ABSTRACT
The old town of Nicosia and mainly areas near the buffer zone were abandoned after the war of 1974. Abandoned buildings were rented by carpenters, steelworkers, car mechanics and electricians etc, who established their workshops in these properties paying a very low rent. All these buildings were built using traditional material and techniques. They were the heart of the old Nicosia and since 1974 this part of the heart stopped beating. New users never cared about these buildings, other than to do their work and for decades no maintenance works were carried out. Damages or partial collapses were patched up using improper materials and sloppy work.After these works could not anymore preserve the building, the workshop was moving out leaving the building in a ruinous condition. When authorities realized what was happening, they started giving motives for the workshops to go to organized industrial areas, they started to provide benefits for owners interested to restore and rehabilitate their properties, they expropriated buildings repaired them and are renting them to young couples and additionally with the help of UNDP/UNOPS, projects for the restoration of important parts of this area of the city, on both north and south side, were and are being carried out.
