The Big Picture - (Changi Prison) - Part 2/3
(Duration: 05’36.4)
Help us remember,
Save the old buildings so that we can have bridging landmarks in our national memory.
But can we afford them?
Hi, I’m Chong Ching Liang with the Big Picture.
Last session, we looked at the complexities that surround the decision to designate a building as “historical” and therefore worth retaining.
In this part, we talk to the Preservation of Monuments Board and Historic Sites Unit of the National Archives of Singapore on what the government is doing to ensure historic buildings are preserved.
But before that, let’s look at the single most important factor in the decision to conserve or demolish a building.
Historian Kwa Chong Guan on why considerations in preserving Changi Prison cannot be of just architectural and social concerns:
“In our instance here, the case for preservation of any monument must be weighted against the costs of the land on which it stands. So in all our preservation projects the economic factor weighs heavily so it will likewise, in this case here, the costs of a huge amount of land that Changi sits on, is it justifiable to preserve it and what are the economic spin-offs and returns we can get. This again has been a major factor when we looked at our preservation of Chinatown, Little India, or now we also looking at Kampong Glam.”
Simple economics.
It would be costly to maintain, for example, a building like Changi Prison economically.
Eminent local architect William Lim explains:
“I don’t think we can afford to have a building of this scale to be a white elephant. I mean, if you can find it can be reused for anything else than I suppose it’s got to be pulled down.”
So there you have it.
If a historic place costs too much to maintain, then we must reluctantly let it go.
Let’s take a peek at what goes on in deciding what keeps and what goes.
Two government units are involved.
These are the Preservation of Monuments Board and the Historic Sites Unit of the National Archives of Singapore.
Christina Choh of the Preservation of Monuments Board.
“The Preservation of Monuments Board or the PMB, was established in 1972 with a 3-pronged objective. One: to preserve monuments that is of exceptional historic, traditional, architectural or artistic interests. It also aims to protect and augment the amenities of these monuments. And the third role of PMB is to stimulate public interest in the preservation of these monuments. The Monuments Board is comprised of a technical committee and a research and publicity committee. Together these two committees serve to evaluate building that has been short-listed for their historical and architectural merit.”
Guidelines are drawn up once a building has been designated as a Monument site by the PMB.
“Specific guidelines are drawn up for each monument. Over the years, buildings would have changed, renovations would have been made. These guidelines serves to help monuments owners restore their monuments architecturally to its original glory and to guide future renovations and up-grading works to the building. These preservation guidelines are legally binding to the owners be they private or publicly owned buildings. These guidelines serve to protect the buildings which means that these buildings cannot be torn down at will, and cannot be changed or renovated without the prior approval of the PMB.”
While the PMB deals with physical buildings, the Historic Sites Unit within the National Archives of Singapore deals with something more intangible.
Sarin Abdullah tells us more:
“The Historic Sites Unit was established on 1 October 1996. The marking of historic sites is under the directions of the committee on historic sites which is chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Heritage Board. There are also representatives on the committee from Ministry of Information and the Arts, the Land Office, National Parks board as well as several ministries. What the committee does is to identify historic sites and buildings worthy of marking and it helps to oversee the marking of these sites. At the same time, we also gather feedback from the general public. Our marked sites may actually be buildings or they could actually be places which commemorated an event which took place.”
Sarin explains further on the rationale and on what happens when a site is marked as historic:
“When a historic site is being marked, what we essentially do is to place a plaque there which contains information on the history and significance of this site. We do this to preserve the memories of Singapore historical places for future generations.”
The setting up of the two bodies shows that the government does try to protect certain buildings identified as having historical value.
However, not all buildings can be assessed and saved.
The two units just don’t have enough people to make the rounds.
So perhaps, just perhaps, you can do your part.
Tell them which sites and monuments are important to the community and the reasons why.
It will go a long way in helping preserve our past.
Once the site or monument has been identified, how does one retain its significance and yet make it economically viable?
Tune in to the next instalment of the Big Picture.
For Newsradio938, this is Chong Ching Liang.
