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SS
28,5 Elemental cost format for
building conservation works in
Malaysia
408
Wee Li Woon and Lim Yoke Mui
School of Housing, Building and Planning, University Sains Malaysia,
Gelugor, Malaysia

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to propose a new format to present the cost of building conservation
works which will better reflect the actual cost components and have a higher relevance to building
conservation works.
Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the study’s aim of presenting a new format suitable
for building conservation works, a total of 16 conservation projects were selected and work items of
the highest frequency were identified and aggregated into the relevant elemental component to
formulate a new elemental cost format.
Findings – Work items of the highest frequency identified are partitions, doors and ironmongeries,
followed by roof finishes and rainwater goods, floor finishes, external walls and windows. In addition
to the usual building works, new work items such as scientific analysis, archaeology excavation and
temporary roof are also found to be important.
Research limitations/implications – The proposed format has yet to be tested in the local
industry, which is necessary to ensure compatibility with industry needs.
Practical implications – This new cost analysis format includes a list of work items that are
specific to building conservation works, which may guide the quantity surveyor in preparing a
budget/cost estimate with higher accuracy by reducing the risk of omitted work items that are
pertinent in building conservation works.
Originality/value – Owing to the lack of cost data information for building conservation works,
estimating and controlling the cost in this area of work is very challenging. The proposed new format
of elemental cost analysis designed for building conservation works seeks to fill this void by providing
a guide in estimating costs for building conservation.
Keywords Building conservation, Cost estimates, Heritage, Malaysia
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Heritage buildings are icons for a country and reflect the cultural background and the
national identity of that country. For this reason, heritage buildings should be
conserved as important monuments for future generations. Article 1.4 of the Burra
Charter (Australia ICOMOS, 1999) states that conservation is defined as all processes
of looking after a place so as to retain its cultural significance. It encompasses the
activities that are aimed at the safeguarding of a cultural resource so as to retain its
historic value and extend its physical life. Mustapa et al. (2007) argue that
Structural Survey
Vol. 28 No. 5, 2010
pp. 408-419 The authors would like to express their thanks and appreciation to Universiti Sains Malaysia for
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-080X
funding this research. Part of this paper was presented at the 13th Conference of the Pacific
DOI 10.1108/02630801011089182 Association of Quantity Surveying.
conservation, although defined as a general meaning of preserving and conserving Cost format for
historical buildings as a national heritage, can be specifically categorised and each building
category carries a different meaning, outlining and defining the difference on the scope
of works that are associated with it, such as restoration, rehabilitation, preservation, conservation
reconstruction, repair and maintenance.
It is a fact that there are many heritage buildings of different eras in Malaysia that
should be conserved. Recent large-scale urban development continues to threaten 409
pre-war buildings, while other historic buildings are simply deteriorating due to age,
neglect, and the high cost of maintenance (Kamal et al., 2007). The listing of George
Town and Malacca as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the year 2008 has increased
the amount of conservation work in these sites. However, Kamal et al. (2007) pinpoint
that building conservation practice is relatively new in Malaysia compared to some
other countries. As such, research on conservation works, especially in the costing
aspect, is rather limited. The lack of complete costing information for conservation
projects has led to the difficulty of preparing a cost budget for conservation projects.
The lack of information, coupled with the quantity surveyor’s lack of understanding in
the intricacies of conservation works, may cause the estimated cost budget to miss out
work items that are pertinent in conservation projects. Thus, to further improve the
competence of quantity surveyors in this area, this study aims to formulate a new
format of cost analysis that is specifically tailored to building conservation works. The
insight gained from this study may help quantity surveyors to prepare a more accurate
cost estimate of for conservation projects in the future.

