In this article I will continue to review the scope of the Heritage Values Program (PVP), analyzed the previous weeks, this time, focused on analyzing the figure of “Sub-executor” as a necessary actor, which in my opinion, is capable of generating restorations in Cultural heritage buildings integrating aspects of promotion and social articulation during the execution of the works, as an alternative to traditional construction companies, that do not provide binding results between the works and their communities.
Chiloe Churches Route, Sub-executor: Friends of the Chiloe Churches Foundation
1. A necessary alternative.
Given that the the cultural heritage Restoration (CHR) integrates various aspects that must coexist to ensure an integral result: the material, the architectural space and the link with the community (Silva, 2017), in 2011 in Chile, the PVP program creates the figure of Sub-executor as an alternative to traditional construction companies.
This, because on the one hand, there was very few national construction companies specialize in RACH (almost always from Santiago, Chilean capital), on the other hand, all public works must be tendered, winning by trajectory and financial size, and finally, they seek to generate economic profits , beyond strengthening heritage as a cultural resource.
The Sub-Executor was created as an alternative to restore ambitious projects and territorial intervention plans in world heritage sites (SUBDERE, 2014), where the social factor was necessary to include throughout the restoration process (often indigenous communities) to ensure the sustainability during the development of the project.
2. Cultural resource versus economic interest
The Sub-Executor can be an NGO or a public or private organization (including universities), ideally local within the region, of any financial size, with focus on cultural heritage and with experience in CHR, to which the state transfer direct resources for the execution of the works.
The interesting thing is that in general these institutions have objectives and missions linked to social, cultural or educational causes, beyond the economic, which allows spaces for participation, and even transfers of capacities, to be included during the construction process. if locals are hired as labor, who are taught improved conservation techniques in order to apply them in the safeguarding of buildings in the future.
This alternative allows integrating new immaterial edges, relevant to cultural heritage, in the construction processes of works, unlike construction companies, which, with their economic focus, have often failed to resolve conflicts generated in the CHR process, leaving the project halfway or even suing the state.
Despite this, the construction guild thinks that the state must be in charge of solving the challenges that may appear in the course of heritage management projects, proposing a guide with principles and demands.
Restored town, Sub executor Altiplano ONG
3. Results.
Despite being a necessary figure, PVP has failed to spread the sub-execution alternative, with have few approved in Chile, without covering the 16 regions of the country, which from my point of view should exist, thus favoring the immaterial look of heritage as well as the incentive of local organizations, and reducing the lengthy management times associated of tenders.
Even so, this figure has generated successful results, which have materialized the restoration of entire towns or the multiple recovery of buildings in heritage routes, where the sub-executor himself, as a body with a heritage objective, may even be in charge of the sustaining model of project, management over time.
Bibliography
- Cabezas, C. (2010). Methodological guide for the elaboration of cultural heritage management models property. Undersecretary of Regional and Administrative Development, Heritage Values Program.
- Silva, C, (2017). Chilean Chamber of Construction, Santiago, BIT Magazine, page 21