The Old Tai O Police Station (舊大澳警署) is a former police station in Hong Kong. It is located on the small hill next to Tai O Ferry Pier,[1] at the south-western tip of Tai O, which can be considered the very west part within Hong Kong.[2]
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The police station was built in 1902 with a main duty of combating piracy and smuggling prevalent in the neighbouring waters.[2] The number of policemen stationed there increased from an initial six or seven to over 180 in 1983. The station was downgraded to a patrol post in 1996, and was left vacant in 2002.[3]
The police station consists of two 2-storey blocks: a main block and an outhouse block linked by a footbridge at first floor level. The outhouse block has Arts and Crafts architectural features.[2]
The Old Tai O Police Station has been listed as a Grade III historic building since 1988.[4][1] In 2008, it was included among the seven buildings in Batch I of the Hong Kong Government's Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme seeking adaptive reuse of government-owned historic buildings.[5]
In the end, the government accepted the redevelopment proposal of the Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation to convert the building into a boutique hotel. The HKHCF was initially set up under the name Nice Brilliant Limited in December 2007, and changed its name in March 2008. The HKHCF has close ties to Robert Ng's Sino Group, and two of his children sit on its board. Legislator Fernando Cheung accusing them of being a "one-man NGO" set up for business purposes rather than social service.[6] The conversion project is planned for completion at the end of 2011, with an estimated cost of HK$64.9 million.[7]