LOCAL

Central Harbourfront’s $12 billion transformation

Cheyelene Fontanilla on what’s in store for the new location

After almost a year of bidding and negotiations, the premier Central harbourfront location was awarded to Henderson Land Development, who paid a whopping $50.8 billion.

The Hong Kong government first announced an open tender for the Central Harbourfront Site 3, which spans from Jardine House to the Central Ferry Piers, on December 18 last year. The site in question is around 47,967 square metres and currently includes the city’s General Post Office and the pedestrian bridge connecting IFC to the piers.

As part of the deal, the Development Bureau required the area to become a new people-centric landmark for the city with an emphasis on sustainable and urban design considerations as well as integration with the surroundings. it plans to replace the General Post Office and temporary access to the Star Ferry pier with four low rise office buildings. Other construction plans include an architecturally iconic building, a public viewing deck extending from IFC mall with two multipurpose buildings attached and renovations to the outlying ferry piers.

The $12 billion project aims to enhance the connectivity between the hinterland and harbourfront in Central and create a vast amount of green and public spaces. A green roof-level platform will connect the iconic building to the two multipurpose buildings. Coined the “urban forest”, there will be jogging routes and an outdoor green space for public use.

The site is just one of eight sites, spanning from Central to Wan Chai planned to be rejuvenated in the coming years. While a project of this magnitude will take much time and resources, the Development Bureau has stated that the project must be completed by 2032. Shall we start the clock now?

Gifting to success

Charmaine Ng meets Justin Chung, founder and owner of Gift Something

Christmas may be over, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop gifting. At least, that’s what Justin Chung, founder of Gift Something, believes.

Chung, who arrived in Hong Kong from Australia exactly a decade ago, was seeking new opportunities in Asia, where he could see growth was happening. He decided to break into ecommerce while it was still in its infancy. Thus, Gift Something was born.

“A decade ago, ecommerce still hadn’t taken off in Hong Kong,” shares the entrepreneur. “Existing gifting brands were small mum and pop shops selling the same repetitive things. The product landscape was boring and lacked innovation.”

Taking the opportunity, Chung founded the Hong Kong-based online retailer in 2011. Since then, Gift Something has established itself as a one-stop-shop for all gifting and celebratory occasions. It offers everything from children’s birthdays to wedding favours, as well as a vast collection of curated gifts and hampers, if you’re in a pinch.

“It was the idea of bringing sexy back to gifting. Hong Kong is a convenient city where you can pop down to the shops and get pretty much whatever you want. To stand out from the crowd, you need to do things no one has done, like offering same day free delivery, for example.”

As for why he decided to start a gifting business, Chung explains that gifting is embedded in Asian culture – beyond Christmas, there is Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and even Chinese Valentine’s Day in July.

“Over the years of living in an international city, I discovered that apart from the usual holidays, Hong Kong also has two Valentine’s Days, Singles’ Day, Secretaries’ Day and more. We’re just missing Boss Day, which is celebrated in Singapore.”

10 years into the business, he shares that there never has been a dull moment. For him, every day is different and as challenging as the other – this is especially true for the past two years.

“Business is good, but the strict quarantine rules in Hong Kong have affected everything from talent retention to resource management,” says Chung. “We have been unable to visit our sister businesses in Singapore and Malaysia and seek new suppliers overseas as quarantine drains too much resources. All plans have been put on ice until we can travel freely.”

However, it hasn’t been all bad. The entrepreneur has learned that running a decentralised dynamic business is possible in challenging times. And, he has mastered constant change and adapting to new environments in order to prosper.

With these lessons in mind, Chung will continue working on Gift Something whilst branching out into new businesses over the next few years. In fact, he’s already started – he has recently launched Urban Plants, a plant servicing business, and Just Events, a new ecommerce platform that services events and event related services.

Website: giftsomething.com Instagram: @giftsomething Telephone: 2882 8888