The first day included a briefing tour of Mumbai by a leading Indian conservation architect, Vikas Dilawari, a visit to some of the government owned Mills and a detailed examination of the United Mills No. 1, which was to act as the sample area for the EbD study.

The second day provided a series of talks by the visiting consultants and a very impressive line up of Indian stakeholders including Mr Prem Kumar, chief secretary to the Chief Minister of Maharastra State, Narinder Nayar chairman of Bombay First, and representatives of the mill workers.   This was followed by a panel discussion.

The following two and a half days were spent on the EbD and, after intensive work, a sample layout was produced that showed the government objectives of affordable housing and open space combined with the conservation and re-use of the Mills and commercial and higher grade housing in a mixed useurban-design-based plan.   This was presented at a public meeting on Friday afternoon with members of INTBAU India leading the presentation.   A lively discussion followed.

Conclusions

Mill sites are capable of being developed to provide substantial, attractive and functional areas and contribute to the desperate need for affordable housing and public open space in the City.   Proposals for a formulaic division of land to provide public benefit, currently proposed by the City, however, were shown to be difficult to realise in individual designs.   Site by site development plans for the Mills need to be prepared and agreed.

A balance between public benefit and private gain is needed to provide sufficient private gain for any of the public benefits to be achieved.   The mill buildings can provide a valuable element in any proposal and add character to individual sites and, in aggregate, to the whole area.   The restoration of historic mill buildings needs to be tied to any development consent.   Above all, legal protection of these important historic structures must be given as a matter of extreme urgency.

The plans and conclusions of this workshop and debate will be brought to a more complete stage and published as a report.   The government of Mumbai have asked representatives of INTBAU India to report to a special committee formed by the Chief Minister of Maharastra.   This is an extremely positive result.

Joint action

Following the presentation, a meeting was held with representatives of INTBAU India and INTACH and a methodology for joint action on the Mills was agreed, which will require further funding.   A very positive working relationship and understanding was established between INTBAU India and INTACH and related spheres of interest were clearly understood to be mutually beneficial.

In the following week Robert Adam travelled to Delhi and met with Deeprenda Prashad and other members of INTBAU India based in Delhi.   This visit included discussions with Dr PS Rana of the Housing and Urban Development Corporation and AK Jain of the Delhi Development Authority.

Participants of the Mumbai Mills workshop and members of INTBAU India

The Delhi branch is also completing the registration of INTBAU India as a non-profit society and has other potential projects in assisting with the management and development of individual city districts.

INTBAU India also have other potential projects: the development of traditional water harvesting in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi and the use and support of traditional building construction and building decoration in the Kutch Region in Gujarat in association with the Dholavira archaeological site.
- Report by Robert Adam

If you have any queries about Mumbai Mills Design Workshop, or questions about INTBAU's programmes, please contact INTBAU.

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