Mong Kok is one of the most densely populated and aged districts in the metro area of Hong Kong. Some streets within the area have a development history which can date back up to the end of the 19th Century. Being a city under fast development, majority of the old streets and historic buildings were demolished to give way for development under usual freemarket environment. Except for some modern commercial buildings using as office, entertainment or retail purposes, majority of the remaining buildings in the district were constructed after the World War II with averaged age ranging from 30 to 50 years. Due to the insufficiency of space and urban facilities which inherited from outdated city planning, the district is deteriorated in a very fast manner and created a lot of associated social problems. In view of this, through the Land
Development Corporation (reformed as the Urban Renewal Authority in 2000), the government started to resume altogether about 150 blocks of old buildings within an area bounded by 7 streets. After the vocation of the land, the project was developed by a private developer under carefully negotiated contract. The development was known as the Langham Place afterward.
The Langham Place project covers a total land area of about 12,000 sq m, which is further sub-divided into two lots of land, separated by the Shanghai Street in the middle. The larger lot (Site A) is an island site, bounded by the Argyle Street, Portland Street, Shanghai Street and Shan Tung Street on the four sides, with an area of about 7950 sq m. Site A accommodates a 59-storey office tower block, a 16-storey retail mall with shopping and entertainment facilities, and a 5-level basement uses as retail and carpark that stretches the entire area of Site A.
The smaller site (Site B) is opened two sides to Shanghai Street and Reclamation Street, and with the shorter ends abutted to existing buildings, with an area about 4,300 sq m. This site consists a 2-level basement while the upper structure is a 42-storey hotel building with 750 rooms. Except for an entrance foyer for the hotel, majority of the area on the ground level is used as a public light bus terminus that formed part of the ground transportation relief strategies for the existing congested neighborhood in downtown Mongkok. The total development involved a gross floor area (GFA) of about 167,400 sq m.
Connection provisions in the development have been provided in the design in order to enhance the flow between the two sites. A 2-way traffic vehicular tunnel is constructed to link up the two basements which both served for car parking purpose. This tunnel is required due to the site layout constraints that only a vehicular entrance point at Site A is approved by the government for the reason not to further congest the relatively narrow roadway in the area in particular in view of the provision of a new public light bus terminus situated at Site B after the completion of the project.
The other linkage provision between the two sites is the construction of two covered pedestrian footbridges on Level 3 and 4, which provide a convenient throughway for users between the hotel block and the retail mall.
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