Fang-Wei Lin
The Ministry of Culture amended “the Rules for the Restoration and Reuse of Historic Sites” (“the Rules”) on September 12, 2019. The major objectives of the amendments are to increase the participation of architects, technicians and job site directors in the restoration and reuse of cultural assets by serving as restoration personnel such as the organizers and job site directors responsible for implementing planning, design and construction supervision and to specifically stipulate the qualifications of the restoration personnel who restore or reuse historic and memorial buildings in order to achieve the objectives of preserving, revitalizing, inheriting, preserving and promoting cultural assets.
According to the Ministry of Culture, to encourage practicing architects and relevant technicians to serve as the organizers who implement the planning, design and construction supervision with respect to the restoration or reuse of cultural assets, Article 10, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1 of the Rules was amended. The qualifications for the organizers who implement the planning, design or construction supervision concerning the restoration or reuse of historic sites designated by special municipalities or by counties (cities) are reduced from a cumulative experience of “four” years or “two projects” valued above the publicly announced amount under the current requirements to “two years” or “one project”.
In addition, according to the Ministry of Culture, to encourage job site directors of construction enterprises to take charge of construction job sites with respect to the restoration or reuse of cultural assets, the provisions of Article 11, Paragraph 2, Subparagraph 1 of the Rules as amended reduce the practical construction experience and qualifications from the cumulative “four years” of construction experience, which is currently required for the restoration or reuse of historic sites designated by municipalities under the direct jurisdiction of the Executive Yuan or counties (cities), and from at least cumulative “four years” of experience, which is currently required for the restoration historic sites designated by the central government, to “two years” and “three years,” respectively.
The Ministry of Culture further explained that to expand and increase the participation of professionals such as architects, technicians and job site directors in the preservation of cultural assets, Article 19, Subparagraph 1 of the Rules as amended provides that to further clarify the experiential qualifications of executive organizers and job site supervisors in the restoration or reuse of historic or memorial buildings, the experiential qualifications under Articles 9 through 11 of the rules as amended may be exempt from mutatis mutandis application.