JC3

It’s sad to see old buildings in the George Town heritage area of Penang being demolished to make way for new high rise building projects. Sometimes I think Penang is destroying the very things that make the island an attractive place to live and for tourists to visit.

This development will dwarf ‘The Runnymede’, once home to Sir Stamford Raffles and his family when he lived in Penang in the early 1800s before leaving for Singapore. It’s next to the Citibank site on Jalan Sultan Ahmed Shah in George Town.

See the story here:
Heritage buildings fronting sea in Penang turned to rubble | Free Malaysia Today

The new development on the site is called ‘Runnymede Bay’, and includes a 61-storey luxury condominium (373 units) which I suspect will be the highest in Penang and will certainly dwarf the 3-storey heritage building (20 rooms). See some images here: Runnymede Masterplan - Penang Development, Georgetown - e-architect

The plans for the site also include a 31-storey hotel (180 rooms).

JC3

ex reg

Just read a new book on Raffles' family and in it Runneymede is said to be on the beach, not just the seafront.
Obviously some backfilling done over the years.
I read it was destroyed by fire in the 1920s and rebuilt so it wasn't original anyway.

Old colonial buildings do reach the end of their life and some studies need to be done to see if saving them is worth it, even with grants.

Many buildings down here in Singapore have been lost over the last 30 years but many have been saved. It can be done.
We are going to stay in the old part of the E&O next week incase that comes under the axe.
But I wonder if it will be worth it.
We've ate in Raffles Hotel in Singapore many times but only when the company or others have been paying.

InVinoVeritas

There are a lot of beautiful but abandoned heritage buildings in Georgetown. It's like there is a waiting game for the building to become sufficiently derelict that the owners can sell the land with a permission to demolish. I assume it is not possible for the Government to an issue an order for restoration? Maybe if a proposal to purchase such a property and restore it to its former glory (for the use off MM2H'ers) was presented, then it might just fly?

ex reg

Most locals in the region from Hong Kong to Indonesia inclusive see no point in old buildings being restored.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.

You can even see it with their own private housing.

Once it's built it is never maintained until it falls down.

Another example is the Singapore MRT where they brought on board a CEO who was to increase revenue through shops on MRT property and during her tenure all thoughts of maintenace went by the wayside.
Now they are scrambling to catch up with maintenance before the whole system grinds to a halt.
Or so I read on other internet sites, like.