt to create an artificial en-vironment – “That’s not how weproduce art,” says Fotan-based visu-
al artist Chow Chun Fai – there arepractical issues.
For instance, says Ms Kimi Lam,24, manager of Hidden Agenda, heroutfit will not be able to co-existwith other groups such as dramatroupes “because we are very loud”.
More crucially, say the artists,they have built up an organic com-munity. Mr Alex Lam, 35, co-found-er of a bag and jewellery design busi-ness, points to a wooden door out-side his office. It was discarded by ascrap shop downstairs. He will finda way to use it, he says.
What the artists want is for thestatus quo to remain. But are theyclaiming a privileged status forthemselves?
“All along, we have survived inthe free market, finding these plac-es ourselves and paying marketrate,” says Mr Chow. “But now,through the government’s policy,we are being forced out.”
Li Xueying
Decrepit buildingswill make wayfor office spacein Kowloon East
Beijing band Residence A rehearsing at live music venue Hidden Agenda on the second floor of an industrial building inKwun Tong. The space which hosts indie gigs is neighbour to a food manufacturer.
Designer Alex Lam in his studio where he designs and makes leather bags. Hesays the artists have built an “organic community” in the industrial complexes.
HONG KONG’S SECOND CBD
Gritty areato get glitzymakeover
Artists fear they may be left out in the cold
ST PHOTOS: LI XUEYING
Old industrial buildings like this one in Kwun Tong will make way for gleaming office towers as the gritty industrial area of Ngau Tau Kok (or Ox Horn), part ofKwun Tong – along with Kai Tak and Kowloon Bay – is slated to be transformed into a glitzy waterfront business district called Kowloon East.
ST PHOTOS: LI XUEYING
Artist Phil Kan creates furniture in his 1,000 sq ft studio in Easy Pack IndustrialBuilding. Some other artists have already been asked to move out of the area.
(Left) Businessmen visiting the waterfront space along Kwun Tong, trying to spot opportunities for development. Mr Lam Fu Kung (right), 56, who has owned aworkshop fashioning wooden crates for 35 years, says he would be happy to sell it to developers.
45thinkApril 28, 2013 thesundaytimes
