Ahmedabad's 150-year-old heritage building to be restored to aid those in need

LxS Foundation in partnership with the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry will develop this building, the estimated cost of which is ₹3.2 crores.

In a unique initiative, a 150-year-old heritage building in Ahmedabad's Khamasa is being restored and turned into an innovation center for underprivileged girls. Built by a colonial architect, the building sustained structural damage after the 2011 earthquake, said Sanskriti Panchal, who is an architect working on this restoration project.

The heritage structure was a girls' college but was abandoned following the 2001 earthquake. (ANI / File Photo)

LxS Foundation in partnership with the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry will develop this building, the estimated cost of which is ₹3.2 crores.

"It was a girls' college but was abandoned following the 2001 earthquake. Thus the government was compelled to shift it to a new building," she said.

Sanskriti Panchal, who is also Co-Founder of LxS Foundation told news agency ANI that the innovation center will be completed in the next two years. "In 2018 we decided to restore the building and approached the state education minister," she said.

Elaborating on the foundation of the project, the architect said that each heritage restoration has to work for people. "One misconception we all have is that heritage is something that we should be proud of our past. However, I think we need to rewind the fact that heritage is something that respects our past and to be proud of our present and future," she noted.

With a hope to empower girls in the vicinity of the building, she emphasised that the project will greatly benefit the people. "Our core concept is to include the communities. It is essential to do so for conserving the heritage," she concluded.