The Malaysian Insight

A LOCAL property owner, a consultancy firm and the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) have come together to try out a new four-in-one concept that will rescue old heritage buildings in George Town and help repopulate the Unesco heritage city.

The Yeap Chor Ee Estate is renovating nine pre-war shophouses on Lebuh Acheh, and the innovation consultancy firm Ayuh Bina Sdn Bhd will set up a school teaching technology and future skills.

The multi-million-ringgit project, located just behind the iconic Khoo Kongsi and down the road from the heritage Lebuh Acheh Mosque, will support MBPP’s vision to rescue old heritage buildings and repopulate the city with residents.

Project driver Howie Chang from Ayuh Bina said it would be an integrated project, going by a mixed concept approach never seen before in Penang.

The nine shophouses, with a combined land space of 8,810 sq ft and build-up space of 7,910 sq ft, will have a school, and spaces for co-working and co-living under one roof.

“The school will teach technology and future skills that focus on software development, big data, artificial intelligence and the like. We want to create talents that attract companies like Microsoft and Alibaba.

“We will set up 17 rooms for co-living. These accommodations, which will also have bathrooms and kitchenettes, will mainly be for students and professionals who will be able to learn, work and live here. We can take 25 to 30 residents.

“We will also have co-working spaces here. In the future, there will be more people who will prefer not to be confined to office cubicles when they work,” he told reporters at the project site today.

Chang said the project will also benefit the larger community in the city, as it would bring more people to live in George Town again.

The inner city of George Town, namely the heritage core and buffer zones, has lost most of its old residents after the Rent Control Act was repealed in the late 1990s. 

Living in the city became too expensive for many, and the listing of George Town as a Unesco world heritage site in 2008 drove up property prices further. 

Many heritage building owners then renovated their premises or sold them off to be converted to hotels, restaurants, cafes and other tourism-related business outlets – a move that drove out more old residents and trades.

In recent years, heritage conservationists have raised concerns over the loss of the city’s old residents and trades, which were the living heritage that helped George Town earn its Unesco recognition.

Meanwhile, Stephen Yeap, the landlord, said the Yeap Chor Ee Estate was happy to be part of the pilot project to try out the new concept, spending RM2.6 million on the renovations, which would be completed in November this year.

The estate has over a hundred shophouses in the Unesco heritage core zone.

“With the Unesco listing, there is only so much you are allowed to do with the heritage building. You can’t turn it into a machine shop. It will be interesting to set up a multimedia technology school.

“We are trying out this concept with these nine units first. If we achieve success, we can reactivate the city, repopulate George Town,” he said.

MBPP mayor Yew Tung Seang said the public-private partnership by the parties involved will make George Town a place where people could live, work and play again. – February 20, 2019.