Institute of Historic Building Conservation No 113 March 2010 Fire and historic buildings
Friday 11thJune, London Day School 2010 · London The 2010 IHBCDay School is an exciting opportunity to explore theprovisionof highquality conservation services andhow they canbe deliverednowand in the future. It will also focus onhow the historic environment is being shaped tomeet today ’s leisure needs. Delivering Excellence in Conservation Going for Gold Principal Sponsor Supported by
C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 1 Context Editorial A potent threat to historic buildings www.ihbc.org.uk Registered as a Charity Number 1061593. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England Number 3333780. Registered Office: 3 Stafford Road,TunbridgeWells, Kent TN2 4QZ. Officers President Eddie Booth email [email protected] Chairman Dave Chetwyn email [email protected] Vice Chair Sheila Stones email [email protected] Secretary Richard Morrice email [email protected] Treasurer Michael Knights email [email protected] Membership Secretary Jo Evans email [email protected] Education Secretary John Preston email [email protected] Publicity Secretary Doug Black email [email protected] Law & Practice Coordinator vacant email [email protected] Director Seán O’Reilly email [email protected] Projects Officer Fiona Newton email [email protected] Consultant Consultations Coordinator James Caird email [email protected] Membership Services Officer Devon DeCelles email [email protected] Administration Officer Lydia Porter email [email protected] Committee Chairs Policy Mike Brown email [email protected] Membership & Ethics Jo Evans email [email protected] Finance & Resources Richard Morrice email [email protected] Education John Preston email [email protected] Communications & Outreach Charles Strang email [email protected] Branch Officers North Geoff Underwood Tel 0191 433 3435 NorthWest Kate Borland Tel 0161 2344556 Yorkshire Keith Knight Tel 01904 658482 West Midlands Charles Shapcott Tel 0121 7044312 East Midlands Roy Lewis Tel 01636 653060 South Julia Foster Tel 01296 585888 SouthWest Ian LundTel 01225 477687 East Anglia Phil Godwin Tel 01263 516131 South East David Kincaid Tel 01227 862185 London David McDonald Tel 020 8881 6724 Scotland Stuart Eydmann Tel 01506 775279 Wales Nathan Blanchard Tel 01492 583443 Northern Ireland Sharon BrownTel 028 9754 3087 Republic of Ireland Cormac O’Sullivan Tel 00353 5677 62907 Business Office Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA England Tel 01747 873133 Fax 01747 871718 email [email protected] Cover: Fighting a fire in a thatched roof (see p23) Institute ofHistoricBuildingConservation No 113 March2010 Fire and historic buildings Fire safety in historic buildings has tended to be overshadowed lately by more pressing issues such as PPS 15 and climate change. However, fire remains as potent a threat as ever and historic buildings are no less vulnerable than they were to damage by invasive fire safety measures. In recent years there have been some significant developments. English Heritage set up the Historic Buildings Fire Research Database (FreD) to make current research and expertise relevant to the treatment of historic buildings against fire more readily available (www. english-heritage.org.uk/FReD). In 2007 a considerable body of researched material, information, guidance and data was published on completion of COST (European Cooperation in the field of Scientific andTechnical Research) Action C17: fire loss to the built heritage, a four-year, multi-disciplinary programme involving 20 participating nations (www.heritagefire.net). There have been two major changes in legislation with the introduction of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. New guidance has been published in the form of BS 9999:2008 Code of practice for fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings. In 2008 the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) set up a special interest group for heritage buildings. Its steering group includes specialists from building control, fire and rescue services, English Heritage, Historic Scotland, the National Trust, insurance companies, fire engineers, academia, the IHBC, and representatives from the fire industry and thatching industry.The members of this group share a common interest in reducing the damage and destruction of the historic environment caused by fire and its aftermath.They are committed to ensuring that fire safety enhancements are carried out with the minimum impact on the authenticity and significance of historic buildings. One of the group’s main objectives is to produce authoritative technical guidance specifically related to fire safety Cont'd overleaf Briefing 2 Out of Context 4 Remembering Vanessa Brand 5 Remembering Gordon Michell 6 The writer’s voice 7 Letters 7 Exhibition: V&A’s medieval and renaissance collections 8 Periodically 9 Choose your extinguisher carefully Bob Johnson 12 Insuring heritage buildings Bob Johnson 13 Performance of traditional timber doors in fires Mike Coull 17 BS 9999 and historic buildings Andrew Forecast 19 Preventing fires in thatched roofs Paul Turnbull 23 Fire suppression systems in historic buildings Stewart Kidd 27 Changes to legislation on fire Steve Emery 32 Gardens and designed landscapes 37 Archaeological view 38 Architecturally speaking 41 IHBC consultations 42 Notes from the chair 43 Director’s cut 44 Membership notes 45 Vox pop 46 Book reviews 47 Books received 52 Products and services 53 Advertisers index 56
