Universiti Malaya Community Engagement Centre (UMCares)
Empowering The Community on Repairs And Maintenance Historic Masonry Building In Melaka
The project aims to save the historic brick building from damage due to the use of inappropriate repair techniques and materials. Unlike historic wooden buildings, the original repair materials of historic brick buildings have changed from lime mortar to Portland cement mortar. The use of cement mortar has caused permanent damage to historic brick building structures and is difficult and expensive to repair. As a result, the life cycle of this building will become shorter. This development will cause the destruction of historic brick buildings that were built using lime mortar as a binding and finishing material.
This situation occurs because almost all professions in the construction industry lack knowledge and skills in using lime as the main binder in mortar for the construction of brick buildings. Evidence of this permanent damage can be seen in many national heritage buildings including 'Fort Santiago' in Melaka and the Sultan Abdul Samad Building in Kuala Lumpur. The issue of damaged buildings needs to be addressed immediately by training the construction profession team, especially those directly involved in the conservation and maintenance of historic brick buildings on theoretical and practical knowledge of using lime-based building materials such as mortar and plaster and paint.
The organization of the 3-day workshop emphasizes theoretical teaching and learning as well as practical training. This approach has had a positive impact where the participants can successfully produce good quality work by making mistakes and correcting them again. The skill of using lime mortar among the participants was obtained through practical work when the participants prepared materials and repaired damaged brick walls. Almost all participants were actively involved in practical work and successfully improved their practical skills. In general, the goal of the project is achieved when the quality of the participants' work is satisfactory without significant defects.
Project information
Project Execution: 9 months
Location: Bandaraya Bersejarah Melaka
Contributions from Civil Society: RM 1,500
Numbers of Community benifited: 36 people
Output of project
This project successfully convinced PERZIM that UM researchers have expertise in renovating historic brick buildings.
In addition, UM also has a variety of construction equipment sufficient to conduct workshops to improve the knowledge and skills of contractors involved in building conservation work.
This project can be scaled up with actual conservation projects on site.
Future Enhancement
All participants gave satisfactory feedback from the aspects of management and implementation of the workshop program. All participants except PERZIM staff attended this kind of program for the first time. They stated that their knowledge and skills in the topic of lime mortar had improved from poor to better. In addition, all participants also stated that they successfully improved their practical skills, especially in preparing lime mortar and applying it to historical buildings. Some participants suggested that the practical training period be extended and in a more challenging context.
The observation made by the researcher found that all the participants were actively moving to complete the given task. Their skills were found to increase when they succeeded in repairing damaged historic brick walls
well without significant defects such as cracks and fissures.
The observation found that the PERZIM staff present had technical skills in repairing historic buildings using lime mortar after attending this program for the second time. This means that PERZIM has the capacity to organize this program in the future.
Last Update: 03/08/2022