Common Defect of Colonial Buildings in Malaysia

Abstract

Defects and damage to heritage buildings constitute a significant problem to be understood and addressed by the organisation. Lack of information on defects towards the heritage buildings results in decisions or actions made by the authorities not meeting the proper targets. Therefore, this research purposely to identify the types of defects inherent in the heritage buildings and to determine the degree of errors in the heritage buildings surveyed. Nine (9) heritage buildings from eight (8) states in Malaysia reviews and Systematic Visual Assessment (SVA) approaches apply to the main building comprises seven (7) major building component namely roof, wall, column and beam, windows, doors, floor, stair and apron including building services (air-condition). A total of thirty-three (33) defect generally occurs in the heritage building by previous researchers, and the assessment result indicates that twenty-two (22) type of glitch with dampness problems at twenty-nine (29.1%) dominates the cumulative count compares to others listed defect. The defect frequently occurs for nine (9) study building starts with wall component at (33.67%) deficiency followed by the column and beam (21.67%), roof (15.0%). Therefore to organise heritage building in general, the relevant authority and stakeholders’ must prioritise the three (3) critical components and dampness problems as a framework in mitigating overall issues related to the heritage building.