2 C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 Context Briefing Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Fiona Newton 21 George Street, Louth, Lincolnshire LN11 9JU Tel 01507 602567 email [email protected] Editorial Board Fiona Newton (chair) Nigel Crowe (main features) Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Michael Taylor (main features) Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2010 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Published for the Institute of Historic Building Conservation by Cathedral Communications Limited, High Street, Tisbury,Wiltshire, England SP3 6HA Tel 01747 871717 Fax 01747 871718 email [email protected] www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions to Context Context is available to non-members of the IHBC at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £50.00 Elsewhere £75.00 Subscription orders, together with remittances payable to Institute of Historic Building Conservation, should be sent to the IHBC Business Office at Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA. The views expressed in Context are not necessarily held by the IHBC or the publisher. Neither the publisher nor the IHBC shall be under any liability whatsoever in respect of contributed articles. We gratefully acknowledge the support of firms whose advertisements appear throughout this publication.While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this issue of Context is current and correct, neither the IHBC nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions which may occur. Copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November.The copy deadlines in 2010 are: Issue Deadline May, Issue 114 22 March July, Issue 115 17 May September, Issue 116 19 July November, Issue 117 20 September in historic buildings that can be used alongside existing official guidance to demonstrate compliance with statutory requirements.The group aims to raise greater awareness of issues relating to fire safety in the historic environment, particularly in sectors such as building control, and fire and rescue services. The articles in this issue of Context, all by members of the group, reflect some of its current preoccupations. Steve Emery (p32) outlines the recent legislative changes and considers their implications for historic buildings. Andrew Forecast (p19) takes a critical look at BS 9999. Bob Johnson (p13) gives guidance on insurance and provides a cautionary tale about fire extinguishers(p12). Paul Turnbull (p23) reports on Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service’s thatch roof initiative and Mike Coull (p17) brings us to date with current research on fire resistance of timber doors. Stewart Kidd (p27) discusses the use of fire suppression systems in historic buildings. Best practice in balancing fire safety needs and conservation requirements involves close and sympathetic cooperation between the disciplines involved.This has to be underpinned by relevant technical guidance and appropriate training. Conservation officers: make friends with your building control, and fire and rescue service colleagues.We have a lot to learn from each other. Iain McCaig, guest commissioning editor of this issue’s theme on fire Editorial (cont’d) Greenwich brews again Eight giant copper brewing vessels have been installed at the Old Brewery, part of Discover Greenwich at the Old Royal Naval College, the new £6 million contemporary cultural venue that opened this month. Discover Greenwich is intended as the starting point for understanding and appreciating the world heritage site. The Old Brewery is a new restaurant, bar and cafe containing a microbrewery creating historical and modern beers. The ancient tradition of brewing on the site dates back to Tudor times. Henry VIII built a brewhouse for his Royal Palace and in 1717 a brewhouse was created to supply the Royal Naval Hospital with beer. The Old Brewery is located on the exact spot of the 1832 brewhouse, designed by architect Joseph Kay to supply the pensioners of the Royal Naval Hospital with their three-pint daily ration of beer. The brewhouse was partially destroyed by fire in 1843 and became redundant in 1870. The cellars of the old brewhouse building contain rare ‘fishbellied’ cast-iron beams. Copper brewing vessels in the Old Brewery (Photo: Discover Greenwich) Hospitable Norwich A new hostry (hostelry) has been built at Norwich Cathedral on the exact footprint of the original monastic hostry, at the west entrance to the cloisters. Investigations had found that the foundations of the monastic hostry were still almost intact.
