Listing and Grading Heritage buildings and precincts in Greater Mumbai

This project has been initiated under the Fort Management Plan.

The Heritage Regulations of Greater Mumbai was a pioneering effort by the Maharashtra Government to protect the historical fabric of our city. Since its inception in 1995, it has been instrumental in setting up a framework for the identification and protection of important precincts and buildings. However, there were many lacunae in the listing aside from errors of spelling and addresses. For instance, many buildings and precincts in the suburbs had not been included and many buildings had undergone transformation since the listing. It was also felt that the description of the special features of the buildings was also merely an outline and did not give a complete indication to the specific features that need to be preserved or considered when modifying the building.

Therefore, in 2004, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Heritage Conservation Society (MMRHCS) commissioned a project with a mandate to record changes in the listed buildings and precincts and re-evaluate the sites as per the Heritage Guidelines. UDRI was assigned Task 1 of the projects which included the re-evaluation of sites numbered 1 to 316 in Wards A, B, C and D along with the Fort Precinct (numbered as 633). The listing and grading for each structure was to be supported by an exhaustive inventory which included studying the building against access, ownership, usage, planning, style and special features and photos.