Overview of cost analysis

Elemental cost analysis (ECA) is one of the most widely used cost estimation
techniques. It provides the same function with the standardised work section in a
building independent of quantity, work specification and rate, which allows
meaningful comparisons to be made (Seeley, 1996). The purpose of preparing a cost
analysis for a building project is an attempt to reveal the cost relationship between the
various sections of a project, and also to allow for some comparability with other
schemes (Ashworth, 1988).
Cost estimation is important in the preliminary stage of any construction works.
The purpose of preparing a preliminary cost estimate is to produce a forecast cost of
the future project before the building is designed in detail and other particulars
prepared (Ferry et al., 1999, 1999; Seeley, 1996). It is required during the inception stage
of the design process in order to provide clients with an indication of possible costs
associated with a proposed construction project. They are also required at various
levels of detail as the project proceeds through the design and construction stages
(Ashworth, 1988). Hence, the cost data to be used during cost estimation should be
reliable and updated so that the cost estimation can reflect the reality (Tas and Yaman,
2005).
The basis of cost planning and cost control is cost analysis (Ferry et al., 1999). In
fact, cost analysis could help quantity surveyors in preparing cost estimation for a
project by providing useful sources of cost information. It could also be used to predict
the project cost throughout the construction phase for cost control purposes. In general,
cost analysis is usually conducted using bills of quantities (BQ), which are costing
documents prepared by the quantity surveyor based on standard methods of
SS measurement. In Malaysia the current standard method of measurement in use is
28,5 SMM2. A BQ is a major source of cost information (Ferry et al., 1999) that contains a
detailed breakdown of all the elements used for a project. The standard form of element
list is divided into six groups, five of which cover the building, while the sixth covers
external works (Seeley, 1996).

410 Issues in cost estimates of conservation works

Cost estimating for a building conservation project is a challenging task due to the lack
of information on the cost, complexity of the method of conservation and also the
difficulty in sourcing the required materials, which may not be widely available. In
Malaysia, although conservation of heritage buildings has been ongoing for many
years, costing information and documents pertaining to conservation work is still
lacking. Lack of understanding in conservation works on the part of quantity
surveyors often leads to difficulty in preparing a cost budget. A quantity surveyor
essentially modifies or adapts information or standards from new construction works
to be used for conservation works (Lee, 2009). While this method is not totally
incorrect, there is the risk of missing out important cost elements that are specific to
conservation works and that are not found in new building works.
Restoration work commences from the highest point of the building, which is the
roof followed by ceiling, floors, walls, columns and ends at the foundation works.
The work could also commence from the exterior of the building to the interior. In other
words, conservation works differs with new building works in terms of the sequence of
work. It must also be noted that there are some special works to be considered when
preparing a cost budget for conservation works. Work items specifically for
conservation works such as archaeological excavation, scientific testing and analysis
and temporary roofing should be included. Also, it is common to see certain work items
combined and categorised under the same element, such as “roof and finishes”, when
compared to new building works, where these work items are separated as roof
structure and roof finishes, respectively. The reason for combining work items under
the same category in building conservation works is to make it easier and convenient
for the contractor to appoint sub-contractors or specialists to restore the specific parts
of the building, especially where the damaged parts are interrelated to each other, such
as roof and roof finishes.
Owing to the different nature of work between conservation and new building, some
work items frequently used in conservation works are not used in new building works,
and vice versa. Since the current cost analysis format commonly used in the industry
was designed for new building works, the existing cost analysis format is not suitable
for conservation projects because of the differences in part of the scope of work
between conservation and new building works. Hence, a need has arisen for a new form
of cost analysis that can cater for the specificity of work in a building conservation
project. It is hoped that with the new format, many of the issues mentioned above may
be resolved.

