Restoring a landmark like Kuala Lumpur’s Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad starts with a mindset shift: study first, touch later. Contractors involved in the project told NST Online they approached the 129-year-old building by digging into its history, materials, construction methods, and past alterations before deciding what to repair, replace, or reconstruct.
Moisture drove many of the toughest decisions. The team flagged water seepage, mould, and deterioration tied to groundwater and leaking roofs, problems that accelerate rot and other damage in older structures with significant timber components. Investigations also found earlier repair work that hid deeper issues, so crews had to open up areas and confirm conditions before selecting a conservation treatment.
For mason contractors, the most instructive part is the brickwork. The building was built with brick masonry that predates common use of reinforced concrete and steel, so the walls were not treated like modern backup systems. Crews repointed the brick using a lime-based mortar mix instead of cement. The goal was breathability, letting moisture move through the wall instead of trapping it inside the masonry. When original bricks were too brittle to stay in place, damaged units were crushed and used in the process of producing replacement bricks to better match the original material characteristics.
Above the arches and facade, the clock tower dome restoration mixed traditional appearance with updated engineering. Historical photos guided the rebuild of the original 1897 dome form. The dome’s internal structure shifted from deteriorated timber to aluminum, while copper remained on the exterior. The assembly included an internal liner and a waterproofing membrane, creating a layered “dome within a dome.” To protect historic brickwork during the work, scaffolding was designed so it did not anchor into the original walls, using a cantilever system supported by I-beams.
The project also shows the workforce side of conservation. More than 500 people worked on the restoration, peaking around 600 as the schedule pushed toward a roughly one-year completion target. That meant tight coordination across cleaning, repointing, architectural detail restoration, copper work, and finish choices like lime-based paint. The team also documented and preserved newly discovered features, including hidden staircases and an original arch opening, then emphasized the need for a long-term maintenance plan after reopening.
Read the full, original article from NST Online here.