When the Central District reclamation north of Connaught Road Central was completed in the 1960s, a parallel project commenced in Wan Chai. From the late 1960s to the 1970s, the Gloucester Road waterfront was, in phases, extended northward until it reached today’s Convention Avenue. The new Wan Chai Pier was the first structure to appear on the formation. Another mission of import was to reclaim land for the Island end of the Cross Harbour Tunnel, the construction of which started in 1969. This formation, like the new Central District waterfront, became the hub of skyscrapers, such as New Mercury House (Telecom House today), Wan Chai Towers (including Revenue Tower, Immigration Tower, etc.), Sun Hung Kai Centre, Great Eagle Centre, China Resources Building, Hong Kong Arts Centre, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and Central Plaza, all landmarks of the district built between the 1970s and 1990s.

In the early 1990s, the government decided to reclaim the water off Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) to construct a new wing, to be used as the venue for the Hong Kong handover on 1st July 1997. An artificial island was formed out of the scheme, and the HKCEC New Wing was opened in 1997.

Up until 2011, reclamation was still under way at the Wan Chai waterfront for the construction of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass.