Drones, other new technology to join front line of Hong Kong heritage conservation efforts
- Secretary for Development says Hong Kong’s Architectural Services Department ‘needs to go with the times’ to improve the effectiveness of conservation work
- The biggest challenge, says surveyor Liny Lau Ling-yee, is to ensure historic buildings resist effects of rain and other natural threats
Hong Kong’s Architectural Services Department has been studying how to apply new technologies to heritage conservation and help protect historical buildings from rain and termites, according to the city’s development chief.
Writing on his official blog, Secretary for Development Michael Wong Wai-lun said the department was tasked with conserving 74 heritage sites owned by the government, along with 135 graded historical buildings and multiple sites with archaeological value, such as lighthouses, tombs, forts and rock carvings.
“The department is responsible for repairing and maintaining many old structures which have significant historical, architectural and cultural value,” he wrote.
“It needs to go with the times, and study the use of new technology, such as using drones to inspect buildings, so as to improve the effectiveness and performance of conservation work.”
Speaking in a video posted on Wong’s blog, senior maintenance surveyor Liny Lau Ling-yee, of the Architectural Services Department, said apart from daily maintenance and repair work, workers also had to arrange for contractors to check the buildings’ ceilings, windows and other high-risk components.
“We also hired consultants to inspect the buildings … and conduct preventive maintenance work every four to five years,” she said.
Lau said the biggest challenge in heritage conservation was to ensure historic buildings in Hong Kong, largely built of wood and brick, resisted the effects of rain and other natural elements.
The surveyor said authorities had recently conducted maintenance work on the former Aberdeen police station, a grade two historic building, even though the Architectural Services Department had just finished some prevention work last year.
Lau added that even though the building was now home to The Warehouse Teenage Club, it was difficult for the club to help maintain the facility as it was located on a hillside.
“The plants on its external walls had returned … and water started to seep into the building after the rainy season, so if we had not taken action, the wooden structures would be at risk,” she explained.
The department also helped to repair the wooden floor tiles of the building after they were damaged by termites, she added.
Wong, the development chief, said the department had a special maintenance unit that helped to repair historic structures during rainstorms or other emergencies.
Lee Ho-yin, director of the University of Hong Kong’s architectural conservation programmes, welcomed Wong’s pledge that more new technology would be used.
“I know that the bureau has been testing the use of drones in heritage inspection for a few years, and it would be great [to use them]. It is difficult for inspectors to reach some high points, and they may need scaffoldings to help. But as drones can be installed with high-resolution cameras, and are cheap and easy to control, such work would be more effective,” he said.
“Authorities should also consider using laser-scanning to help create detailed three-dimensional records of heritage buildings.”
