Heritage maintenance plan : formulating a maintenance plan for heritage buildings, using the case of the revitalised former Hollywood Road police married quarters

Abstract

Most researchers focused on the importance and details of Conservation Management Plan when historic building is re-adapted for re-vitalized. In their study, emphasis on retaining the character defining elements of historic building is always the key issue of study. Future maintenance of the historic building is not seen as important. This can be proved by the fact that no requirements on submission of maintenance plan is needed for Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) in Hong Kong. Since the neglect on maintenance of heritage buildings will result in extensive replacement or alteration of building fabrics which is undesirable, it is necessary to formulate a Heritage Maintenance Plan detailing the scope of inspection and period of cyclic maintenance in order to prolong their life span and functions. PMQ being one of the pioneer re-adaption projects with reinforced concrete structures is considered as a representative historic building in which both old and new building components exist. By identifying the building elements and formulating a inspection checklist and intervals of inspection, it is hoped that the management company can systemically identify the defects through the inspections and carry out repair works to rectify the problems in advance before the problem escalates. It is expected that such periodic inspection will extend the lives of historic buildings and prevent the building fabrics from deterioration.