Later this month, CMDA will clear the first list of 70 heritage buildings compiled by the heritage conservation committee (HCC).

As many as 42 of the structures/precincts that figure on the list are government buildings, and the rest are private ones.

The
government buildings include Anna University’s old engineering college,
Government Teacher Training Institute – Saidapet, Madras High Court,
Music and Dance College, King Institute of Preventive Medicine and
General Post Office.

Theosophical Society is one of the private premises likely to figure on the list.

After
the list is cleared by the CMDA later this month, objections, if any,
from the owners of the buildings will be recorded at a meeting to be
held at CMDA’s Egmore office.

“We will call the
property owners and explain the significance of the structures with the
help of documents that prove their heritage value,” said a senior
official associated with the compilation of the list.

The
CMDA will then send the list, along with its recommendations and
recorded objections, to the State government for notification.

However, once a building is notified as a heritage structure, the onus of repair and maintenance will be on the property owners.

“The
owners will have to preserve the heritage buildings,” the official
said. They will be forbidden from demolishing the structures and in the
case of any damage, repair the structures themselves.

A
repair fund will be created and kept at the disposal of the member
secretary of CMDA for partial funding of such repairs if the owner is
unable to carry them out.

The listed buildings will have three grades.

Grade I structures will be prime landmarks upon which no alterations will be permitted.

Under Grade II, external changes on structures will be subject to scrutiny.

Buildings
under Grade III may be changed for ‘adaptive reuse’ with suitable
internal and external changes. The list of heritage buildings has been
readied by a team of architecture students engaged by the CMDA under the
HCC’s supervision.

The team inspected hundreds of heritage buildings and precincts in the city and documented them over the past few months.

It has also collected photographs of the structures making note of their architectural features.

Some of these buildings have also been mentioned by the Justice E. Padmanabhan committee on hoardings.

Initially,
the assessment was restricted to the Chennai Corporation area that has
been divided into geographical divisions such as Triplicane, George
Town, Purasawalkam and Mylapore.

The
State government initiated action in 1997 to conserve heritage
buildings. After the second master plan was approved by the government
on September 2, 2008, special rules for conservation of heritage
buildings/precincts came into force.

With the recommendations of the CMDA, on April 1, 2010, the government constituted the HCC.