Heritage buildings as described by Feilden (2000) are “buildings that give us a sense of wonder and make us want to know more about people and culture that produce it”. A more elaborate definition was made by Kamal and Harun (2002) where they defined them as buildings built in the past which have high historical and architectural values and require continuous care and protection to preserve their historical, architectural, aesthetic, archaeological, spiritual, social, political and economic values. In other words, heritage buildings are expected to have an indefinite life span, signifying that they should be preserved for as long as possible. This was also pointed out by Feilden (1982) where stated that heritage buildings differ from modern buildings because they are anticipated to last forever. He also described heritage buildings as “buildings that for various reasons society has decided shall be preserved for as long as possible”. The over 3 centuries of colonial rule in Malaysia is still evident today by the presence of the unique colonial architectural styles left behind by colonial powers of British, Dutch, and the Portuguese. These unique heritage buildings can be seen in all major cities and were fundamental to the establishment of heritage cities in the country. Cities like George Town, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Malacca and Taiping have many historical buildings built during the colonial era (1511 - 1957) with different architectural styles and influences. To date, the heritage buildings in these cities have become one of the urban identities for these cities (Ismail et al, 2006). Common examples of these buildings include railway stations, mosques, prisons, schools, palaces, traditional Malay houses, Indian temple... ... middle of paper ... ...cance, Sydney: National Trust of New South Wales. Miles, M.B and Huberman, A.M (1994) An expanded source book: Qualitative Data Analysis, 2nd Edition. Mustapa, A.H., Kamal, S.K. Mohamad A.Z. and Wahab A.L. (2007). Maintenance approach of Historic Buildings in Malaysian Context. Journal of Building engineering UK p 8-11 Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Walker, D. H. T. (1997) Choosing an appropriate research methodology, Construction Management & Economics, 15 (2), 149. Wordsworth, P. (2001). Lee’s Building Maintenance Management, 4th Ed, London: Blackwell Science. Wothington, D., Dann, N., and Bond, S. (2002). Issues in Conservation Management. Proceedings of the CIB W070 2002 Global symposium: Glasgow, 18-20 September pp. 292-302
Rugg, G., & Petre, M. (2007). A gentle guide to research methods. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Open University Press.
Glaser, Barney G & Strauss, Anselm L. (1967), The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company
Mack, N., Woodsong, C., Macqueen, K., Guest, G., & Namey, E. (2005). Qualitative research methods a data collector's field guide. Research Triangle Park, N.C.: Family Health International.
Historic preservation is a planning device that has been around since the twentieth century, the term came about in 1966. This policy was established to protect U.S. physical history, this history being geographic locations, and buildings that are of small or great importance to its city or region. “While historic preservation takes place at the local, state, and national levels, the putative goal in all cases is the preservation of properties with historical and/or aesthetic appeal that would otherwise be neglected or even demolished” (Coulson, 2004). The policy came from a good place, meaningfully wonting to preserve our history by deeming geographic locations and building to be historic, however the policy in some ways lost its luster not sticking to it true roots.
The author could have employed other methods of qualitative research such as, narrative analysis, grounded theory, discourse analysis, data display and analysis, content analysis and quantifying qualitative data and computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAPDAS) (Saunders et al., 2016). Nevertheless, these approaches seem cumbersome sometimes and take a long time to complete (Willig, 1999; Braun and Clarke, 2006 and Smith and Bekker,
Construction can be very expensive due to the need for material, amount, and labor. The price becomes even more severe when considering the cost of preservation and upkeep. Weather and other forms of erosion eventually deteriorate monuments over a long period of time, requiring extensive reconstruction. This process requires more material and labor hours, steadily increasing the already monumental expense. These factors can be detrimental to an unprepared monument.
Qualitative research is an approach that attempts to situate an activity that locates the observer in the world by providing the study to occur in their natural setting and by attempting to make sense of, or interpret information (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). A characteristic of qualitative research is to use a variety of empirical materials such as personal experience, interviews, and questionnaires. It is imperative to understand the task at hand and how to fully carry out the study when using a qualitative research approach in order to find out the information needed. One view of qualitative research is it involves examining individual’s experiences and documenting those experiences in detail (Jones, 2011). By documenting these observations the researcher is ensuring validity in his or her data and giving the correct creditability to those who participated in the study.
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
It is designed to add value to the existing property by still carrying out the style of that period and adding modern conveniences. We bring value for money, imagination and peace of mind to your heritage home renovation project while keeping it on track and on budget. We can provide you with much more than a basic renovation process as we have the experience to visualize your project successfully till it is completed. We also assist with the approval process and render you with a peaceful renovation of your heritage home. Below mentioned are the steps that we indulge in to provide you with a peaceful completion of your renovation
Marshall, C, Rossman, Gretchen B, (2006). Designing qualitative research, 4th edition, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
focused on the key qualitative research methods. For each article review, a brief description, guided by Myers (2013), and a critique, guided Pratt (2009), is provided. A summary of the five articles identifying the research method, data collection technique, data analysis approach and critique is provided in Table 1. The narrative review of each article coupled with figures and tables to organize and visualize thoughts (Pratt, 2009) follows the summary table.
Liamputtong, P. & Ezzy, D., 2005, Qualitative research methods, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Victoria, pp. 12-31.
Many of the old-style buildings have historical value in Hong Kong and they can be evolved into heritage hotels through redevelopment and renovation to
Glaser, B.G., Strauss, A.L. (1967), The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Chicago: Aldine.
they are either used as places of work or homesteads. The maintenance of these facilities is very crucial for their preservation so as to ensure that they continue to serve their intended use, yielding optimum returns as well as meeting the standards of health and safety regulations while also providing comfort to their users Mbutha (2014). As buildings that are maintained well tend to yield high returns in the long-run Al-Hammad (2004), maintenance should therefore be looked at as a viable investment exercise. However, maintenance of buildings is not convened the priority it deserves and some buildings tends to receive little or no maintenance at all Mbutha (2014) and thus the cumulative effect of these actions is that of aggravating building defects and thereby incurring high maintenance costs in the long-term and reducing the “life-span” of buildings Al-Hammad (2004), Mbutha (Ibid). Underlying causes of poor maintenance which often results in buildings on most occasions; not meeting safety and health regulations or incurring costly maintenance works in the long-run fall under three (3) main categories – causes initiated during the design stage, construction stage and those initiated during the usage stage or the users carefree attitude (i.e. bad maintenance culture) Stephen (2002). These are as