Copyright scmp
A top international school in Hong Kong has pledged to invest around HK$2.5 billion (US$320.5 million) to renovate one of its campuses despite an ongoing legal row with a US church group that helped found the institution, saying the project will also benefit the wider community. The investment by Hong Kong International School (HKIS) includes a HK$1 billion “once-in-a-generation” sports complex, which will open on Tuesday. Situated next to its secondary school section’s Tai Tam campus and named the Dragon Centre for Activities and Athletics, the complex has a floor area of 22,700 square metres spanning across nine floors. Other parts of the project include converting an old school stadium into a performing arts centre, building new science laboratories and upgrading classrooms. Harold Kim, chairman of the school’s board of managers, estimated that the whole project would cost around HK$2.4 billion to HK$2.5 billion and be completed in 2030. Before this, HK$1.4 billion was spent on upgrading its Repulse Bay campus, which houses its primary section. “I am glad that we decided to start the project because now we are going to have such an amazing athletics centre and I know our families will be excited that we have it,” Kim told the Post on Monday ahead of the complex’s opening. “Other families will hopefully want to come to Hong Kong and HKIS, and the community will benefit.” HKIS is embroiled in a legal row with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) from the United States, which co-founded the school in the 1960s. Last month, the church group filed a lawsuit against the school’s operator, Hong Kong International School Association Limited (HKISAL), suing it for allegedly breaching an operating agreement between the parties and only serving “the rich and privileged few”. HKISAL has denied the allegations. In a writ submitted to the High Court, LCMS threatened to evict the school from the campuses and start a new institution, which it said would charge lower tuition fees. However, senior HKIS managers said the legal dispute would not affect the commitment to invest in the school, pointing to the community’s confidence in the institution. According to them, the number of applications the school has received for next year’s enrolment is 10 per cent higher than that for 2025, with an additional 200 to 300 students expected by 2030 thanks to the extra capacity brought by the renovation project. The school now has 3,100 students. “People look at what we offer and what we are trying to do here in Hong Kong, and they trust that the school and the government will continue to coexist harmoniously, so that we have more ability to offer to later generations,” said Dr Ron Roukema, interim head of school. “Our parents and students are interested in having HKIS here for the future, and they see the value of investing in it now.” Among LCMS’ allegations was that the construction of the sports complex had breached the church group’s principle of managing resources carefully. The complex hosts a 25-metre swimming pool with a maximum depth of 2.4 metres, two indoor gymnasiums, a rock climbing wall, tennis courts on the roof, fitness centres, golf simulators and multipurpose rooms. It will be used for holding students’ physical education classes and after-school training workshops. Roukema brushed aside LCMS’ claims, saying that the building was in line with what the school had provided in past decades. “It is big, certainly it is nice, but it is not gold plated. It is a very functional facility for a very good school,” he said. He added that the building would be used for more than 20 years, so the school would like to integrate as many functions as possible into the centre. Besides the school’s students, members of the public and Hong Kong’s sports community would also benefit from the building, he added. While the complex’s car park would be open to the public, “like-minded” institutions could also apply to use the premises to host different community events or sports tournaments, Roukema said. “Our key aspect is creating those partnerships around the different organisations that can facilitate the use of this building. We want it to be open as much as we can to the outside,” he said.