C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 3 £5,000 for removing two fireplaces, and a total of £7,500 for other unauthorised changes. These included removing a simple Victorian cornice in the living room and replacing it with a modern ornate one. He also added details to the ceiling of the room, which were out of keeping with its style, and stripped down wood panels. Bernard agreed to pay costs of £6,000. The magistrates said the fine would have been £30,000 had Bernard not pleaded guilty. Productive landscapes An architectural initiative asserts that Scotland needs to think more creatively about new possibilities for transforming the industrial built environment to exploit the full potential of the country’s abundant natural resources. From the pits to fishing ports, seaweed, slate and recycled paper, seven projects mark the history and envision a new future for Scotland’s industrial sector. Spaces of Labour, which began its life as a series of mapping exercises with students at Strathclyde University’s department of architecture, has been developed into a touring exhibition, publication and website inviting a considered investigation of how capitalist work practices were organised spatially and of the architecture of the workplace. Jonathan Charley writes in the exhibition catalogue: ‘A simple shift in government policy can radically alter both industrial and environmental landscapes. Architecture has a crucially important role to play in terms of documentation, strategic planning and providing a visual language to accompany the possible new places of work and industrial production. ‘Despite the bizarre claims about the nature of the knowledge economy and the miraculous cure all service sectors, it is impossible to imagine a productive society and healthy economy without a vibrant manufacturing sector making useful things.’ In one of the projects, The Islands that Roofed theWorld, Fiona Beveridge examines the possibility of re-introducing the slate industry on the west coast of Scotland. Beveridge has established that even now around 40 per cent of Scotland’s housing stock is roofed in slate. But with no indigenous slate industry, dwindling quantities of reclaimed stock were being used for repairs, and cheaper but less durable foreign imports for replacements. Beveridge proposes the introduction of an initially mobile quarrying strategy centred on the islands of Luing, Easdale, Seil and Belnahua. This would allow the industry to develop gradually in a manner that is sensitive to context, she claims. The project estimates that a wellmaintained Scottish slate roof should last between 200 and 300 years. Slow down please BritishWaterways is asking motorists to slow down when crossing the 200-year-old hump-back bridges that span the historic canal network. Each year it spends up to £2.5 million fixing the damage. BritishWaterways, which looks after 1,800 historic bridges, estimates that at least two are struck every week. The growing number of bridge strikes comes at a time when there is reduced funding available to look after Britain’s 2,000 mile network of canals and rivers, which includes the UK’s third largest collection of listed structures, more than half of which are bridges. A bridge struck by a lorry on the Aylesbury arm of the Grand Union Canal An image from the Spaces of Labour exhibition Shutting up shop Ann Petherick has announced that she has finally taken the decision to close the website and bank account of the Living Over The Shop Project. ‘I’m admitting defeat,’ she told Context. ‘I have had no funding at all since 2005. It means that whenever someone does contact me, I have to say that I can’t help other than on a fee basis. Since no one is willing to pay, there doesn’t seem much that I can do.’ Petherick adds: ‘It’s an irony indeed in the present housing situation.’ To avoid damaging the medieval archaeology in the cathedral grounds, Hopkins Architects were briefed to build off the original foundations, rather than new footings. The new wall has an Ancaster rag-stone face to both sides, with a continuous Clipsham limestone sill running the length of the glazing above. The new structure provides a community meeting place, and a conference and education centre. The construction work was carried out by Cambridge-based restoration and building contractors Rattee and Kett. Fine for damaging listed house Damaging the character of a house has cost a landlord £22,500 after he admitted breaching listed building consent at Richmond Magistrates’ Court. Alan Bernard had been given permission by Richmond Council in 2007 for a rear extension and minor alterations for a Grade II listed Victorian villa. Richmond Council found he had made many more changes to the building. Magistrates fined Bernard for the damage and issued him with an enforcement notice from Richmond Council ordering him to return the property to its original condition at his own cost within six months. Councillor Geoff Acton, Richmond Council’s cabinet member for environment, said: ‘Bernard was given guidelines on what he was allowed to do to this house and he massively overstepped the mark. These were not just small changes. They were a series of works which left the front of the building looking altogether different and the inside being significantly affected. ‘Securing a conviction like this is rare and difficult to achieve, but the heavy fine should send a warning to anyone else tempted to damage houses like this which are part of our irreplaceable heritage. Bernard now has a criminal record and a large bill to put right what he’s done.’ Bernard was fined £10,000 for re-pointing the property in a style and colour inappropriate for the area and the building. Further fines included
