Hong Kong plans to save historic school, ancestral hall in Northern Metropolis

Hong Kong authorities have suggested preserving a century-old school and ancestral hall in a proposed university town in the Northern Metropolis megaproject to provide future students and teachers with “a tangible link to the educational past” of the area.

The proposal to preserve the former Yau Tam Mei Primary School, which has 94 years of history, and the 138-year-old Wai Cheung Ancestral Hall in the Ngau Tam Mei new town was raised in environmental impact assessment (EIA) and public engagement reports.

The Planning Department and the Civil Engineering and Development Department said they had taken into account feedback obtained in a two-month public engagement between November and January, even though neither of the sites was a declared monument or a graded historical building.

“It is proposed to retain the existing structures of this former school within the UniTown to provide future students or teachers with a tangible link to the educational past of Ngau Tam Mei,” the public engagement report said.

“Subject to design by the future project proponent, flexibility for potential adaptive reuse of the school structures for education or supporting facilities, such as activity rooms, studios or exhibition venue of the UniTown will be allowed on the recommended outline development plan.”

The 127 hectares (314 acres) of land in Ngau Tam Mei has 41 per cent of it earmarked for building a university town, including the city’s third medical school.