Former Central Government Offices

Central Government Offices
Central Government Offices
Traditional Chinese	中區政府合署
Yale Romanization
Transcriptions
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Jūng kēui jing fú hahp chyúh
Jyutping	Zung1 koei1 zing3 fu2 hap6 cyu5
Government Headquarters
Traditional Chinese	政府總部
Yale Romanization
Transcriptions
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Jing fú júng bouh
Jyutping	Zing3 fu2 zung2 bou6
Justice Place
Traditional Chinese	律政中心
Yale Romanization
Transcriptions
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Leuht jing jūng sām
Jyutping	Loet6 zing3 zung1 sam1

Justice Place
Justice Place
中區政府合署
	Central Government Offices Building, view from the Peak
Former names	Former Central Government Offices; Government Headquarters
General information
Architectural style	International
Location	Central
Country	Hong Kong
Current tenants	Department of Justice
Completed	1957
Owner	Hong Kong Government

The Former Central Government Offices (also the Government Headquarters), now called Justice Place, is an office building complex that formerly housed most of the major offices of the Hong Kong Government. The complex is located in Central, Hong Kong, occupying the lower level of Government Hill. The offices of the government have been relocated to the Main Block of the Central Government Complex, Tamar.

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 Hong Kong City Hall, 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 except the Department of Justice are now located at (or moving to) the Central Government Complex, Tamar. The Department of Justice is remained at the former Central Government Offices Main and East Wing, and renamed as 'Justice Place.

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. The government has proposed to demolish the West Wing while community groups are proposing to protect the historic site.^[1]

List of tenants of the three complexes:

West Wing
- Civil Service Bureau
- Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau
- Economic Development Bureau
- Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau
Main Wing
- Constitutional Affairs Bureau
- Security Bureau
- Chief Executive
East Wing
- Security Bureau

References

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

^ CE lays out his vision for a greener and more vibrant Hong Kong

External links

Preceded by Old Central Government Offices - Main Wing (until 1954)	Home of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 1957 – 1985	Succeeded by Old Supreme Court Building

22°16′45″N 114°09′32″E / 22.279076°N 114.158911°E / 22.279076; 114.158911

[1] CE lays out his vision for a greener and more vibrant Hong Kong

[1]