STAFF REPORTER
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 10 September, 2015, 2:06pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 10 September, 2015, 2:41pm
The Full Cup Cafe at Mei Ho House, which is now a youth hostel. Photo: Christopher Dewolf
The revitalisation of Hong Kong’s historic Mei Ho House in Sham Shui Po has received global recognition by way of an honorable mention in the Unesco heritage awards.
It marks the third time that projects under the government’s Revitalising Historic Buildings through Partnership Scheme have been recognised by the Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
The previous awardees were the Savannah College of Art and Design, also in Sham Shui Po, and Tai O Heritage Hotel.
Mei Ho House is the city’s sole surviving Mark I H-shaped resettlement block. It has been converted into a youth hostel and is operated by the Hong Kong Youth Hostels Association as a non-profit entity.
The project beat 36 others to win the honorable mention by Unesco.
Tim Curtis, jury chair and chief of Unesco Bangkok’s culture unit, praised the restoration of Mei Ho House for preserving an important chapter of Hong Kong’s social history while injecting a new lease of life into the site.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1856925/hong-kongs-historic-mei-ho-house-gets-honorable
