XUHUI District plans to renovate over 300 historic buildings in its Hengshan and Fuxing roads area by the end of the year with many original building skills and decorations to be revived, the district government said yesterday.

The 342 buildings to be fixed and preserved include both historic protected structures and old residential buildings, covering a total of 221,000 square meters, according to the district’s housing authority. Renovation projects have started on 186,000 square meters.

To ensure the historic structures are properly restored, the district has collected and cataloged a number of traditional construction skills, many of which were brought to the city by Western architects early last century, said Jiang Jiang, deputy director with Xuhui housing management bureau.