“In the renovation of ancient buildings, we should make maximum use of raw materials and protect real historical information as much as possible.” Lv Chenglong, member of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and director of the artifacts department of the Palace Museum, said in an interview, “The main feature of the ancient buildings in China is that the wood structure is the main body, and tiles, stones, ashes, etc. are enclosed materials. In addition to considering the consistency or similarity of wood species, it is also necessary to consider that the wood used for repair should match the original components in terms of mechanical strength, so as not to create new stress weaknesses or cause new structural damage.”
In order to solve the problem of the supply of raw materials in the renovation of ancient buildings, Lv Chenglong submitted a proposal “The problem of using materials in the renovation of ancient buildings needs to be solved urgently” at the two sessions this year.
Lv Chenglong believes that in order to ensure the quality of the renovation project, it is required that the materials used in the renovation should be treated with drying, anti-corrosion and insect prevention before use, so as to reduce wood cracking, ensure that the wood does not bring in pests, and even inhibit pests to some extent. What worries Lv Chenglong is that the reality is far from the ideal state. Now, the timber storage yard that supplies wood for repairing ancient wooden buildings has almost disappeared. Except for the Palace Museum, Shanxi Institute of Ancient Architecture and other few units, most of the ancient architecture units in China have no storage yard to choose from, and can only buy from relatively fixed wood manufacturers.
“However, the actual situation is that the timber operated by such manufacturers often does not specifically provide services for the repair of ancient buildings. Even if a few can provide services, the types and sizes of logs they reserve are very limited, and they will not do all kinds of pretreatment in advance as required.” Lv Chenglong noted that when the required timber cannot be obtained from the above-mentioned timber manufacturers, it is often necessary to seek other supply channels, which makes it more difficult to meet the requirements.
“The quality problems of tile, stone, ash and other materials are more serious than wood.” Lv Chenglong said that because the environmental supervision failed to meet the standards, most of the traditional brick and tile factories were moved out or cancelled, resulting in almost all the factories that made and burned tiles according to the traditional technology disappeared. Moreover, bricks, tiles, kissing animals and other building components, such as materials, molding, firing and so on, adopt modern production technology, which basically can not meet the needs of cultural relics building repair projects.
Lv Chenglong, for example, said that in recent years, due to the requirements of environmental protection and production safety, many brick and tile factories in Henan Province have closed down, which has led to a sharp increase in the budget of renovation materials. Moreover, there is no special system for cultural relics protection in the renovation of cultural relics buildings, and its material standards are not mandatory. The materials for cultural relics protection projects are purchased through the same channels as those for general construction projects. Driven by economic interests, high-quality tile and stone materials that can meet the requirements of cultural relics protection projects are rarely available. These problems make the quality of the renovation project of ancient buildings not fully guaranteed, and even make the ancient buildings face potential safety hazards again soon after the renovation because of the quality problems of the repair materials.
As another important raw material in the renovation of ancient buildings, the cementing material ash also has similar problems… Lv Chenglong said that at present, the quality of the same kind of material ash in the ancient building market is quite different, and the material price is calculated with reference to “Beijing Engineering Cost Information” in the project procurement stage and settlement stage. Because the market guidance price is general material level, it is difficult to buy high-quality mortar materials such as white ash and blue ash at this price, which plays a crucial and decisive role in the quality of ancient building repair.
In short, “at present, China lacks reliable and high-quality raw materials for the repair of ancient buildings, and it is difficult to produce efficient and stable supply channels. These are the key factors that restrict the development of the protection of ancient buildings in China and ensure the quality of repair.” Lv Chenglong said.
In view of these problems, Lv Chenglong suggested that on the basis of full market research, we should establish a material supply base for the renovation of ancient buildings, expand the certification categories of the base, open a common wood storage yard for ancient wooden buildings in China, and explore the establishment of scientific and efficient functional pretreatment, storage and management methods for all kinds of wood. Formulate market access standards for ancient building materials, identify raw materials that conform to traditional processing techniques and allocate prices. In the process of project implementation, high-quality and traditional ancient building materials should be used.
“At the same time, encourage the application of new materials, strengthen the research and development of modified materials, and allow cultural relics protection units to try out in parts with low value of ancient buildings from the mechanism.” Lv Chenglong said, we should also explore the implementation of a rolling financial budget system, from financial management, scheme approval to project construction, and apply to local audit departments and financial authorities for a “green light”, especially to explore the system of accountable expenses.
(Li Rui)