Central Government Offices

The Central Government Offices (, also Government Headquarters 政府總部) houses the most major offices of the Hong Kong Government. Located in Central in Hong Kong, it occupies the lower level of Government Hill.

History

Completed in 1957 by the Government of Hong Kong, it replaced a two-storey colonial complex from the 1930s, old Secretariat Building built 1847 and demolished in 1954).

Like City Hall, Hong Kong, the offices were built in an International style.

Legislative Council

Until 1985, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong met here and then moved to the old Supreme Court Building.

Government Offices

The building is actually a complex of three wings with a total of of offices:

• Main Wing (18 Lower Albert Road) - 8 floors and Annex
• East Wing (20 Lower Albert Road)
• West Wing (11 Ice House Street) - 7-13 floors

The most familiar wing is the Main Wing, housing offices of the Chief Executive and site of most major protest against the Hong Kong Government (another site is the LegCo). In order to keep protesters who have not applied from entering the complex, a series of fences was erected in 1998 after the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997.

Plans are under way to replace the current buildings with a new office at the Tamar basin and scheduled to be completed by 2010. Apart from government offices, the Tamar site will also house the Legislative Council and provide not less than 22,000 square metres of open...
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