Lei Yue Mun Waterfront Regeneration Hong Kong

Lei Yue Mun (also called Lyemun, Lye Moon Passage or Ly-ee-moon Passage) is a short channel in Hong Kong linking Junk Bay and Tathong Channel with Victoria Harbour. The channel is the narrowest waterway between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Not only is it the eastern gateway to Victoria Harbour but also an important passage in the South China Sea. Lai Sun Development Corporation wished to progress the marketing and sale of a keynote residential tower in this location. To this end Lai Sun considered it essential to address the environmental context, which included a fairly traditional small harbour and a fishing village known for its seafood restaurants, but plagued by poor environmental conditions, especially waste discharge to water.

As part of a multidisciplinary team which we helped to assemble, including the internationally renowned landscape architects Grant Associates and the innovative global engineering practice Buro Happold, Biodiversity by Design took a focal role in developing a new vision for the Lei Yue Mun waterfront. The vision had to be to benefit the general public, concerned investors and other harbour stakeholders. The vision was required to galvanise a Public-Private Sector Collaboration approach to enhance this key section of the Hong Kong Harbourfront and contribute to the holistic planning of the Harbour being led by the Harbourfront Commission on behalf of the HK Special Administrative Region Government.

We assessed the local area and wider context in terms of landscape, biodiversity, fisheries, and ecosystem services including opportunities for ecotourism. We reviewed existing environmental policies and strategies for the Hong Kong Harbour waterfront and worked with Buro Happold on approaches to improve waste water treatment and marine water quality.

The overall product of this joint endeavour was a new vision for the whole waterfront and near hinterland, including a multifunctional biophilic urban parkland, enhanced marine and harbour-side habitat and new green linkages to surrounding countryside (and the famous Wilson Trail).