Workshop on ‘Use of Lime in Building Conservation’

A 2-day workshop on ‘Use of Lime in Building Conservation’ was successfully conducted on 9-10th June 2022 by INTACH Kathmandu in partnership with Embassy of India in Kathmandu and CLPIU, Govt. of Nepal.

Training and capacity building is one of the key activities being organized by INTACH under the ongoing Government of India funded & Government of Nepal implemented post-earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of Earthquake Affected Cultural Heritage Sites in Nepal.

Day 1 Technical Sessions had presentations by Ms Paromita De Sarkar (INTACH) and Anita Tamrakar (INTACH) on the History of Lime and its use in historic building construction in India and Nepal. Mr Prashant Banerjee (INTACH) highlighted the complex nature of lime as a building material, including testing, preparation and application of lime in building conservation with case studies from India.

Mr Surendra Katwal, Structural Expert presented the pros and cons of using lime or mud in the reconstruction of earthquake damaged monuments in Nepal.  Mr Gopal Bhattarai (CLPIU) highlighted the issues pertaining to the use and building practices of lime in Historic building conservation and reconstruction with case studies from Nepal

On Day 2, INTACH team conducted practical sessions at Shree Gopichandra Mahavihar project site demonstrating good site practices in preparation of lime including the preparation of lime mortar in a lime grinding machine which is the first of its kind to be used in Nepal through the ongoing Govt of India funded project.

The workshop was attended by site engineers and supervisors from 9 project sites where work is currently ongoing. Officials and engineers from CLPIU, Govt of Nepal also participated in the workshop.