4 C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 ‘YET AGAIN the Snooping Around column says that the main drawback to a property is “It’s listed”. Do you really believe readers’ prime instinct is to fill a historic building with plastic windows and double its size with a clodhopping extension? Listing does not prevent change, it controls it.’ A letter to the Guardian from Richard Deane ‘THE QUEEN has a new court favourite. Step forward architect Ptolemy Dean, who is best known as an historic buildings advisor on the BBC2 Restoration series fronted by Griff Rhys Jones. At a recent Scottish royal house party at Balmoral, Dean was given the honour of sitting at the Queen’s right hand at the dinner table. Her Maj was said to be much taken by Dean’s habit of constantly drawing, in the manner of her old friend the late Sir Hugh Casson, former president of the RA. ‘The 41-year-old says he feels sick if he’s not drawing. Dean runs his own architecture firm in Borough Market and has been obsessively sketching buildings for 25 years. ‘“Ptolemy Dean is the Queen’s new best friend,” reports a source. ‘When he stayed at Balmoral last month he was always placed on the Queen’s right, which is a sure sign of patronage.’ Gossip from Londoner’s Diary in the Evening Standard ‘To put it beyond doubt, there is no question of downgrading the protection of historic buildings. The current language in the [draft] planning policy statement is not clear enough. We will redraft it to make clear that the protection of heritage buildings will not be reduced. ‘We have had over 500 responses to our consultation on this, more than usual. The consultation shows that there is some confusion, which we will clear up before we publish the final statement.’ Planning minister John Healey responding to criticism of the draft Planning Policy Statement 15. Gaskell connection Major alterations are being made to the grounds of Brook Street Chapel in Knutsford, Cheshire, where Elizabeth Gaskell, author of Cranford, is buried. The chapel features in Gaskell’s novel Ruth. The work coincides with the bicentenary of her birth. The Unitarian Chapel, dating from 1689, is located on a steep incline and currently accessible only by steps. Among other work, the scheme will create level access for the first time. Purcell Miller Tritton is lead consultant for the project. Company’s house style, providing a distinct contrast to the vernacular architecture of theYorkshire Dales. The difficult terrain the line runs through required major engineering work to provide a high-speed line: cuttings, embankments, bridges, tunnels and viaducts, and the diversion of streams to cross both over and under the line. The most famous structure is the Grade II* listed, 24-arched Ribblehead viaduct. Mainly built of locallyquarried stone, it is surrounded by the remains of a large construction camp. The Ribblehead construction camp was the largest settlement on the line. It contained most of the civic, commercial and social facilities such as the hospital, post office, public library, mission house, day and Sunday schools, shops and public houses. The area also contained the Midland Railway Company’s offices, yards, stables and storeroom. One of the best preserved and probably the most accessible construction camp in the country, it is a scheduled ancient monument. The appraisal document can be viewed on theYDNPA website at www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/careviewsettlecarlislerailway-full.pdf . Gothic text uncovered Salisbury Cathedral’s team of conservators found the remains of some English text, probably dating from the 15th century, when they removed the Henry Hyde Monument from the south aisle wall to repair and clean it. The monument consists of 44 pieces of marble alabaster and Chilmark stone. The discovery was made when the inscription table at its centre was removed. It was painted on a lime wash base layer rather than on the stone itself. Sir Henry Hyde had been buried in the cathedral in 1650 after his execution by Parliament for supporting King Charles I. The monument, erected soon after 1660, has now been replaced. Attempts are being made to decipher the text from photographs. Brook Street Chapel, Knutsford, in whose grounds Elizabeth Gaskell is buried Settle and Carlisle review Consultation is under way on a review of conservation area status for the Settle and Carlisle railway. It is believed to be the longest conservation area in the country. The designation was first given to the line in 1991. Stuart Parsons, theYorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s member champion for conservation of cultural heritage, said: ‘Every conservation area has a distinctive character that has been shaped over time by its natural and man-made surroundings. This appraisal is an opportunity to re-assess the railway line and to evaluate and record its special interest. ‘It sets out how this most unusual conservation area has evolved and identifies the key elements of its character and quality, as well as defining what is positive and negative, and looking at ways it can be managed for the better in the future.’ The 72-mile Settle and Carlisle railway was designated a conservation area as a result of collaboration between theYorkshire Dales National Park Authority and three district councils. It was the last main line railway to be built in the 19th century and the last in Britain to be built mainly by manual labour. The station buildings, railway workers’ cottages and other structures were all architectdesigned in the Midland Railway Salisbury Cathedral conservator Tom Beattie looks at the text
