70th Board Meeting of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Held Today

The Board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) held its 70th meeting today.
 

The WKCDA’s Chief Executive Officer Duncan Pescod was pleased to report that the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) participated in the Hong Kong Flower Show in Victoria Park from 16 to 25 March 2018 and its garden display took home a Gold Award for Unique Feature (Landscape Display). Inspired by the upcoming opening of the Xiqu Centre, the display features a replica of the Xiqu Centre facade. The facade opened onto a grass arena circled by a miniature representation of the plants and trees in the Nursery Park and setting of the future Art Park. An augmented reality (AR) application was also launched for visitors to learn more and visualise the upcoming Xiqu Centre.
 

For construction activities on site, the Xiqu Centre is currently 75% through the statutory inspections and targets to obtain the Occupation Permit in April. Marked improvement has been made to the construction works for M+ in the last month and the first external façade panels have now been installed on the North and South face of the Tower.
 

For Phase 1 of the Art Park, the promenade area is opened for enjoyment of the public. Phase 2 and Freespace remain on track to be completed this year. For the Lyric Theatre Complex and relevant part of the integrated basement project, construction activity is now 6 weeks ahead of schedule.
 

Mr Pescod was pleased to report that Sun Fook Kong Construction Limited has recently been awarded the Silver Prize in the Building Sites (Private Sector) Category under the Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme 2017/2018 for the Main Contract for the Park. In addition, WKCDA scooped the Safety Leadership Award – Highly Commended and International Design for Safety Award – Commended by the Lighthouse Club of Hong Kong.
 

On the artistic side, M+ Rover: Travelling Creative Studio is on the road again from February to June this year to different secondary schools and community locations.
 

Freespace Happening on 10 and 11 March was a special two-day season finale and attracted a turnout of around 12,000 people. Members also noted that this season of Freespace Happening was attended by a total of more than 50,000 people and over 750 pets from September 2017 to March 2018. The next season returns in September 2018 in the Art Park.
 

WKCDA has announced the winning design in the inaugural Hong Kong Young Architects and Designers Competition: “Growing Up” by New Office Works. This new competition provided a unique opportunity for emerging architects and designers to be inspired by the character of WKCD and showcase their creativity and potential by producing an iconic pavilion. The pavilion will be built on a waterfront location in the Nursery Park that offers stunning harbour and sunset views.
 

WKCDA continues its youth and community engagement initiatives. Recently, it partnered with The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups to attract visitors to learn more about WKCD in terms of planned venues and artistic programmes by riding on a group of young a cappella singers toured the city. The performances was held from 18 to 23 March and attracted over 17,600 on-site impressions. In collaboration with the Central and Western District Council, Picturing Central and Western District @ West Kowloon took part last Sunday and attracted an attendance of over 13,500.
 

Remarks

About the West Kowloon Cultural District
Located on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, the West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong. With a complex of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, and will provide twenty-three hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.