Thiruvananthapuram: The renovation of the century-old heritage building at Government Central High School, Attakkulangara, which was lying unfinished for months, is about to resume. DPI K.V. Mohankumar told DC that, “The order to resume construction has been issued. Work was stopped following a complaint. The Education Secretary convened a meeting and the issue was settled.” The order has not yet been published on the site. It is learnt that the order advises the architect to be careful about conservation aspects. The work was being carried out by Habitat.
It was after INTACH submitted a report to the Education Minister saying that the work carried out at two of the three old buildings was unacceptable, that the department asked the work to be stopped. It was not as per conservation norms, according to various activists and conservation architects. One of the main concerns of the architects was the fact that the oldest building dating back to 1889 was not documented.
The report said that the reason for removing pillars and front verandah in the oldest building could not be ascertained because of lack of documentation.
In the other two buildings, ornamentation was introduced in the pillars and there was replastering in cement mortar, according to the report. The report says that the load bearing walls of the oldest building are in good condition.
The truss system, except at the points where the Mangalore tiles were broken or the southern point where those were removed, is also good enough. However, there has been a delay of 8 months. “We have lost 8 months. Our original contract was for a year. Work happened only for a couple of months. It will be difficult to complete it within just two months,” said G Shankar, founder, Habitat.