C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 5 Remembering Vanessa Brand Key roles in local and central government In remembering Vanessa Brand, who died in December, two words in particular have recurred from reminiscences of many of her former colleagues in building conservation: a strong identification with her as their personal mentor. She cared greatly for the people she worked with, encouraging and enthusing them, and infusing them with energy. She had great warmth and charm, and an incisive and enquiring mind. This led her in recent years to roles as head of policy at DCMS, and most recently on secondment as secretary to the board of the Olympic Delivery Authority. She still maintained, through her many heritage colleagues and continuing membership of IHBC, a close contact with their current concerns. Brand worked for the illustrious Greater London Council Historic Buildings Division – the only part to survive that council’s abolition – and remained when it became the London division of English Heritage. She was always extremely hard-working and conscientious. One former colleague recalls that it eventually emerged that she spent most Saturday mornings catching up on GLC casework in the office (although how she got the key to the office nobody knew). She took over the central English Heritage buildings-at-risk officer role from John Fidler in 1985. It is for this that the conservation sector is greatly in her debt because of the vigour and effectiveness with which the initiative was conducted. Kirklees was quickly encouraged to undertake a pilot BAR survey, and the computer methodology for BAR registers was tested at Ipswich. Although at the time IT equipment was very basic, especially in local authorities, these surveys and the supporting software were soon being rolled out to numerous authorities with Brand’s encouragement. One of her largely unsung achievements was persuading English Heritage to part-fund the publication of the Association of Conservation Officers seminal report on listed buildings repairs notices in 1991, and ensuring that every chief planning officer in England received a copy. This helped cement the ACO’s reputation and it became the only non-government source document in PPG15. Its content, thanks to Vanessa’s wise advice, has remained current and a valuable legacy after nearly two decades in use. Bob Kindred ‘The news media still puts heritage in a box as if it were a beautiful house or painting, and doesn’t see it in its broader sense of culture, industrial history and landscape.’ Dame Jenny Abramsky, chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, speaking at the Heritage Question Time. ‘If the Planning subcommittee had been properly advised and directed to the proper considerations for these applications, I believe that it would not have approved the applications.’ Local government ombudsman Anne Seex on Kirklees Council’s approval of a plan to demolish a listedVictorian schoolroom and build new houses on the site. The sub-committee was not told of the law requiring it to have special regard to preserving the listed schoolroom; of national planning guidance that there should be a general presumption in favour of preserving listed buildings; of the specific tests that it should have applied before giving permission for the schoolroom to be demolished; or of comments from the council’s own conservation specialists. Of the 32 photographs that were shown to the sub-committee to illustrate the dilapidated condition of the schoolroom, 24 were of a completely different building. The ombudsman recommended that the council should remedy the injustice by seeking to negotiate for the permissions to be relinquished in favour of a new scheme, for which it would meet reasonable design costs and planning application fees. ‘In the 60s, everything was built cheaper, faster and nastier. If you are going to try to fix buildings, then really you won’t have too many problems with anything built earlier than the 50s or after the 80s. ‘Although you can do some things to buildings from the 60s and 70s, like replacing the roofs, there are probably some places that need to come down entirely. The buildings that pose the most difficulties are semi-industrialised, highly inefficient, badly insulated and so ugly that they are not worth refurbishing. ‘The problem is weighing up whether it is more energy-efficient to knock something down and start from scratch, or refurbish it. We don’t have the methodologies for weighing that up in all cases.’ Paul Morrell, chief construction adviser at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, speaking to the Times.
6 C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 Remembering Gordon Michell Pioneer of community-led conservation Gordon Michell will be remembered best for his work in the field of urban regeneration, for which he was appointed OBE in 1985, but during his long and distinguished professional career he played an important role in a number of influential projects. After war service in Normandy, Germany and the Middle East, Michell returned to the Architectural Association and graduated in 1948. Scholarships enabled him to travel in Italy, Spain, Europe and the USA studying townscape, historic buildings and the architecture of road transport. He and his wife Eleanor set up their architectural practice, Michell and Partners, in 1954. His work included innovative bank design, housing (notably in Cirencester), and urban landscaping. Michell was also drawn to the wider environment. In 1962 he was asked to join Colin Buchanan’s study group resulting in the production of the ground-breaking Traffic in Towns. It was also as a partner of Colin Buchanan that he was responsible for the Bath Conservation Study, one of the suites of city conservation studies which helped establish urban conservation as a mainstream planning discipline. Michell became consultant architect to the Civic Trust in 1973, playing a leading part in the trust’s role as UK Secretariat for European Architectural HeritageYear in 1975. He was architectural advisor to the newly established Architectural Heritage Fund, to the David Knightly Charitable Trust and to the Historic Buildings Council for the administration of grants within non-outstanding conservation areas. In those roles he became