Restoration of the 230-year-old Roxburgh House in the Indian Botanic Garden is taking off as funds have started coming in for the first stage of the project.
The Commonwealth Heritage Forum, an organisation for heritage awareness and skill development, has given £17,500 through the Hamish Ogston Foundation for the first phase of the restoration project, said Nilina Deb Lal, director of the project.
Another 4,000 pounds has been raised by The Roxburgh International Trust through crowd-funding, she said.
Called the Roxburgh International Hub Project, it envisages restoring the house where William Roxburgh, hailed as the father of Indian botany, lived and also two other buildings on the Shibpur garden’s premises, called Old Herbarium and Old Seed Store.
The entire project, estimated to cost 8 to 10 million pounds, aims to restore, revitalise and carry out adaptive reuse of these buildings and the surrounding area, which form the historic core of the Indian Botanical Garden.
“The first stage of the project, which will be completed by April 2023, includes site clearing of an area of 3-4 acres, site survey, condition mapping, testing for structural stability and making the fabric inspection report,” said Deb Lal.
“Concurrently, there is going to be significant emphasis on knowledge dissemination and capacity building throughout the duration of the project.”
In the coming months, students from the planning department of IIEST Shibpur will engage in a precinct mapping exercise around the entryway to the garden under the guidance of heritage expert Rupert Mann, supported by Alleya and Associates, architectural partners of the project along with Simpson and Brown Architects of Edinburgh.
Two young architects will work as interns on the project. And additionally, young architects will be afforded the opportunity to understand condition mapping and structural testing in a live project.
The first stage of the project will also include the preparation of the Vision Document, which will elaborate on the way forward for the Roxburgh International Hub, which, along with restored heritage buildings and new pavilions, will serve as a destination for education, leisure and cultural activities.
An international conference of botanists is being organised by the Botanical Survey of India in February 2023. “We intend to bring the delegates to the site and exhibit what is going to happen there in order to get support of the international botanist community,” said Lal.
The restoration of the crumbling Roxburgh House had been in the pipeline for long but was not getting off the ground because of a lack of funds. The Botanical Survey of India (BSI), which owns the buildings on the Indian Botanic Garden campus, is a partner in the project.