The Blue House Cluster under the Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme (Revitalisation Scheme) has won the Award of Excellence of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. It is the first time a built heritage conservation project in Hong Kong has received this award.
Launched in 2000, the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation aim to recognize and encourage conservation and restoration projects under private initiatives and public-private partnership within the Asia-Pacific region.
A spokesman for the Commissioner for Heritage's Office of the Development Bureau said, "This Award of Excellence is truly heartening. The award not only recognizes our efforts in heritage conservation, but also proves that our adaptive re-use of government-owned historic buildings is up to international standards. Meanwhile, the award also affirms the 'Retain House and Tenant' concept, under which the network of old tenants together with the historic buildings are retained during the process of preservation. Through the active participation of the local community during revitalization, we have achieved the very best conservation proposal."
The Blue House Cluster is one of the projects under Batch II of the Revitalisation Scheme. It mainly comprises three tenement buildings, namely the Blue House, the Yellow House and the Orange House, which were constructed from the 1920s to the 1950s. The compound has been revitalized into Viva Blue House, a multi-functional complex providing residential accommodation and various kinds of services to the local community.
The jury of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation selected Blue House Cluster as the winner of the Award of Excellence from 43 submissions.
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