To meet the Project’s vision while balancing different consideration aspects, including minimising potential environmental impacts (particular to the historic buildings), Scheme B was chosen as the preferred design of the new buildings at the CPS.  Scheme B is more preferable from the conservation point of view as it can minimise intervention at the existing historic buildings by providing sufficient space for the cultural facilities as well as the necessary plant and machinery for the whole site, where Scheme A cannot achieve. 

Regarding the proposed adaptive reuses in the existing buildings, a concerted approach has been taken to find uses that can be accommodated in the existing buildings with the minimum of disturbance and alterations.  The preferred scheme will keep modification of the existing fabric to a minimum by limiting the openings at the boundary wall.

The modification/refurbishment works at the existing buildings are kept to a minimum by carefully assigning appropriate uses to fit in the spaces and adopting a fire engineering approach to minimise alteration while complying with fire safety requirements. Hence, the preferred design has environmental benefits in most of the key aspects of the design. Where environmental impacts are unavoidable, especially during the construction stage, these impacts will be localised and transient and can be mitigated by the implementation of appropriate control measures.