The European Union (EU) and the Georgetown Mayor and City Council have signed a contract that will facilitate a study for a Comprehensive Restoration and Sustainable Conservation Management Plan for the historic City Hall, a release from the EU said today.
The contract which has been awarded to EURONET Consulting GEIE for EUR 279,196 [$64M] is expected to be concluded by March/April 2017. The team will include experts from both Europe and Guyana and the National Trust of Guyana and City Hall will be actively engaged during the consultancy, the release said.
The core of the assessment will involve: conducting a condition assessment and evaluation of the physical and structural state of City Hall and the City Engineer’s Building; preparation and presentation of a comprehensive green restoration plan and a sustainable conservation management plan for City Hall and the City Engineer’s Buildings; enabling training sessions and strengthening capacity within the relevant stakeholder agencies.
EU Ambassador Jernej Videtič stated in the release that ”Georgetown’s iconic City Hall and the City Engineer’s Buildings built in 1889 are unquestionably among the most outstanding architectural, cultural and historically significant buildings in Guyana.” Ambassador Videtič added that, ”the EU was delighted to help by funding this study, which will hopefully lead to a process that will see City Hall returned to its former glory”.
In May last year, the Mayor of Georgetown Hamilton Green had signalled that the EU would be assisting with a plan to determine the restoration needs. For decades, neither the city nor central government has been able to come up with the financing necessary of the restoration of this iconic building.
In 2013, one of two international consultants who travelled to Guyana to assess the building described it as being in “cardiac arrest.”
Ihosvany De Oca Morales and Nigel Renwick, two architects from TVA Consultants, a Grenadian company, travelled to Guyana and assessed the building. After a preliminary assessment, Renwick stated that City Hall was suffering from a cardiac arrest. He added that some of the issues observed needed to be addressed immediately.
Since that time no major works have been done on the building though in April 2014, the then government had pledged $200 million for restoration of the building.
In March of this year, Fire Chief Marlon Gentle declared the building a fire hazard and warned that it was unsafe for mass gathering.
In a letter to acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba, dated March 20h, 2015, Gentle referred to a fire prevention inspection that was carried out the same day by the Guyana Fire Service.
The inspection, according to Gentle’s letter, revealed 18 major issues of concern. These issues included loose and hanging electrical wires in various parts of the building, a southern fire escape staircase that is out of order, and an aging cracked metal staircase leading to the Council Chamber.
The letter also identified hazards, such as a porous roof, severely deteriorated sections of flooring in the Council Chamber, visibly deteriorating support beams and a wiring system which has not been upgraded in over 100 years.
At the time the M&CC was preparing to host pre-elections Nomination Day at the historical building. After minor repairs, which ignored most of the 25 recommendations that Gentle made, Nomination Day was successfully held.
Green, who blamed the unchecked deterioration of the building on the previous central government, assured that with the recent removal of “those cultural barbarians” from power City Hall can now be fully restored.