In recent years, many small local shops have closed because customers travel to large shopping centres or malls to do their shopping. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

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8. Some say that too much money is spent on repairing old buildings instead of constructing new ones. However, others argue the money is worth spending. Discuss both views and give your opinion.


It is often said that people, businesses and governments spend more than enough money on maintaining old buildings, with some claiming that this leaves little funds to construct new ones. While it is true that keeping old buildings requires huge amounts of money, in my view, the money spent on them are worth it.






Admittedly, buildings that were constructed decades, centuries and even millennia ago need huge sums to be maintained. Firstly, historic castles, palaces and mosques were built using expensive materials, such as marble. For instance, some materials may cost up to ten times the amount today’s equivalents. Secondly, during restoration, not only expensive materials are used, but also architects and construction workers are paid big wages. This is because very few people are capable of repairing historic monuments, leading to higher salaries. Therefore, it could be argued that the money is too much for these buildings.


Nevertheless, I agree with those who say it is important to spend huge amounts on old structures. When governments and businesses bring historic buildings back to their original condition, the number of tourists visiting them increases dramatically. This means that local people have more job opportunities and earn more money as a result. Secondly, we also pollute the environment less by doing so. This is because despite being cheap to construct, the construction of a new building produce more CO2 than the redecoration of an old one. Thus, both allocating money to old ones is beneficial for both the environment and the economy.


To sum up, although a great deal of money is directed to repair old buildings every year, I believe that these expenses bring more benefits and they do not prevent companies from constructing new ones.