Related Websites:
Newsradio938
http://newsradio.mediacorpradio.com/
Help us remember,
Save the old buildings so that we can have bridging landmarks in our national memory.
But can we afford them?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1060485.htm
Hi, I’m Chong Ching Liang with the Big Picture.
Last session, we looked at the complexities that surround the decision to designate a building as “historical” and therefore worth retaining.
In this part, we talk to the Preservation of Monuments Board and Historic Sites Unit of the National Archives of Singapore on what the government is doing to ensure historic buildings are preserved.
But before that, let’s look at the single most important factor in the decision to conserve or demolish a building.
Historian Kwa Chong Guan on why considerations in preserving Changi Prison cannot be of just architectural and social concerns:
“In our instance here, the case for preservation of any monument must be weighted against the costs of the land on which it stands. So in all our preservation projects the economic factor weighs heavily so it will likewise, in this case here, the costs of a huge amount of land that Changi sits on, is it justifiable to preserve it and what are the economic spin-offs and returns we can get. This again has been a major factor when we looked at our preservation of Chinatown, Little India, or now we also looking at Kampong Glam.”
Simple economics.
It would be costly to maintain, for example, a building like Changi Prison economically.
Eminent local architect William Lim explains:
“I don’t think we can afford to have a building of this scale to be a white elephant. I mean, if you can find it can be reused for anything else than I suppose it’s got to be pulled down.”
So there you have it.
If a historic place costs too much to maintain, then we must reluctantly let it go.
Let’s take a peek at what goes on in deciding what keeps and what goes.
Two government units are involved.
These are the Preservation of Monuments Board and the Historic Sites Unit of the National Archives of Singapore.
Christina Choh of the Preservation of Monuments Board.
“The Preservation of Monuments Board or the PMB, was established in 1972 with a 3-pronged objective. One: to preserve monuments that is of exceptional historic, traditional, architectural or artistic interests. It also aims to protect and augment the amenities of these monuments. And the third role of PMB is to stimulate public interest in the preservation of these monuments. The Monuments Board is comprised of a technical committee and a research and publicity committee. Together these two committees serve to evaluate building that has been short-listed for their historical and architectural merit.”
Guidelines are drawn up once a building has been designated as a Monument site by the PMB.
“Specific guidelines are drawn up for each monument. Over the years, buildings would have changed, renovations would have been made. These guidelines serves to help monuments owners restore their monuments architecturally to its original glory and to guide future renovations and up-grading works to the building. These preservation guidelines are legally binding to the owners be they private or publicly owned buildings. These guidelines serve to protect the buildings which means that these buildings cannot be torn down at will, and cannot be changed or renovated without the prior approval of the PMB.”
While the PMB deals with physical buildings, the Historic Sites Unit within the National Archives of Singapore deals with something more intangible.
Sarin Abdullah tells us more:
“The Historic Sites Unit was established on 1 October 1996. The marking of historic sites is under the directions of the committee on historic sites which is chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Heritage Board. There are also representatives on the committee from Ministry of Information and the Arts, the Land Office, National Parks board as well as several ministries. What the committee does is to identify historic sites and buildings worthy of marking and it helps to oversee the marking of these sites. At the same time, we also gather feedback from the general public. Our marked sites may actually be buildings or they could actually be places which commemorated an event which took place.”
Sarin explains further on the rationale and on what happens when a site is marked as historic:
“When a historic site is being marked, what we essentially do is to place a plaque there which contains information on the history and significance of this site. We do this to preserve the memories of Singapore historical places for future generations.”
The setting up of the two bodies shows that the government does try to protect certain buildings identified as having historical value.
However, not all buildings can be assessed and saved.
The two units just don’t have enough people to make the rounds.
So perhaps, just perhaps, you can do your part.
Tell them which sites and monuments are important to the community and the reasons why.
It will go a long way in helping preserve our past.
Once the site or monument has been identified, how does one retain its significance and yet make it economically viable?
Tune in to the next instalment of the Big Picture.
For Newsradio938, this is Chong Ching Liang.
Related Websites:
Newsradio938
http://newsradio.mediacorpradio.com/
posted by CHONG Ching-liang | 10:29 AM
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