A “PROTECTIVE renovation” campaign will be launched on the back rows of historical buildings on the Bund to expand the scale of the Bund financial hub.

Some 150 buildings on the second and third rows along Sichuan Road S. and Jiangxi Road S. will be renovated while preserving their historical appearance, the Huangpu District government announced yesterday at a seminar to solicit expert opinion on the plans.

The buildings, mostly built before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, include about 100 with protected status. However, many lack maintenance and essential facilities. They are owned by state-owned enterprises, small businesses, budget hotels, training institutes and residents. Over 2,000 households have no separate toilet.

Projects to protect the front row of historic buildings on the Bund on Zhongshan Road E1 since the 1990s have almost been completed.

A large number of major financial institutes from both home and abroad, such as the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, Shanghai Clearing House, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Bangkok Bank, are based in the historical structures along the Huangpu River.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, the only foreign branch of the New York-based Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Bund Art Gallery and Christie’s are recent arrivals.

To tap the demand of the booming financial sector on the Bund, Huangpu aims to release more space from buildings behind the first row and further drive development of the financial and service businesses, the district government told the seminar.

“The outstanding features of the Bund should not be limited to the riverside buildings, but the structures behind the first row, which also have huge historical value,” said Gao Yun, Party secretary of Huangpu.

The Bund area has a total of 1.16 million square meters of old buildings. Among them, some 300,000 square meters have been developed while another 360,000 square meters are undergoing development, the district government said.

The rest 500,000 square meters of buildings remain undeveloped and most are in a poor condition. The aim is to preserve the historical features of the buildings while giving more space for additional financial firms and institutes.

A shortage of funds has become a major bottleneck in the development campaign, said Gao. The renovation projects require a large sum of money and years of development, which make fund-raising difficult.

However, after the renovation is complete, these structures will generate far greater value than newly built office buildings, Gao said. He encouraged new financial products to support the renovation projects.

Financial innovation is essential for the renovation campaign to receive powerful and continuous participation and support, he told the seminar.

Experts in urban planning, development and operation as well as financial innovation were invited to give their advice at the seminar organized by the Shanghai Bund Investment Group. The main topic was how to encourage foundations and funds to take part in the projects.

Wu Zhiqiang, vice president of Tongji University and an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the government must make a long-term plan because renovation of the back rows of the Bund might last till 2035.

“A large number of new technologies, such as 5G and even 6G technologies, artificial intelligence, robotics and 3D printing can be involved in the renovation campaign.”