C O N T E X T 1 0 7 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 8 11 Buildings at risk conference Thinking outside the heritage box The conference ‘Creative Partnerships for Buildings at Risk’ was organised by the IHBC NorthWest Branch at Manchester Town Hall in the summer. Conference chairman Michael Hebbert of the University of Manchester introduced the theme of partnership. Creating partnerships was needed as much now as it ever had been, especially if funding was going to be diverted to the London Olympics over the next few years. Andrew Davison of English Heritage focused on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk (BAR) Register initiative. The question was whether we were solving the BAR problem or not. There were 30,544 Grade I and II* listed buildings on the latest English Heritage register. Although some buildings had been removed from the register, others had been added. Only a few buildings on the register had been demolished since 1999. Removing a building from the register meant that the problems had been resolved. Davison made the point that the easiest problems to solve had generally been resolved; although this made sense, it cast a shadow over hopes for the future. Nigel Hewitson, head of planning at Norton Rose, outlined the main legal measures available to local planning authorities. He began with two questions. First, does the owner of a listed building have any general legal duty of care to keep the building in a state of repair? Second, does the owner have any duty to insure the building? Legally speaking, the answer to both questions was no, although a building owner was responsible if a dangerous building injured someone. Hewitson contended that the confusion over what was and what was not a legal duty arose because PPG15 could only be considered as ‘guidance’. Under the (draft) Heritage Protection Bill, changes to the existing procedures were being proposed. The repairs notice and compulsory purchase order provisions in the 1990 act would be repealed and extended to other heritage structures. Urgent works provisions would be replaced by a system enabling the national and local authorities to carry out any works which ‘it appears to them are necessary for the preservation of registered heritage structures’ (other than dwellings) on giving seven days notice. However, local planning authorities will need the consent of English Heritage for such works. Brian Morton, one of the country’s leading conservation engineers, provided the delegates with a series of illustrated case studies. He implored his audience not to despair at being presented with a structural engineer’s report that suggested a listed building needed to be demolished. The first inspection was not the full story, he said. It was simply the first step towards further inspections. There might be bulging walls or walls that were out of plumb, but normally they were still standing. Engineers should take the view that the building could be saved and rebuild it as it was.Where engineer’s reports did offer solutions, Morton’s advice was to query the costs, because often the proposed work was an over-engineered solution. Two presentations on managing buildings at risk were given by the buildings at risk officers for Manchester and Liverpool. Kate Borland explained how English Heritage entered into a partnership with Manchester City Council in 2003 and funded a buildings at risk officer’s post. Around that time some other large scale BAR projects were being supported by building preservation trusts (BPTs): Christ Church, Kensington, Liverpool, following urgent works in 2007 to rebuild a gable and stabilise tower masonry (Photos: Liverpool City Council) North Stack, Stanley Dock, Liverpool, listed Grade II* No 2, Harter Street (Photo: Manchester City Council)
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