The project was happily delivered to HK Government twenty one (21) years after the handover when it was supposed to be a 10th Year HK SAR birthday present. At a staggering cost of HKD3.8B, the complex finally opened its doors in 2018.
As one of the last physical reminders of Hongkong’s colonial heritage, the over a hundred year-old buildings started to be revitalized in 2010 to transform them into a center of heritage, arts and leisure.
The transformation of Central Police Station to Tai-Kwun was met with countless delays and dramas. One of them was the partial collapse of Block 4 on the 29th May 2016. It was calamitous that it took over six months to fully resume the work on that block, notwithstanding all its legal implication and with some members of the team hung up their boots early. Aster also had its fair share of difficult moments when at the time of the construction work, its parent company was in financial turmoil that in the words of Mr. John Latter “..Aster had to juggle the books to make ends meet.”
The sheer volume of about 6,000 change orders and relaying them to strata of 45 work contractors and the magnitude of variables affecting the overall exercise from conservation, intervention, technicalities, government compliance, physical constraints painted a clear picture of how supposed to be a 3 ½ years of work ended up closer to 8 years.
As Aster contributed in the restoration and preservation of this HK heritage being the contractor for MVAC, P&D and FS, we can look back in time and say now – all’s well that ends well.