Call it a facial for the urban skin. A part of Calcutta’s grimy skyline could benefit from a fresh coat of colour, thanks to a novel drive by a city realty firm.

As an incentive, the PS Group has offered all its customers, even those who bought apartments 21 years ago, to pay just 50 per cent of the cost of repainting their homes. The developer will bear the rest. While residents of 20 apartments have accepted the offer, six buildings have already been painted under the scheme.

“In Europe and parts of America, we routinely find buildings over 100 years old in perfectly good shape, spic and span, as if they were built yesterday. We hardly come across old buildings in India in that state of upkeep. Most of our old buildings are crumbling edifices,” said Pradip Chopra of the PS Group.

Chopra said buildings in developed countries are painted regularly, something “we don’t do in our country”.

“Apart from improving aesthetics, regular external painting of a building increases its longevity,” he added.

Preferably, the painting should be done every three years, he said.

City developers have hailed the initiative and have promised to broadbase the scheme into an integrated urban renewal effort.

Santosh Rungta, vice-president of apex developers’ body Credai, believes such a move would set the ball rolling and give ideas to those in the business about ways to add value to their products.

“The thought behind the initiative is commendable and can start a chain reaction not only in Calcutta, but also in the rest of the country. We would like to go a step further. We want to upgrade infrastructure around our own projects,” he said.

One of the main reasons behind a building’s decay is seepage of water through hairline cracks on the external surface caused by temperature variations, vagaries of weather and pollution. The water corrodes the steel frame embedded in the concrete.

Once such corrosion sets in, developers say, it quickly spreads throughout the entire steel frame or the building’s structure. The corrosion or rusting makes the steel expand in volume, causing bigger cracks in the building. Result: more water seepage and more damage.

“Painting a building once in every three years arrests this decay and the life of the building sometimes get extended almost by 100 per cent. I think, it’s a stunning idea that should inspire the entire fraternity to chip in,” said Sumit Dabriwal of the Calcutta Metropolitan Group, which developed Hiland Park.

Credai Bengal president Pradeep Sureka said maintenance assistance from developers could go a long way in enhancing project life. “We in the Sureka Group have been doing this with our commercial buildings. We provide technical support towards solving issues involving electrical, plumbing and water leakage.”

Nandu Belani of the Belani Group, which has developed a large number of residential complexes in Calcutta, said the PS Group’s scheme was a move in the “right direction” and would enthuse others to do something similar.

Chopra said the idea also makes sense financially. The amount spent on painting a building is “minuscule” compared with the gains one can achieve in terms of extension of the building’s life or reduction in regular repair costs. “Therefore, one can look at the painting cost as an insurance premium one pays to prevent the building getting damaged.”

Architect and urban designer Partha Ranjan Das, however, prefers a “permanent finish”.

“You won’t have to touch it for 20 years. A large complex can be repainted with permanent finish in phases to stagger the cost incurred,” he suggested.

Das had another suggestion, too. He recommended involving the original architect in any facelift plan for a building.