CEPT Conservation Site Schools Program focuses on the conservation and regeneration of heritage sites that are neglected or abandoned due to disuse or lack of funds and resources for their maintenance and upkeep. These sites, being highly valuable for their historic and cultural significance, are repositories of traditional knowledge systems and offer opportunities for academic engagement, professional training, research and knowledge dissemination that can potentially inform conservation practice and education in the Indian context. Under this program, CHC adopts an unprotected site, that requires conservation-based intervention, as a ‘Conservation Site School’ and conducts on-site educational workshops and outreach activities along with stakeholder consultation. Through this process, the site is repaired, restored and upgraded for sustainable future use. All activities are carried out by CHC as part of a non-binding agreement entered with the owner/custodian of the site, and supported by financial resources such as crowdfunding, CSR funds and voluntary contributions. Once conserved, the site is handed over to the community or the owner/custodian to be actively used for a function agreed upon as an outcome of stakeholder consultation processes. 

 

The program intends to foster collaborative engagement among the community, the site owners/custodians, conservation experts, architects, consultants and academicians with a shared goal of developing best practice standards for heritage conservation in the Indian context with a specific focus on community-led processes and pedagogical frameworks for engaging with real sites and scenarios.