The Grand Promenade () is a high-rise residential development built in 2005 in

Sai Wan Ho Sai Wan Ho is a primarily residential area on the northeastern shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, between Quarry Bay and Shau Kei Wan. It is part of the Eastern District, and is administered together with surrounding areas under the Eastern ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. The complex consists of five towers, with towers 2, 3, and 5 being interconnected The towers are 213 - 219 metres tall and contain 2,020 apartments. This property has been cited by the government and academics as having had a negative "wall effect" on surrounding neighbourhoods because of its bulky size on reclaimed land next to the harbour, which leads to poor air ventilation for nearby residents. The awarding of the tender in 2001 to billionaire

Lee Shau Kee Lee Shau-kee GBM (; born 7 March 1928 in Shunde, Guangdong, China) is a Hong Kong business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is a real estate tycoon and majority owner of Henderson Land Development, a property conglomerate with inter ...

Henderson Land Development Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd. () is a listed property developer in Hong Kong and a constituent of the Hang Seng Index. The company's principal activities are property development and investment, project management, construction, hotel oper ...

was met with much controversy over the calculation of land premium. The result of this controversial episode was the massive size of the towers and the aforementioned negative "wall effect".

History

The entire complex was developed by

and its subsidiary, The Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Co Ltd. Henderson Land won a tender for a site in Sai Wan Ho for Grand Promenade with a land premium of HK$2.43 billion in January 2001.

Land Calculation Controversy

In July 2001, the developer successfully applied for and was granted permission to exclude the public transport terminus from the gross floor area in its building plan. A land tender controversy was caused when the Government maintained that former Director of

Building Authority A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and funct ...

Leung Chin-man Leung Chin-man JP (, born 22 November 1945) is a retired senior civil servant in the Government of Hong Kong the former Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands. Government career Leung first joined the Immigration Department in Oct ...

had reasonably exercised his discretionary powers to exempt the area of a public transport terminus in the gross floor area calculation of the development. The effect was to allow the addition of 10,700 square meters to the project, more than doubling the number of apartments from 1,008 to 2,020, costing the government HK$125 million in lost revenue. In November 2005, the Audit Commission accused Leung of not conferring with other government departments before exercising his discretionary power, thus handing the developer an additional HK$3.2 billion. Leung tabled a judicial review. The two sides reached a deal in May 2006, when the Commissioner dropped legal proceedings, and Leung abandoned his judicial review.

Buildings of the complex

Education

Grand Promenade is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 14. Within the school net are multiple aided schools (operated independently but funded with government money) and North Point Government Primary School.

References

External links