An Exploratory Study on Project Delivery Frameworks for Heritage Conservation in India

The degree of sophistication required for governing a project depends on its complexity and scale. Although most heritage conservation projects have smaller budgets than new construction, the high uncertainty and complexities, necessitate robust project management framework. A well-defined project delivery framework is a key success factor for heritage conservation projects. India, with its rich cultural and geographical diversities, and more than 5000 years old civilization, has innumerable heritage sites spread across the country. Heritage conservation is a highly fragmented sector in India, with different agencies responsible for the protection and conservation of various heritage structures, and the modes, methods, and extent of conservation witnessed at these sites are of divergent nature. The objective of this paper is to study the different types of project delivery models used for heritage conservation in India. The authors have done an exploratory study on 50 heritage sites, where restoration projects are currently being executed or have been recently completed. The available project documents have been reviewed, and conservation professionals and other main stakeholders have been interviewed to map the project governance frameworks used for the projects. The 50 projects studied were categorized based on factors such as heritage category, ownership, implementing agency, scale of project, project frequency, funding pattern, apart from project delivery model and the relation between the factors studied analytically. The results indicate that Project Frequency and Funding Pattern are the significant factors influencing the selection of project delivery models for heritage conservation.