New hope: School forced out of Sheung Wan home to apply to take over historic premises on Kennedy Road
Institution forced to move to temporary premises in Sha Tin will apply to move to former St Paul’s Co-educational Primary School
A 51-year-old secondary school which was previously priced out of its premises in Sheung Wan may find a new home as the government yesterday announced that a historic building was up for grabs for secondary school operators.
Eddie Lei Kwok-kit, chairman of St Margaret’s Girls’ College, said the school would “spare no effort” to apply for the former premises of St Paul’s Co-educational Primary School on 26 Kennedy Road, an 81-year-old Grade 1 historic building.
READ MORE: St Margaret’s Girls’ College priced out of Sheung Wan
The college was forced to relocate from its Sheung Wan site to a temporary campus in Sha Tin in 2014 after consultants told the school the monthly rent would probably be raised to more than HK$400,000. The school had previously seen rent go up from HK$200,000 to HK$350,000 in 2011.
The government allowed the college to use the temporary campus on condition that it stopped admitting new students until it found a permanent site.
If the school fails to find a permanent home, it will have to close down in August 2019.
“We have a pressing need for the [Kennedy Road] site,” said Lei. “We are a multicultural school and we have our value in continuing to operate in Hong Kong.”
Lei said there were 300 students remaining at the school and over 60 per cent needed to take at least one hour to get to school every day from Hong Kong Island or Lantau.