The 60-year-old Eastern Cotton Mills in Mok Cheong Street in To Kwa Wan is a Grade III historic building. In the Urban Renewal Plan for Kowloon City released in August last year, it was suggested that Eastern Cotton Mills could be one of the scenic spots in the heritage trail, but the fact was the owner had obtained approval from Building Department to demolish the historic building. According to the reply from AMO, “the development of the site involved other difficult factors…at the end, the owner has agreed to protect a part of the façade of Eastern Cotton Mills and incorporated it in the future development plan”.
Under the existing guideline, if a Grade III historic building cannot be preserved in-situ, submitting photo references and survey mapping to AMO before demolition is acceptable. It reflects that the grading system has only limited effects on protecting privately-owned heritage. Eastern Cotton Mills is not a single incident. Earlier in the
year, the Administration announced that 26 items within the assessment of 1 444 historic buildings list were either demolished or renovated substantially, 19 of which were graded historic buildings. The Development Bureau promised to review the limitations of the current policies to conserve privately owned heritage sites. CA hopes the Administration should learn lessons from the review in 2004 and 2007 to prevent another assessment in a roundabout manner.
A part of the façade of Eastern Cotton Mills.