Methodology of study
A quantitative approach was adopted in this research. As the research was carried out
in George Town, Penang, the project samples collected are conservation projects from
the same city. According to the Penang Municipal Council, there are approximately
3,700 buildings in Penang that are listed as heritage buildings either in Category I or II Cost format for
by the state government. Although there are thousands of heritage buildings in George building
Town, there are not many buildings that have been properly restored. Amongst those
that are restored, a total of 16 buildings with distinct building classification were conservation
selected for this research. The selection of the projects is based on one important
criteria: the project must have a complete breakdown of costing information. As such,
many projects are not selected due to the incomplete costing information, as some 411
projects did not follow the full tendering procedures. From the costing data of each
selected project, the main cost items were extracted from the BQ in the contract
document. Thus the completeness of the BQ used is critical in this research to identify
the cost items that are pertinent to building conservation works. Although only
conservation projects in George Town were selected, the findings are postulated to be
reflective of the building conservation scenario in Malaysia as heritage buildings in
Malaysia are quite similar in typology and construction.
The selected buildings in this study comprise of shops, commercial buildings,
religious buildings, private houses, and government buildings. The selected heritage
buildings are prestigious and major conservation projects in Penang. A variety of
buildings was chosen to ensure that the proposed ECA format would essentially
capture the various variables found in the different building types and the final
product can be used for the various types of buildings. The details of the project
samples for this study are as shown in Table I. The percentage of each type of
buildings is indicated in Figure 1. These buildings were selected because the cost
documentations are proper and complete with breakdown information that is in
compliance with the study criteria mentioned above.
Data for the research were extracted from the BQs, collected either from the
consultant firms or contractor firms that were involved in the selected projects. Both
consultant and contractor would have the same set of documents so there would be no
risk of discrepancies although the data came from different sources. The data extracted
from all the BQs was then collated and processed using descriptive statistics to obtain

No. Public/private Building category

A Private Commercial
B Private Commercial
C Private Private house
D Private Government
E Private Commercial
F Public Religious
G Public Government
H Public Religious
I Private Shop
J Private Religious
K Private Commercial
L Public Government
M Public Government
N Public Government Table I.
O Private Commercial List of project samples
P Public Government used in this study
SS
28,5

412

Figure 1.
Percentages of types of
building studied

the frequency of each of the work items. The work items were duly identified and
ranked according to the frequency of their occurrence in the selected projects. The
analysis from the first part were then rearranged and grouped into an appropriate cost
component according to the building function to produce the proposed elemental cost
format. The findings of this research are presented in a combination of tabular and
graphical form with supporting discussions in the following sections of the paper.
A total of 40 work items that are frequently used in conservation works were
identified and are listed in Table II in descending order according to the frequency of
occurrence. These work items are then grouped according to the appropriate group
component as shown in Figure 2.

Results and discussion

Analysis conducted on the data collected found that the top ranked work item is
“Partition, internal doors and ironmongeries” (100 per cent) while demolition works has
the lowest frequency score with a percentage of 75 per cent. This indicates that demolition
may not occur in all building conservation works. On the other hand there are three items
that are ranked second, i.e. “Roof finishes and rainwater goods”, “Floor finishes”, and
“External walls, doors, windows”. Meanwhile, “Internal wall finishes” and “Ceiling and
finishes” are ranked third among all the work items, having a frequency of 88 per cent.
“Roof construction”, “Staircase finishes and balustrades” and “External wall
finishes” are on the bottom rung of the most common work items in building
conservation works. However, a frequency of 81 per cent indicates that they are still
important work items. The top ten work items identified for building conservation
works are found to be also common for new building works.
Common structural repairs of work items such as staircases, walls and columns are
found to have a higher frequency in all projects. As a wall is connected to most other
elements such as a column and beam, ceiling or floor, repairs in other parts of the
building may cause some cracking to a wall, thus requiring remedial works to the wall
during restoration works. The same is also true for the floor element. Usually, the
staircase and railings are badly decayed or damaged and have to be totally replaced.
Hence, these two items are also in the top ten most frequently occurring work items in
conservation projects, with a frequency of 63 per cent. Likewise, the roof is always
badly damaged due to exposure to weather for prolonged periods, and thus requires
remedial works. In some projects, it is also found that external works contribute a
 Cost format for
No. Work Items fa
building
1 Partitions, internal doors 16 conservation
2 Ironmongeries 16
3 Roof finishes and rainwater goods 15
4 Floor finishes 15
5 External walls, doors, windows 15 413
6 Internal wall finishes 14
7 Ceiling and finishes 14
8 Roof construction 13
9 External wall finishes 13
10 Staircase finishes and balustrades 13
11 Painting 13
12 Demolitions/dismantling works 12
13 Plumbing and sanitary installation 11
14 Scientific testing and analysis 11
15 Decorations (cornice) 11
16 Timber roof trusses 10
17 Staircase construction 10
18 Sundries 8
19 Electrical system installation 8
20 Roof covering 7
21 Upper floor 7
22 Anti-termite treatment 7
23 Substructure 7
24 Structural steelwork 6
25 Furniture and fittings 5
26 Walkways, driveways, car parks, etc. 5
27 Lighting system 5
28 Frame 5
29 Waterproofing 4
30 Security and sound system 4
31 Fencing and gate 4
32 Archaeology excavation 3
33 Surface water drains, sump and culverts 3
34 Water and sewer mains, foal drainage, manholes 3
35 Adjoining property wall/boundary 3
36 Pavers 3
37 Flooring 3
38 Fire fighting 3
39 Fence wall 2
40 Landscaping 2 Table II.
Ranking of work items in
Note: aFrequency conservation works

