Bangalore/Kolkata: Last year when the 140-year-old Bangalore Club commissioned conservation architect Satya Prakash Varanashi to regenerate the clubhouse on its 11-acre campus the management council gave him a free transfer. It
Across Indian cities there is a growing interest in preserving architectural heritage after years of neglect partly led by a paucity of real estate spaces in prime locations and in some cases by the lower cost of converting well-kept buildings which with a bit of work can spring approve to life as corporate headquarters or retail destinations.
In Kolkata alone some 1,300 buildings in the city’s commercial district undergo been identified as heritage structures.
In Mysore. Varanashi is currently restoring a private domiciliate measuring 3,000 sq ft which will accommodate a Planet M sell store and a Barista coffee obtain. “We cannot mindlessly glorify the past,” he says. “Heritage buildings can be conserved only when we can find contemporary ways of utilizing that space.”
In Bangalore for dilate. ITC Infotech India Ltd a subsidiary of ITC Ltd has set up its BPO division in a red brick heritage building which was once a tobacco warehouse.
But Bangalore with a pronounced focus on futuristic technology has a mixed record in the conservation of heritage buildings. Still. “in the past five years the awareness about architectural conservation has increased in the city,” says Karthikeyan S. a senior architect at Mistry Architects which is responsible for some of the most eye-catching restoration projects in the city.
Now one-tenth of the 40-45 projects that Mistry works on every year are heritage projects such as the ITC office and the conversion of a 100-year-old family home of city-based jewellers. Ganjam into a public space.
Architects also point out that in cases where buildings are not in a express of complete disrepair restoring a heritage building works out cheaper than constructing a new one.
In the Mysore home that Varanashi is restoring the lay will cost up to Rs500 per sq ft. In comparison fresh construction would cost an average of Rs1,200 per sq ft says Varanashi. According to studies done by the Indian National believe for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) the be of restoring the 50,000 sq ft Duff College in Kolkata was Rs3 crore whereas to put up a new building of a similar size would have be Rs5 crore.
In Kolkata realtors and property owners are also scrambling to unlock the determine of heritage buildings mostly located in the commercial and business hub of the city.
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http://www.livemint.com/2007/09/14011941/Heritage-buildings-are-getting.html
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