Observe before conserve : pre-conservation condition survey for identifying defects and proposing repair methods for the Old Supreme Court building, Hong Kong

Abstract

With the emerging professionalization of the built heritage conservation field in Hong Kong since 2010, there is more understanding in the theory and practice of built heritage conservation. However, this also creates a new knowledge area: for a new building project, the process of condition survey to identify defects takes place in the post-construction stage, but for a conservation project, it is the reversed – the survey must take place on the existing building in the pre-conservation stage. Because this is a new area, a standard set of procedures for such a pre-conservation survey has not been developed, and this is what this dissertation seeks to examine.

This research adopts an experiential and case-study approach to the subject through an actual conservation project in which the author has had direct involvement. The author was involved in the pre-conservation condition survey that also serves the purposes of documentation and the repair of defects for the case-study building.

Through the case study of an important conservation project in Hong Kong – the conservation and conversion of the Old Supreme Court (also known as the Former Legislative Council Building) as the Court of Final Appeal) – this dissertation seeks to develop a set of guidelines for pre-conservation condition surveying and recording in Hong Kong. It is hope that this will initiate further systematic development to produce a standard for Hong Kong’s conservation projects.