Restoration works at Lebuh Kimberly to be completed by June next year

GEORGE TOWN: Restoration efforts by the Penang Island City Council on a row of six prewar shop houses at Lebuh Kimberly are scheduled to be completed by June next year.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the RM3 million restoration works began in February and would take another 14 months to be finished.
He said part of the restoration works was to ensure the “Southern Chinese Eclectic” architectural style would be preserved at the units which were more than a century old.
He said the shop houses will be leased out to those engaged in traditional trades as part of efforts to preserve such activities.
“Tenants will have the space to conduct their own heritage activities,” he added in a press conference today at the site.
Also present was Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation chairman Chow Kon Yeow and Council Heritage Conservation Department director Noorhanis Noordin.
Noorhanis said the the Council will keep a close eye on the works to ensure the buildings are restored and preserved properly.
“We want to ensure the heritage value remains after the work is completed,” she said.
The project was announced by Lim in April 2015 as part of efforts to protect intangible heritage through preserving buildings.
The six buildings are owned by the Council and were previously rented out to a perm parlour and a Chinese medicine shop.