Central Government Offices

Central Government Offices (Main Wing)

Central Government Offices (West Wing)

Central Government Offices (East Wing)

Cenral Government Offices in the Main Block of Central Government Complex (large building the background under construction)

The Central Government Offices (Chinese: 中區政府合署, also Government Headquarters 政府總部) houses the most major offices of the Hong Kong Government. The current home is the Main Block of the Central Government Complex, Tamar. It was formerly located in Central in Hong Kong, occupied the lower level of Government Hill.

History

Completed in 1957 by the Government of Hong Kong, it replaced a two-storey colonial complex from the 1930s, old Secretariat Building (built in 1847 and demolished in 1954).

Like City Hall, Hong Kong, the offices were built in the International style.

Legislative Council

Until 1985, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong met here and then moved to the old Supreme Court Building.

Government Offices

All major government departments but the Justice Department are now located at (or moving to) the Central Government Complex, Tamar.

Former Home

The building that formerly housed the offices were actually a complex of three wings with a total of 76,000 square feet (7,100 m²) of offices:

• Main Wing (18 Lower Albert Road) - 8 floors and Annex
• East Wing (20 Lower Albert Road)
• West Wing (11 Ice House Street) - 7-13 floors

The most familiar wing was the Main Wing, housing offices of the Chief Executive and site of most major protests against the Hong Kong Government (another site is the LegCo). In order to keep protesters who have not applied from entering the complex, a series of fences was erected in 1998 after the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997.

Plans are under way to replace the current buildings with a new 110,000-square-foot (10,000 m²) office at the Tamar basin and scheduled to be completed by 2010. Apart from government offices, the Tamar site will also house the Legislative Council and provide not less than 22,000 square metres of open space for public enjoyment. The cost for developing the entire Tamar site is estimated at HKD5.2 billion.

Plans after 2011 will likely see the Justice Department re-locate to the Main and East Wings, while the West Wing will be demolished.

List of tenants of the three complexes:

• West Wing
  • Civil Service Bureau
  • Financial Secretary Bureau
  • Economic Development Bureau
  • Financial Services and Treasury Bureau
  • Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau

• Main Wing
  • Constitutional Affairs Bureau
  • Security Bureau
  • Chief Executive

• East Wing
  • Security Bureau

See also

• Government Secretariat
• Central Government Complex, Tamar
• Legislative Council Building

References

• Sing Pao Star Daily, 23 October 2005 No 176, p 50-52

External links

• Old Secretariat Building
• Central Government Offices, Historic and Architectural Appraisal, 2009
• "Our Government Hill"