National Heritage Repair Standards to Be Overhauled Every Five Years to Reflect Field Conditions

National Heritage Administration Enacts New Management Regulations
Unilateral Guidelines Revamped to Be Field-Oriented
Mandatory Incorporation of Practitioners' Opinions

The standards for the repair of national heritage, which have been criticized for lacking effectiveness, will be systematically improved. A virtuous cycle will be introduced to break away from rigid frameworks and periodically reflect changes from the field.

On January 9, the National Heritage Administration announced the enactment of the "Regulations on the Management of Standard Specifications and Standard Unit Prices for National Heritage Repairs." The key principles are "realism" and "predictability." Once established, standards that were rarely revised will now be subject to mandatory review and improvement every five years.

Under the new regulations, the authorities are required to establish a maintenance plan every five years and publicly disclose a detailed plan by January 31 of the first year of each cycle. In this process, supplier-centered administration will be excluded. It is now explicitly stated that the opinions of practitioners, including not only the ordering agencies but also repair technicians and skilled workers responsible for actual construction, must be gathered and reflected.

The interpretation function has also been significantly strengthened to prevent confusion at worksites caused by ambiguous standards. The authorities are now required to provide clear explanatory materials for specifications and unit prices. The Traditional Architecture Repair Technology Promotion Foundation will be exclusively responsible for the professional management and operation of the system.

The communication channel with the field will also be expanded. During the first half of this year, a function for collecting opinions will be introduced to the National Heritage Repair System (e-Repair), allowing anyone to propose improvements to unreasonable systems.

An official from the National Heritage Administration stated, "We will actively incorporate the experience and know-how of practitioners into the system to enhance repair quality and administrative reliability."