Justice Place
中區政府合署
Central Government Offices Building, view from the Peak
Former namesFormer Central Government Offices
Government Headquarters
General information
Architectural styleInternational
LocationCentral
CountryHong Kong
Current tenantsDepartment of Justice
Completed1957 (1957)
Opened9 January 1957 (1957-01-09)
OwnerHong Kong Government
Central Government Offices
Traditional Chinese中區政府合署
Simplified Chinese中区政府合署
Government Headquarters
Traditional Chinese政府總部
Simplified Chinese政府总部
Justice Place
Chinese律政中心
Central Government Offices (Main Wing)
Central Government Offices (West Wing)
Central Government Offices (East Wing)
Central Government Offices in the Main Block of Central Government Complex (large building the background under construction)

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, the old Secretariat Building (built in 1847 and demolished in 1954).

Like Hong Kong City Hall, the complex was built in the International style.

Legislative Council

The Legislative Council of Hong Kong met here until 1985, when it moved to the old Supreme Court Building.

Government offices

All major government departments except the Department of Justice are now located at the Central Government Complex in Tamar. The Department of Justice remained at the former Central Government Offices Main and East Wing, which was renamed 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:

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

See also

References

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