One Island East
The first Hong Kong tower assembled by compulsory sale law replaced two Quarry Bay factories and rises 298 metres above their footprint.
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In 2000, Swire invoked Hong Kong's Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance for the first time ever to acquire this site. Two industrial buildings — 23 and 22 floors each — were demolished in 2005, and Gammon Construction raised 69 storeys in their place, anchoring Quarry Bay's shift from factory district to financial address.
What to look for
- The sky lobby spanning floors 37–38, reached by six dedicated high-speed shuttle lifts from the ground
- The 298.35 m (979 ft) profile — 69 storeys above the Taikoo Place campus where Melbourne Industrial Building and Aik San Factory Building once stood
- Floor plates 2 through 67 packed with insurers, law firms, and banks — a vertical cross-section of Hong Kong commercial life
Commercial office building in Taikoo Place, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong Island — most floors are tenant-only; confirm public access before visiting.
One Island East is one of 34 sights worth the detour in Hong Kong, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Hong Kong pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Hong Kong
- International Commerce CentreAt 484 m, this is the only building in Hong Kong with more than 100 floors — and it had to be trimmed down so it wouldn't overtop the surrounding mountains.
- Bank of China TowerThe first skyscraper outside the United States to break 1,000 feet — its glass triangles cut the Central skyline unlike anything around it.
- Central PlazaA four-bar neon clock 374 metres above Wan Chai changes colour every 15 minutes, blinking at each quarter-hour change.
- Hong Kong DisneylandThe only Disneyland where a walkway was deliberately bent so good qi energy would not drain into the South China Sea.
- The CenterAfter dark, hundreds of neon bars scroll slowly through the full color spectrum from base to crown — a light show wired into the steel itself.
- Tsing Ma BridgeThe span that ended Lantau Island's water-only isolation — 1,377 metres of road and rail hung from two towers.