Make-up that highlights age

As the UAE knuckles down to preserve its architectural heritage for posterity, it is taking care not to restore portions which have tales to tell.

One of Sharjah's best-kept secrets lies tucked away downtown, behind a busy main road. To a passer-by it looks like an old, dilapidated building dwarfed by office towers and contrasting sharply with the United Arab Emirates's shiny, glass-and-steel image.

But for those dedicated to keeping the UAE's culture and identity alive, it is a vital part of the cityscape.

The Bait Al Ansari, or "House of the Follower", was built in the 1900s. The original wooden wind-tower - the only one in existence in the UAE - and the superstructure of the building are now fragile with age.

What those involved in the restoration are excited about is that the building is slated to become a model for responsible, ethical conservation - it will not undergo the kind of restoration structures the "heritage villages" have undergone.

Restoration has always been a controversial method for the conservation of historic structures. Should you reconstruct an ancient building from scratch? What materials should you use? Are you altering the essence of the structure and, by extension, its identity? These were questions largely ignored until recently.

Walk through the heritage area in the Shindagha district in Dubai or in the Al Khan district in Sharjah and you will be forgiven if you think portions of the buildings there are new.

They provide only a fleeting glimpse of how people used to live in the area before modernity crept in. Some buildings that are more than 100 years old are spotless.

Fresh plaster covers them. Inside, the air-conditioning and soft lighting belie the story of a humble trading city that evolved into a sprawling metropolis.

"When we started, our experience was not so good," says Rashid Mohammad Bukhash, the director of the general projects department at Dubai Municipality.

Bukhash, who has been overseeing the restoration of buildings across the UAE for more than 20 years, says when the work started, restoration techniques and urban conservation planning did not adhere to international standards.

Since then, though, there has been a concerted drive to breathe life back into Dubai's heritage buildings. Out of the 420 heritage sites across the emirate, 130 have been restored, with up to 15 completed every year.

"We have a plan to restore all our buildings by 2016," says Bukhash, who is also the chairman of the Architectural Heritage Society.

"If the structure is intact, we preserve parts of it. When we reconstruct, we use old photographs, conduct surveys and consult with elders in the community. We use traditional materials such as gypsum and sea stones, and sandalwood from as far as Zanzibar," Bukhash said.

Preserving heritage is important work at a time when the UAE is pushing national identity to the top of its agenda, and yet it is perhaps ironic that some heritage buildings look new.

"It's OK to have ruins," says Samia Rab, a professor of architecture and heritage management at the American University of Sharjah. "The ruined state doesn't mean it's uncared for."

Rab, who has worked as a heritage consultant at the highest level in the UAE, is concerned restoration has, more often than not, leant towards reconstruction. She believes this has led to a stock of historical buildings that do not reflect their age.

In some instances, buildings have been fully restored, made to resemble what they would have looked like when they were built. Traditional materials are used in combination with cement and plaster for the restoration work.

Many buildings that were once homes have been converted into museums and restaurants, complete with air-conditioning, cinema screens and gift shops.

But with no regulation at the federal level, this means companies contracted to carry out restoration work are not bound, technically or ethically, to internationally recognised standards.

"International standards essentially require minimum intervention. You have to let the age show. You consolidate, you stabilise. If you have to intervene, then it must be sensitive. You must realise that the less you do, the more you reveal history. Just because you are rebuilding using the same materials doesn't necessarily make it authentic," Rab says.

"There is no law requiring restorers to have a special degree. Heritage must be honestly communicated, otherwise you are in a sense lying to future generations."

In 2005, Rab made the first attempt to start a certification programme to train restorers. There was little interest. "We had only one qualified applicant. We had to discontinue the course," Rab says.

All this has a significant impact on the UAE's efforts to earn Unesco World Heritage status for its historic buildings. Rab suspects it hasn't happened yet because, in many instances "they've been touched too much".