small portion to the cost of conservation. However, the data collected did not clearly
indicate the distribution of work items for external works, thus hindering further
analysis of this particular work item. The restoration of historical buildings often
includes the installation of new electrical services including lighting installations and
fire alarm systems to comply with current safety regulations. The study found that
close to half of the 16 projects have included works of electrical and lighting
installation, as well as fire fighting for safety purposes.
SS
28,5

414

Figure 2.
Frequency of work items
in conservation projects

The item “Scientific testing and analysis” could also be found in most conservation
projects. This is due to the requirement set by the local authorities that required the
investigation of defective works in a building before restoration work. The study
showed that 11 out of 16 projects had conducted scientific testing on the buildings to
determine the defective works. These tests included “Anti-termite”, “Salt
contamination and rising damp”, “Timber test”, “HABS dilapidation survey” and
“XRF test”. Other tests may also be conducted based on the requirement set down by
the project conservationist. It must be clearly noted that the percentages shown above
only represented work items that are frequently used in conservation projects and it
does not depict the significant costs of the work items in conservation project. In order
to determine a new elemental format for conservation works, all the work items
identified earlier will be grouped under its relevant elemental component. From the 40
work items identified earlier, those items with the same functional use are grouped
under the same elemental component. Table III shows the grouping of 40 work items
according to their functional use in a building. In total, 14 major elements were formed
from the rearrangement of the work items into the relevant elemental component.
As the works for new build and conservation are quite similar, with some
exceptions, the grouping of items for conservation work are also rather similar to the
grouping for new building works. Having said that, the study also found that there are
some elemental components that are not the same with new building works. For
example, “External wall, doors and windows” is combined and listed as an item due to
special consideration for building conservation works where the restoration works for
 Cost format for
No. Work items Elemental component
building
1 Demolitions/dismantling works Demolition works conservation
2 Roof covering Roof and rainwater goods
3 Roof construction
4 Timber roof trusses
5 Roof finishes & rainwater goods 415
6 Flooring construction Floor structure and finishes
7 Floor finishes
8 Ceiling and finishes Ceiling and finishes
9 External wall finishes External wall, doors & windows
10 External walls, doors, windows
11 Fence wall
12 Painting
13 Partitions, doors Internal wall, column and finishes
14 Internal wall finishes
15 Ironmongeries
16 Decorations
17 Staircase construction Staircase and balustrade
18 Staircase finishes and balustrades
19 Structural steelwork Structural works
20 Upper floor
21 Frame
22 Substructure
23 Sundries Sundries
24 Furniture and fittings Furniture and fittings
25 Electrical system M&E works
26 Lighting system
27 Security and sound system External works
28 Walkways, driveways, car parks, etc.
29 Pavers
30 Fencing and gate
31 Surface water drains, sump & culverts
32 Water and sewer mains, foal drainage, manholes
33 Fire fighting
34 Adjoining property wall/boundary
35 Landscaping
36 Plumbing and sanitary installation Services
37 Archaeology excavation Conservation treatment
38 Scientific testing and analysis
39 Anti-termite treatment Table III.
40 Waterproofing Grouping of work items

