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The proposal for the project involves the construction of a three-storey building with one storey above the ground level and two levels of basement. The building will occupy about 3,150 square metres or 23 per cent of the Chater Garden area.
The proposed design will allow the Annex Building rooftop to be turned into a garden and linked up with the elevated pedestrian walkway near the Murray Road car park by a footbridge.
The Board noted that comparing to the previous LegCo Annex Building scheme in Chater Garden which was rejected upon review by the Board in December 1994, the current proposal has a lower building height above ground and a smaller site coverage.
However, the Board still considered this proposal not acceptable as it would alter the existing character and affect the quality of Chater Garden, which is a unique and prominent amenity area in the Central district.
Members could not find sufficient information demonstrating that there are insurmountable problems to locate the Annex Building to the hard paved part of the Garden.
They also considered that the proposed layout and design with a five- metre above ground structure would still cause visual intrusion.
It would also cause fragmentation to the public open space, transplanting of more than half of the existing mature trees and inconvenience to the users of the open space.
The Board recognised the need to accommodate the LegCo facilities, but was equally eager to avoid unnecessary transplanting of mature trees on a larger scale.
If it was absolutely necessary to locate the Annex Building within Chater Garden, it should preferably be confined to the northern part where minimum adverse effect would be caused to the luxuriant vegetation that has taken more than 10 years to establish.
Members also considered that a wholly underground building will preserve the present character of Chater Garden as a unique piece of public open space.
End/Friday, February 24, 1995