Revitalizing Historic Buildings through a Partnership Scheme: Innovative Form of Social Public–Private Partnership
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 140, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper looks at a new innovative form of social public–private partnership (PPP) introduced by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, where service providers are invited to revitalize historic buildings for new functions. Under this scheme the government will provide all the initial financial assistance required unlike traditional PPP projects. Focus-group meetings were conducted with visitors of the first revitalized project under this scheme, that is, the Savannah College of Art and Design Hong Kong, formerly known as the North Kowloon Magistracy. The participants were asked to share their views regarding the effectiveness of the scheme, the impacts of the scheme, and also their views regarding the general public participation. The findings found that, in general, the revitalization scheme was well received by the participants. Although they did not feel that the project benefited the local community or Hong Kong in terms of uplifting economies or providing suitable services, the project was praised for being a good example of preserving historic buildings for new usages effectively. The revitalization scheme presented in this paper has demonstrated how projects can benefit from the private sector’s expertise but at the same time be funded by the government. This model is particularly attractive for those governments where money is not their greatest concern, but to tap in the expertise from the private sector is their priority. The findings in this paper have shown positive support toward this scheme, showing that there is a large possibility for further future developments in both Hong Kong and other similar jurisdictions.
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Acknowledgments
The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the HKSAR, China (Project No. PolyU 5002-PPR-10). This paper forms part of the research project entitled “Evaluating the social, economical, cultural, and heritage impacts of the ‘Revitalising Historic Buildings through Partnership Scheme’ in Hong Kong,” from which other deliverables are produced with different objectives/scope but sharing common background and methodology. The authors also wish to acknowledge the contributions of other team members including Dr. Kim-wah Chung, Dr. Chi-pang Lau, and Dr. Bing-qing Zhai.
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Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 140 • Issue 1 • March 2014
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 18, 2012
Accepted: May 24, 2013
Published online: Dec 11, 2013
Published in print: Mar 1, 2014
Discussion open until: May 11, 2014
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