More incentives should be offered to owners of historically listed buildings in Bermuda, according to Henry Ming, principal at Architectural Planning and Research.

“Bermuda has a situation where there’s an unfortunate belief that owning a listed building handicaps you,” said Mr Ming, who is also a part of the St George’s Preservation Society.

The opposite should be the case, he said.

“If you look at the benefits offered to historic building owners in America, Bermuda’s benefits pale in comparison. “There are tax benefits for owning the building and retaining it. If you have a listed building in Bermuda you can get a loan to make renovations or restorations, but they don’t lend the money for very long.”

The issue, said Mr Ming, centres around cost and the need to maintain a historic building’s original character. Furthermore, he said the mentality that owning a historically listed building is a handicap must change.

“It’s not easy because it often comes down to cost. Often you’re confronted with a situation where you’re asked to replace things like-for-like, particularly if it’s a Grade One listed building. Owners of listed buildings may not be as well off as others who might be able to replace like for like, which is more expensive.”

The list of historic buildings was first published in June, 1998. And the first notion of owning a listed building was “probably mishandled,” said Mr Ming.

“This was not a government news item but a particular gentleman who may have put the fear of god in the public by his presentation. People immediately became concerned that there was little or nothing they as property owners could do if they were the owners of such buildings.

The answer, he said, was public education and offering more incentives to owners of listed buildings.

“In America, the advantages of owning a historically listed buildings far outweighs the disadvantages. We have not promoted the benefits of owning a listed building in Bermuda. Until everyone, from Government to estate agents to the banks, get on board and everyone understands the benefits of owning a listed building, then it will retain the image of being a burden rather than an asset.”

“Bermudian Architecture is one element of our art form which is truly indigenous. It is on record the visitors have placed an extremely high value on our traditional architecture which has made their visit here memorable. The purpose of the list is to identify those buildings and to ensure that their special architectural character is understood and protected when future development is proposed.”