Built Heritage Maintenance: A Malaysian Perspectives

Abstract

Heritage building conservation in Malaysia is fairly new. Recent phenomenon witnesses its acceptance as an important national policy. Essentially in 2008 Melaka and Goergetown the historical cities were enrolled as UNESCO's World Heritage Site. However being internationally recognized World Heritage Site come with international accountability. This paper comprised critical review of existing literature and highlighting some fundamental principles in conservation of historic building in relation to the maintenance needs. It also reported the early stage of proposed ongoing research in Universiti Teknologi MARA which focuses on the maintenance practice of Malaysian conserved heritage building at UNESCO's World Heritage Site. Findings suggest that maintenance is most significant in order to conform with the conservation good practice. At least with the following key themes: clear maintenance policy, regular and plan maintenance, appropriate maintenance programme, regular condition survey and reports and providing maintenance manual and logbook help to support good maintenance practice. It is also found that in Asia's heritage is generally under-protected. The theory and practice of maintenance needs for historic building in Malaysian are still not duly addressed. Good maintenance practice is one of the important perspectives that still leave a gap in effective management strategies. This research finally aims to establish Malaysian conserved heritage building best maintenance practice guidelines.