the friend, supporter and advisor of numerous amenity societies and building preservation trusts up and down the country. While with the Civic Trust he set up and led the award-winning Wirksworth Project. He identified the small Derbyshire market town of Wirksworth as being a suitable subject for an experimental project funded by the Sainsbury family’s Monument Trust. Simon Sainsbury wanted to see if community-led conservation could be an engine for urban regeneration. In 1977 this was an entirely new concept, adopted by Michell from then on. It was his great humanity as well as his professional skills which led to the success of theWirksworth Project, described by Prince Charles as ‘brilliantly innovative’. The project won the1982 Europa Nostra Medal for architectural conservation and the 1984 Royal Town Planning Institute Award for Planning Achievement. It is easy to fall into the trap of hagiography when writing of someone immediately after their death, but Michell did indeed have some spiritual qualities. All who knew and worked with him came under his spell. He was a most gentle man. Nevertheless, he was a perfectionist with a core of steel. He was totally dedicated to any task in hand. Anyone working with him could be pretty sure that if the telephone rang at 11.30 at night it would be Michell at the other end, oblivious to time. Michell had a very good eye, which he used with impressive results in the medium of photography. His work, Remembering Mickey King Our appreciation of Mickey King (Context 110, July 2009) was not credited. It was written by John Fidler. Gordon Michell’s photograph of part of Cirencester’sWest Marketplace, taken from the top of the church tower which was in the school of Eric de Maré, whom he had known, dealt with buildings in the urban and rural landscape. He devoted increasing amounts of time and energy to black-and-white photography as an art form. A major exhibition of his photographic work was held at the Architectural Association in 1995. In 1983 the chairman of the Royal Fine Arts Commission, Norman St John Stevas (later Lord Fawsley), commissioned Michell to write a book to encourage better design of town centres. Design in the High Street was illustrated with Michell’s own photographs. In 1993 he collaborated with Barry Joyce and MikeWilliams in the production of a picture book Derbyshire: detail and character. For every one of the 150 of Michell’s black and white photographs published there were another nine unused, a consequence of his perfectionist approach, revisiting each location several times until conditions were right. Although not a performer, classical music was an integral part of Michell’s life and his home was full of music. In the later years of his life he suffered from increasingly difficult illnesses. He survived these not just with stoicism but as part of a life that was still interesting, fun and very much worth living. He is survived by his wife and partner Eleanor, his daughter, two sons and grandchildren. Barry Joyce
C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 7 Letters Affordable housing From Ann Petherick,York According to Stephen Trow’s article (‘Affordable housing in the countryside’, Context 110, July 2009) only five per cent of rural housing is affordable. Taken at face value this would mean that only five per cent is occupied. We all know what he means but it does illustrate how absurd the term ‘affordable housing’ has become. If the term means anything at all, it means housing provided for sale or rent at less than the market cost. In other words, subsidised housing. If only we could bring ourselves to use the ‘s’ word, it might help to focus attention on where the subsidy is going to come from. It may be direct financial subsidy, in the form of grant from central or local government, charitable trust, or some other source. It might be in the form of free or cheap land from local authority or the Church, or it may derive from a condition imposed on a commercial developer. What is clear is that these measures are not providing anything like enough subsidised housing. When housing associations were set up in the 1960s they were intended to provide good-quality rented housing for people on average incomes. They are no longer doing that, and nor is anyone else. Associations have been required to take over the residual housing role from local authorities, and around 80 per cent of their new lettings are now to those dependent on benefits. This results in an undesirably polarised housing market, particularly in rural areas where much privatesector housing is bought by relatively wealthy commuters or retirees. An intermediate level of rented housing is urgently needed. This would still need subsidy, although at a lower level than for social housing, but it also needs a legal structure and a not-for-profit body to provide and manage it – exactly as housing associations once did. Ann Petherick Insulation comes last From ChrisWood Your correspondent reporting on the IHBC North West conference in Liverpool (‘Facing the energy crunch’, Context 112, November 2009) quoted Caroline Cattini as explaining that ‘energy-saving measures, such as low-energy light bulbs and insulation, should come first’. I have checked with Cattini, who confirms that she stressed that insulation is the last option, after good housekeeping, changing behaviour and carrying out benign improvements. This may seem to be a small point, but as quoted it will be used to justify drastic and highly invasive work by those with a different agenda. That said, this Context was, again, a very good read. ChrisWood From A Month in the Country by JL Carr (1980). The narrator is restoring a medieval wallpainting. My picture was so well preserved that I became more and more convinced that, even before it was forty or fifty years old, it had been hidden beneath a lime wash. Why? The priest found fault