An option for threatened heritage structures?

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai is planning the constructive re-use of one of the largest textile complexes in the country, the India United 2&3 Textile Mills, located on 16 acres in central Mumbai. 30,000 sq m of industrial space here is to be transformed into a Textile Mill Museum, housing galleries of historic costumes, traditional textiles, looms, and a permanent exhibit on the history of the textile mills and the life of the mill workers. The restoration plan also envisages textile galleries, cafés, a fine dining restaurant, a museum shop, boutiques, a crafts centre, an auditorium, and space for temporary exhibitions and fashion shows. This is a change that has been welcomed in a city where many such mills have been sold to private developers and suffered the wreckers’ hammers.

The plan draws attention to the concept of adaptive re-use of heritage structures that have deteriorated over the years due to lack of maintenance and lost their charm. With increasing awareness of environmental and heritage concerns, the three Rs – re-use, recycle and reduce – have come into greater focus. Sustainable architecture, green buildings, carbon footprints are common terms in architecture today. However, how many cities have actually considered re-using old heritage buildings? Demolition is usually considered an easier option. The concept of the adaptive re-use of heritage buildings is yet to catch on in India.

Chennai is home to various heritage buildings and precincts whose future is uncertain. Some of them are Fort St George, the Bharat Insurance Building, Gokhale Hall, Senate House and the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills. These remain neglected and a couple are considered fit only for demolition. But isn’t re-use an option?

K. Kalpana, conservation architect and an INTACH member who was part of the team that restored Senate House, says, “We need to look at the re-use of heritage structures in the right perspective. The question of re-using buildings is an option you can resort to for buildings which have gone out of use due to their misuse and lack of maintenance. Structures that are still in usable condition must be made use of in the way they were intended to be. Like the old colonial houses in Pondicherry, which are still being used and are well maintained.”

The Bharat Insurance Building, for instance, has several offices and meeting halls and it can be used for the same purposes even today, she points out. There has been greater awareness compared to 10-15 years ago when it comes to such restoration, she adds.

Heritage bungalows unfit for residential use can be transformed into chic cafés, restaurants and boutiques, recommends A. Srivathsan, architect. “Amethyst, Fab India on Wood’s Road and Krishna Sweets in Purasawalkam are good examples of this. The State Bank of India and the General Post Office on First Line Beach can be imaginatively put to better use.”

Srivathsan strongly feels that it is necessary for the PWD, which maintains most Government buildings, to build up capacity to restore the heritage buildings that are Government-owned. “While they are good at repair and regular maintenance, the PWD personnel are not well trained for specialised conservation jobs. Another hurdle is the PWD protocols that only recognise standardised specification, rates and construction procedures. It is necessary to build new databases and develop protocols to reduce or manage procedural tangles in the case of heritage buildings,” he urges.

When it comes to private owners it is important that incentives and technical help are extended by Government. Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) is one of the tools that can be used, he says. But there are other alternatives too, like tax concessions. At the end of the day, however, mainstream construction practices must be more responsive to the needs of heritage buildings, he adds.