Add to that is the fact that a draft conservation law formulated seven years ago to protect heritage sites is still waiting to be ratified at the federal level.

With areas such as Shindagha aiming to attract tourists, this lack of international heritage status could also reduce interest from certain types of visitors, who check to see whether a site is on the world heritage list before planning a holiday there.

"Twenty or 30 years ago we didn't realise just how important these historical areas would be," says Peter Jackson, who is architectural adviser to His Highness Doctor Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.

"Society was looking forward. These buildings were becoming hard to live in and maintain, and so people were looking for ways to modernise them. Some of the buildings look as if they have been built now. You don't get a sense they were built 150 years ago. We are aware of this and are trying to compensate for it."

Jackson is part of a movement dedicated to bringing international standards of restoration to the UAE, with a focus on better urban conservation planning.

He acknowledges that previously the best materials were not always used to restore buildings. And the addition of modern amenities, such as air-conditioning, has led to moisture build-up and mould.

"We have a historical building stock where restoration has taken place and some of them have developed cracks," he says.

"These buildings were always meant to be open to catch the breeze." These were not easy decisions to make all those years ago, he says, as the city tried to modernise and adapt old buildings for modern living.

But there is an air of optimism. Jackson, who is responsible for overseeing some of the most successful conservation projects in Sharjah, believes the UAE is on the right path to better conservation practices.

The emirate has recently partnered with the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, an international body created by Unesco that promotes and standardises conservation practices of historic buildings.

The tie-up translates into frequent technical training courses for conservationists, and the opportunity to share experiences and ideas with other countries in the region.

"This will bring international standards and scientific practice to conservation in a big way," he says.

And it seems to be working. He is confident that conservation will mean detailed planning and employing the best restoration practices. He even believes that if there is a concerted effort, mistakes made on poorly restored buildings could be reversed in five years.

He is keen to develop a contemporary approach to conservation, in line with international requirements. And with projects such as Bait Al Ansari, this approach will contribute positively to conservation practices in the UAE.

The house has attracted the attention of Shaikh Sultan as a potential model for conservationists across the country. The structure will only be stabilised and the original materials will be kept intact.

The technique of layering, which involved stacking up sea stones on layers of plaster, can clearly been seen on the walls. Conservationists say this particular skill has been forgotten in the UAE.

"It is important to realise that a simple house, with minimal intervention in terms of restoration, doesn't detract from its heritage value," he says. "Because if we lose the essence of these buildings, we lose our history."

Traditional building materials

Using traditional building materials might appear to be an 'authentic' way of reproducing the past but some conservationists say it has produced mixed results.

Condensation becomes a serious problem for buildings that were designed to remain open. When air-conditioning is installed and rooms are sealed up, the building also starts sucking moisture up from the ground. In some cases this leads to an increase in cracking and even differential movement.

In previous years, coral was used as a building material. It was harvested from the ocean along with other sea stones and used to make walls. N

ow they are also an endangered material, and, with levels of coral declining around the world, the excavation of building materials from the ocean has become a taboo. In many countries, it is illegal.

Conservationists say an ancient technique of building, known as layering, where walls are constructed in such a way as to use minimal scaffolding, has also been forgotten.

A model case in restoration

Standing just off a main road in Sharjah is Bait Al Ansari. It might appear to be an old, dilapidated building but it has generated a lot of excitement among conservationists, and the ruler of Sharjah, Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, who is also concerned about its conservation.

The house was occupied by a religious family, and there is a room believed to be reserved for Quranic recitation. The structure also features the country's only existing wooden wind-tower. Much is being learnt about Bait Al Ansari.

Architects have been studying building techniques and speaking to elders in the community about how structures such as these were built, more than 100 years ago.

Unlike some historical buildings that have been partially reconstructed, Bait Al Ansari is expected only to be stablised, and thus retain its original features.

This means Bait Al Ansari will possibly be the first example of restoration in the UAE, that follows a contemporary and new attitude to conservation.