“Total credit must be given to the owners of Esplanade House, who were wise enough to understand the relevance of restoration in this era of redevelopment,” said Dilawari. “The concept of understanding heritage in the city has not been incorporated into the mainstream,” he rued, adding, “We must respect the value of such buildings and ensure it can sustain itself.”

For ten years, Dilawari and his team worked on the three-storey heritage building located beside Alexandria Girls High School. Work began in 2003 and was carried on in three phases. It took a whole year just to prepare the preliminary report.

“Depending on the type of work, I had to collaborate with separate teams — we had different contractors for timber, lime plasterwork and stained glass, for example. Excellence was possible because of specialists, rather than having one person to work on all aspects,” explained Dilawari.