Revitalizing Historic Buildings through a Partnership Scheme: Innovative Form of Social Public–Private Partnership

Abstract

This paper looks at a new innovative form of social public–private partnership (PPP) introduced by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, where service providers are invited to revitalize historic buildings for new functions. Under this scheme the government will provide all the initial financial assistance required unlike traditional PPP projects. Focus-group meetings were conducted with visitors of the first revitalized project under this scheme, that is, the Savannah College of Art and Design Hong Kong, formerly known as the North Kowloon Magistracy. The participants were asked to share their views regarding the effectiveness of the scheme, the impacts of the scheme, and also their views regarding the general public participation. The findings found that, in general, the revitalization scheme was well received by the participants. Although they did not feel that the project benefited the local community or Hong Kong in terms of uplifting economies or providing suitable services, the project was praised for being a good example of preserving historic buildings for new usages effectively. The revitalization scheme presented in this paper has demonstrated how projects can benefit from the private sector’s expertise but at the same time be funded by the government. This model is particularly attractive for those governments where money is not their greatest concern, but to tap in the expertise from the private sector is their priority. The findings in this paper have shown positive support toward this scheme, showing that there is a large possibility for further future developments in both Hong Kong and other similar jurisdictions.