Press Invitations

Different Paths to Sustainability: A Roundtable of UNESCO Award-winning Heritage Projects from Hong Kong

22 Jun 2021

26^th June 2021 (Saturday), Atrium, The Mills Fabrica (4/F The Mills, 45 Pak Tin Par Street, Tsuen Wan)

The HSBC Rural Sustainability Programme initiated by the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at The University of Hong Kong will hold the “Different Paths to Sustainability: A Roundtable of UNESCO Award-winning Heritage Projects from Hong Kong” on 26^th June 2021 (Saturday). Since 2000, a total of 21 Hong Kong’s conservation projects has been awarded the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. The winning categories included Award of Excellence, Award of Distinction, Award of Merit, Award for New Design in Heritage Contexts, and the newly launched Special Recognition for Sustainable Development; these awards recognise exemplary civil society-led conservation initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Special Recognition for Sustainable Development is a new award category introduced by UNESCO in 2020 to recognise outstanding conservation projects for their significant contributions to sustainable development. Among 48 applications from nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the Lai Chi Wo Rural Cultural Landscape was selected for this award, which marked Hong Kong’s success in conserving and revitalising the cultural landscape that goes beyond individual structures.

In this roundtable discussion, representatives of five award-winning projects were invited to participate. The projects range from those located in the urban cores to those in the rural areas, from private initiatives to public-private partnerships, and from early revitalisation and adaptive reuse of graded historic buildings to industrial heritage and cultural landscape not included in the official grading system:

Award of Merit in 2007 - Little Hong Kong
Mr Gregory De Eb, Company Principal, Crown Wine Cellars
Award of Merit in 2013 - Tai O Heritage Hotel
Ms Melanie Kwok, Head of Sustainability, Sino Group and Tai O Heritage Hotel
Award of Excellence in 2017 - The Blue House Cluster
Ms Connie Ng, Senior Manager, Community Development Services, St. James’ Settlement
Award for New Design in Heritage Context in 2019 - The Mills
Mr Him Lo, Senior Manager, Cultural and Community Engagement, Nan Fung Development Ltd
Special Recognition for Sustainable Development in 2020 - Lai Chi Wo Rural Cultural Landscape
Ms Katie Chick, Senior Project Manager, Centre for Civil Society and Governance, HKU

The five project representatives will review how they understand sustainability as a pathway to continuation of their conservation effort, and reflect on their contribution to the building of a sustainable community since receiving the UNESCO award.

Media representatives are invited to the event with the following details:

TIME	PROGRAMME
13:30-14:15	Registration and Visit to Pop-up Market by Project Start-ups
14:15-14:20	Welcoming Speech Professor Wai-Fung Lam Director, Centre for Civil Society and Governance, The University of Hong Kong
14:20-14:30	Opening Speech Professor Puay Peng Ho UNESCO Chair on Architectural Heritage Conservation and Management in Asia
14:30-14:45	Presentation 1 (In English): Little Hong Kong (Award of Merit in 2007) Mr Gregory De Eb Company Principal, Crown Wine Cellars
14:45-15:00	Presentation 2: Tai O Heritage Hotel (Award of Merit in 2013) Ms Melanie Kwok Head of Sustainability, Sino Group and Tai O Heritage Hotel
15:00-15:15	Presentation 3: The Blue House Cluster (Award of Excellence in 2017) Ms Connie Ng Senior Manager, Community Development Services, St. James’ Settlement
15:15-15:30	Presentation 4: The Mills (Award for New Design in Heritage Context in 2019) Mr Him Lo Senior Manager, Cultural and Community Engagement, Nan Fung Development Ltd
15:30-15:45	Presentation 5: Lai Chi Wo Rural Cultural Landscape (Special Recognition for Sustainable Development in 2020) Ms Katie Chick Senior Project Manager, Centre for Civil Society and Governance, The University of Hong Kong
15:45-16:15	Break and Visit to Pop-up Market by Project Start-ups
16:15-17:00	Panel Discussion and Q&A Moderator: Dr Winnie Law Deputy Director, Centre for Civil Society and Governance, The University of Hong Kong
17:00-17:10	Comments and Concluding Remarks Professor Wai-Fung Lam Director, Centre for Civil Society and Governance, The University of Hong Kong
17:10-17:15	Group Photo

More details of the event can be found at https://ccsg.hku.hk/ruralsd/en/pages/academy/a-roundtable-of-unesco-award-winning-heritage-projects-from-hong-kong/.

Please find high resolution photos of the event here (more photos will be uploaded after the event): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1z82dQ1RbvBGUgW3hhKB25KC2u9vfbKgM?usp=sharing

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Anna Yau, Centre for Civil Society and Governance, The University of Hong Kong (tel.: 60896047; email: annawyau@hku.hk).