Fire safety of heritage buildings / Abdul Hakim Che Alim

Malaysia has always been open to ideas and influences from both East and West. It is riches with tremendous architectural historic of great artistry and it is showing many cultural influences are ranging from the simplest built shelters to the mega projects of the late 20th century. Somehow, this beautiful and unique architectural are expose to the danger of fire. The reasons why the historic buildings are expose to danger of fire because the element of the building itself. The elements are majority from combustible materials like timber and also other fabric that poor in fire resistance. Plus, the requirement of fire safety on the building is very poor since it's built without any concern on fire safety requirement. Lessons of major fires of historic buildings such as National Museum building, High Court building Kuala Lumpur, Rumah Pak Ali and Sultan Abu Bakar Royal Museum which is burnt almost the building. Hence, there should be a determination to upgrade fire resistance at historic building to ensure that the danger of fire can be avoided. This dissertation will cover on identifying the fire requirement on historic building where these requirements will be look into written regulations and others related act that has been amended. Furthermore, the selected buildings (National Heritage) will be examined of their compliances for the fire safety. At the end of this dissertation, some recommendations and suggestions in upgrading the current fire safety to a better condition will be spelled out. This research will be conducted with interviews, site observations and distributing questionnaires to the building occupant. Plus, the references are made from the internet and books to gain more information and idea to develop this research.