these three elements are inter-related. Likewise, this reason also applies to the item
“Internal walls and doors”, where the deterioration of a wall may also affect its
surroundings, such as doors. Thus, the combination of these two elements as an item is
suggested as above.
The same analysis was also carried out on the preliminaries section but only five
projects of the 16 samples were used due to the lack of breakdown in costing
information in most of the samples. From the analysis, temporary works appear to be
the most frequently occurring work items, accounting for 16 per cent of all
preliminaries items. These works include “Temporary water and electricity supplies”,
SS “Temporary telephone”, “General scaffolding and staging temporary”, “Temporary
28,5 roads” and “Temporary lighting”. These work items are required before and during the
execution of work to ensure the safety and stability of the building. “Research and
documentation” is also an important part of conservation works because it is a tool to
provide proper documentation of the conservation works. Scientific testing analysis
and reports of the proposed building to be conserved is prepared by a conservationist,
416 architect or structural engineer to determine the level of defective works and to provide
suggestions of remedial works to repair damaged items. From our study, we found that
four of the five sample projects had included this item in the preliminaries section.
Other preliminaries items include the preparation of scaled photographs, which are
essential before conservation works begins. This is in line with the local standard
guidelines. In the same guidelines, the preparation of Historical Architectural Building
Survey (HABS) report is also required. A report is prepared in the three different stages
of work, before, during and after the conservation works. The documentation requires
a building analysis report, illustrated with drawings, photographs, and other relevant
details. The condition of the buildings, defective works, and original materials are also
recorded.
From the study, it is concluded that the preliminaries work items for conservation
works have some similarities with new building works except for some additional
items that are only applicable to a conservation project. These new items include the
preparation of a dilapidation survey or HABS report, scientific testing and report,
colour scheme testing and video recordings. It shows that most projects did strictly
follow the local authority’s guidelines in conserving a historical building. A summary
of the research and documentation works as required by the National Museum
Antiquities Department for building conservation works is shown in Table IV.
From the above analysis, the study proposes a format for cost estimates and
analysis based on an elemental form for conservation works. The proposed format is
explained in the next section.

Proposed new ECA format for conservation works

Table V shows the proposed elemental cost analysis (ECA) format for conservation
works. It is derived from the literature review findings and the analyses conducted. The
recommended ECA format for building conservation works consists of six main portions:
(1) Preliminaries;
(2) Research and documentation;
(3) Dismantlement works;
(4) Temporary works;
(5) Conservation and restoration works; and
(6) New building works.
It is designed on the sequence of works for conservation works, in accordance with the
same functional use of the items.
In conservation works, the restoration begins from the roof and proceeds downwards
to the foundation works. Although this is not a standard guideline by which the work for
conservation should be measured, it is practical to follow the work items sequence as
listed in Table V when preparing measurement and cost estimation for conservation
 Cost format for
No. Special/additional items Work description
building
1 Scientific/chemical analysis Scientific testing on: conservation
– Archeological excavation
– Local temperature and relative humidity
– Timber
– Species and strength 417
– Paint colour scheme
– Compressive strength
2 Preparation of scaled photograph Using datum point/datum line
Using grid line 1 m £ 1 m for photograph
3 Preparation of Historical Architectural Three main stages: before, during, and after
Building Survey (HABS) conservation works
Preparation of building analysis report in the
form of photography, scientific testing,
drawing plan, etc.
4 Colour scheme testing Colour scheme testing to determine the original
painting of building’s wall
5 Preparation of dilapidation survey A requirement set by the Museum and
Antiquity Department of Malaysia
In-depth analyses of the building defects
Determine the probable causes and propose
methods and techniques of building
conservation
6 Video recordings Record all details of the buildings as well as the Table IV.
process of conservation work for future Research and
reference documentation list