with its iconography? The local magnates took umbrage at some fancied resemblance? A literate churchwarden thought it old-fashioned for a forward-looking parish? Take your choice. Every week that passes, you can bet your life that, somewhere in this land, there’s a first-class row bubbling up about what someone wants in and someone else wants out of a village church. And then, over the centuries, after each fifty years or so of taper and candle smoke, paraffin lamps, the painting had taken on another layer of cover-up. And, of course, in latter days, the good old Bankdam-Crowther had done its bit, doubtlessly, on a single mad morning’s fling, throwing up as much muck as a medieval decade. So, once I got the hang of it, the job followed a steady pattern, cleaning down the years to the painting itself. Well, perhaps I’m making it sound too easy. It wasn’t – but I got better at it as the days passed. Really it boiled down to a game of patience. My first move had been to grid the likely area of colour into chalked square feet and then, as you might say, to inch along, only straying from one square to the next to follow a hand or a face. Because, although Joe Watterson had been too canny to put it into as many words, it simply isn’t possible to return a five-hundredyear-old wallpainting to its original state. At best, I aimed at approximation, uniformity, something that looked right. And so (jumping ahead for a moment) it went on, day following day up there on the scaffolding, shuffling sideways and backwards, on my knees, up on my haunches, when I was too idle to use a step-ladder, stretching my toes. It was like a window in a filthy wall which, every day or two, opened a square foot or wider. You know how it is when a tricky job is going well because you’re doing things the way they should be done, when you’re working in rhythm and feel a reassuring confidence that everything’s unravelling naturally and all will be right in the end. That’s about it: I knew what I was doing – it’s really what being professional means. Infestation From Chris Morris, design and conservation officer, Lewes District Council On a recent site visit at Fisher Street, Lewes, where repair work is taking place to an oriel window, I found the lead shown in the photograph. Beetles have apparently eaten through it. Have any Context readers seen this before? The contractor tells me that there were a few dead beetles around the holes, possibly poisoned by the lead. Chris Morris Beetle damage to the lead of a Lewes window
8 C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 The V&A’s new medieval and renaissance galleries Transported treasures The Victoria and Albert Museum has opened a spectacularly re-housed and enhanced display of its medieval and renaissance collections. £30 million has been spent on the new galleries, including a £9.75 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and many private donations. Various sections of the display carry the names of these donors. The new presentations have brought together objects previously grouped at various points around the museum’s labyrinth. Now, in one great barrelvaulted space, the largest displays bring the visitor in from the V&A’s huge vestibule. Flanking this long space are two further display areas, one above the other and linked by a grand new staircase. In a semibasement that formerly housed the photographic facilities and huge lecture-slide collection, and in the rebuilt gallery above this, the story is told of European art across 13 centuries, beginning in 300AD. Religion dominates, and the works of art are largely connected in some way with the Christian church. These include stained glass, altarpieces, vestments, sculptures of saints and tombs. Not all the displays are ecclesiastical, however, and a fascinating display of renaissance cutlery and an early example of a printed cookery-book struck me in particular. I also admired a re-displayed set of Italian blue roundels (inspiration for the London commemorative blue plaques) and a precious set of works by Donatello. The equivalent of a lifetime of travel and study can be concentrated into as much viewing as the visitor can absorb in single visits. As a teaching aid, these collections excel any other example I know of. Architectural features include capitals, a French wooden staircase, a London house-front, a tomb from Venice and a fountain of unique origin from a country house in Sussex. All these are dominated by a complete renaissance chapel brought from a Florentine church and the complete choir screen of 1610–13 from a cathedral in the Low Countries. These stand in the middle and at the end of the main space. Like many other items from the collections of the South Kensington Museum, the V&A’s predecessor, these massive items were acquired in the middle years of the 19th century. They were carried to London and put on display for the Victorian public to learn from and to enjoy, in an era when travel abroad had yet to gain its modern forms. Although this would initially appear to have been plunder on a massive scale, scruples about such de-contextualising were only in their infancy in the 19th century. The common justification for removing the treasures from their homes was to protect them and to give them a The façade of Sir Paul Pindar's London house from about 1600 (Photo:V&A Images) safe, permanent home with curatorial attention. Many captions and catalogue entries for the collection repeat the same message: move or lose. There is an elaborate, illustrated summary in Medieval and Renaissance Art: people and possessions (V&A Publishing 2009, £40, ISBN 978 1 85177 579 8). The book is introduced by Glyn Davies’ 32-page chapter, in which he ‘defines’ the evolution of European artistic culture 300–1600AD. This is a stupendous achievement, as are the new galleries themselves. Graham Tite, conservation officer, TunbridgeWells Borough Council
