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of the work . The project should clearly define its direction at the earlier stage , and the process of getting approval from the NHD should be resolved before the work begins . All the stages of documentation should also follow exactly the NHD Guidelines .
Another similar case is one of the old schools in Perlis , which is also in the Heritage inventory list under the NHD . The incident of the collapsed roof happened due to heavy rainfall and attacks by termites ( see Figure 4 ). Due to time and cost constraint , rescue works are still being carried out where the affected area was covered by temporary protection to avoid bad weather .
Due to the lack of knowledge in building conservation , solutions proposed to overcome this problem by replacing the old material with cold-formed steel trusses were short-term . This approach is still waiting for approval from the NHD . We hope that the resolution will be made wisely to respect the significant value of the original fabrics and design of the heritage building .
Monitoring According to the NHD Guidelines , any conservation works need to have two conservators , namely the conservator ’ s contractor and the conservator ’ s client . The roles and responsibilities should be clearly understood so that all conservation works are implemented based on the need of the projects . All relevant experts should be appointed at the early stage so that the proposed work submitted can be checked and approved by the NHD before the work starts .
The conservation of one of the heritage museums in Penang is an example . The scope of works , including the installation of the temporary roof , is shown in Figure 5 . The method statement of this scope should be investigated and analysed thoroughly when they build it on the existing parapet wall . It should be endorsed by professionals so that the work complies with Act 645 , is approved by the NHD , and does not cause extra loads to be added to the existing building .
Arguments typically start when there is a lack of on-site monitoring . Although all the method statements were proposed by the conservator ’ s contractor , the client ’ s conservator also should play their role as check and balance . All the works conducted on-site should follow the method
Figure 5 : Temporary roof
statements which were approved by the NHD . The conservation works that were carried out on-site should reflect the right processes and procedures from the construction stage until the completion stage ( see Figure 6 ). It also shows some earnestness in making good defects , too ( see Figure 7 ). The integrity and attitude of the experts should be reflected at this point .
Compliance with Local Authority All physical projects must not ignore legislated requirements , whether it is a conservation project or not . If we fail to comply with the guidelines provided by the local authorities , we must be answerable to any issues pertaining to that , especially regarding technical issues . A good example is the repair works for the roof system for one of the universities in Perak ( see Figure 8 ). The project has been rescheduled for quite some time due to unforeseen circumstances as the conservator needs to comply with the heritage legislation , especially in appointing contractor B03 to implement this project . All conservation works should be discussed with the conservator before any decisions are made so that the project will be advised accordingly based on Act 645 and the NHD Guidelines . No matter how much the
18 VOL 85 JANUARY - MARCH 2021