projects. Hence, for the part of Restoration works, 12 work items are listed in accordance
with the sequence of conservation works which are work items 5A to 5L.
From the earlier analysis, temporary works are found to be common work items in
conservation works. Considering the various types of temporary works involved, all
temporary works are grouped together under one heading for ease of reference.
Demolition work is one of the major work items for conservation works and it cannot be
allocated together with other work items due to the different nature of the work, and
therefore it is listed under a separate group. Scientific testing and building recording are
listed under “Research and documentation”. Conservation works should always be
accompanied by a detailed description of the building’s condition before, during and after
restoration works, and scaled photographs are used for this purpose. Scientific testing
which is carried out by conservators or architects on defective works and remedial works
undertaken are also proposed to be listed under the “Research and documentation” work
group. The HABS documentation should contain photographs taken before, during and
after the conservation works and document the conservation works in every stage.
New building works in this proposed format are defined as additional new items
installed to a restored building. Preliminaries group items include any preliminaries
works before the restoration works, but do not include scientific testing and temporary
works, as those items are placed in another main group separately as shown in Table V.
SS
1. Preliminaries
28,5
2. Research and documentation 2A. Scientific/chemical analysis
2B. Preparation of scaled photograph
2C. Preparation of Historical Architectural Building Survey
(HABS)
2D. Colour scheme testing
418 2E. Preparation of dilapidation survey report
2F. Video recordings
3. Dismantlement works 3A. Demolition works
4. Temporary works 4A. Scaffolding
4B. Temporary roofing
4C. Other associated work
5. Restoration works 5A. Roof and rainwater goods
5B. Floor structure and finishes
5C. External wall, doors and windows
5D. Internal walls, column and finishes
5E. Ceiling and finishes
5F. Staircase and balustrade
5G. Doors and windows
5H. Structural works
5I. Fixtures and fittings
5J. Decoration element
Table V.
5K. Conservation treatment
Recommended cost
5L. Services
analysis format for
conservation works 6. New building works 6A. New additional works

The way forward

Having derived a new elemental cost analysis format for conservation work, the next
step would be to test the use of this format in the industry. Feedback is needed to
further improve the format to ensure that is has captured all the pertinent cost
components and is able to produce an estimate that is a true reflection of the work
involved in conservation works for a heritage building even before more detailed
information is available. In this respect, a second study is now under way to capture
the critical cost variables in conservation projects. It is expected that the findings of the
second study could be used to fine-tune the proposed conservation works ECA to
ensure that important cost components are included in the proposed format.

Summary and conclusion

Owing to the limitations of the existing ECA format, there is a need for a new format of
elemental cost analysis specifically for conservation works. The current analysis
format adopted by quantity surveyors may not be suitable to be used in conservation
works due to incomplete and also some irrelevant work items. Work items that are
specific for conservation works are not included in the current ECA, which is a
modified version based on new construction works. Thus this study has attempted to
identify all the work items for conservation works and then to suggest a new
classification of work items and finally propose a new format of ECA for building
conservation works. Apportionment of the work items to an appropriate cost
component has been done to form new groupings on the basis of the items having the Cost format for
same function. The inclusion of new work items and exclusion of some common work
items are based on the frequency of the work items encountered in conservation works.
building
The final outcome of this research is a new standard form for cost analysis formulated conservation
and recommended to the building industry for cost estimation or cost planning
purposes for building conservation works.
419
References
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Conservation of Places of Cultural Significance, Australia ICOMOS, Deakin University,
Burwood.
Ferry, D.J., Brandon, P.S. and Ferry, J.D. (1999), Cost Planning of Buildings, 7th ed., Blackwell,
Oxford.
Kamal, S.K., Ahmad, A.G., Ab Wahab, L. and Abdul Karim, S.B. (2007), “Understanding the
common building defects in Malaysia’s historic buildings”, Proceedings of the
International Conference on Built Environment in Developing Countries, Universiti Sains
Malaysia, Penang, 3-4 December, pp. 437-43.
Lee, Q.Y. (2009), “Preparation of tender for building conservation work – current practices in
Malaysia”, unpublished MSc thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang.
Mustapa, S., Kamal, K., Zaidi, M. and Wahab, L. (2007), “Maintenance approach of historic
buildings in Malaysia context”, Building Engineer, International News, Spring,
Association of Building Engineers, Northampton, pp. 8-11.
Seeley, I.H. (1996), Building Economics, 4th ed., Macmillan, London.
Tas, E. and Yaman, H. (2005), “A building cost estimation model based on cost significant work
packages”, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 12 No. 3,
pp. 251-63.

Corresponding author
Lim Yoke Mui can be contacted at: limyokemui@gmail.com

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