C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 9 Periodically As is now customary, the longer-thannormal gap between the November and March issues of Context generates additional review material, so a greater selectivity of items of interest has been required this time round. The latest issue of C20, the magazine of the Twentieth Century Society (Winter 2009–10), leads on heritage minister Margaret Hodge’s apparent departure from the legislation in determining if buildings should be listed. Instead of special architectural and historic interest (the only test), Hodge thinks ‘fitness for purpose’ should be the defining criterion. This has prompted Catherine Croft, the society’s director, to ask rightly: ‘fitness for what purpose?’ As examples, Croft cites libraries in the information age, and schools with changing class sizes, which may not make these functions the best fit for the building but does not make them totally useless. Hodge’s personal dislike of post-war buildings is no secret (she recently rejected calls to list Birmingham Central Library), but the society intends to demand greater intellectual rigour from Hodge and to insist that she sticks to the legislative definition that works perfectly well. With a ministerial car, does Minister Hodge ever use the tube? If so, what would she think of some of the excellent pre- and post-war tube stations making the headline feature of this issue of C20 – particularly less well-known ones: Brent Cross (1923), Croxley (1925) and Perivale (1947)? It is over two decades since the Twentieth Century Society and the Victorian Society first lobbied for the conservation of London’s Underground architecture. Today 57 of the 257 stations are listed (including many designed by Charles Holden). This is a testimony to the effectiveness of the two societies. Would Hodge have listed any of these today? With passenger numbers increasing and massive investment in the capital’s transport infrastructure required, perhaps the protected ones are not ‘fit for purpose’ either? The society also echoes the recent concerns of the Independent and other national media and photographic organisations about the inappropriate use by the police of powers under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to prevent the legitimate photography of buildings in public places. If you are in doubt about your rights to photograph 20th-century or any other buildings go to http://photographernotaterrorist.org/. In a bit of a return to form, the editorial in SPAB magazine Cornerstone (Vol 30, No 4 2009) expresses concern at the implications of a potential Tory government merger of English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, in the light of potentially drastic cuts of between 10 and 20 per cent of the former’s budget. The arguments about the lack of fit between the two organisations have been well rehearsed but heritage budgets look set for drastic pruning whichever party is in government by June. Also highlighted are the nearly 3,000 historic buildings at risk inWales, and the further 5,145 classified as vulnerable. In two thirds of cases this is attributed to lack of maintenance. While the society emphasises the importance of its National Maintenance Week, to this reviewer’s mind the situation also highlights the disgraceful absence of a current national policy statements (even in draft), or any other emphasis or initiatives to underline the crucial role of building maintenance during difficult economic times. One of the most disturbing stories for years was the news that window replacement firms had been lobbying the government since October 2009 to bring in a scrappage scheme to encourage the removal of traditional wooden sash windows. While this flies in the face of new research by English Heritage, which shows that simple repair and basic improvements bring significant reductions in draughts and heat loss, we have to hope that the muchmaligned Treasury will scupper this on grounds of cost. If not, traditional sash windows, which English Heritage stresses are ‘a unique feature of England’s built heritage’, could be confined to listed buildings and perhaps Article 4 direction areas? The issue also sets out the thoughts of new chairs – Heath (David of SPAB) and Andrews (Kay of English Heritage); and the shadow secretary of state – Hunt (Jeremy of DCMS). Needless to say they are all genuinely passionate advocates for heritage. But advocacy from the margins is useless without resources, so their views may need to be parked until the impact of the nation’s finances has been examined by the real
10 C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 power brokers after the general election. As an antidote to the gloom of the UK, it is nice to find that the latest issue of the Association of Preservation Technology’s Journal of Preservation Technology (Vol XL, Nos 3–4 2009) is upbeat as it celebrates with a special 40th-anniversary issue. Ten commemorative articles have been commissioned by guest editor DavidWoodcock. In his introductionWoodcock comments that the issue ‘revisits topics covered in the 30th-anniversary issue to examine changes in philosophy and technology, and also considers topics that have emerged in preservation technology in the past ten years.’ Brian Scott Robinson, the association’s president, cites the articles as being ‘representative of the superior work being performed by APT members around the world’. Documentation of heritage assets has advanced considerably in the last 10 years, particularly with the application of digital tools. One only has to think of faster, lighter and portable computers and the astonishing resolution capabilities of cameras. Robert Warden examines recent advancements in technology, including the advent of GIS and GPS, and advances in photogrammetry, not just for buildings and structures, but also for smaller objects, such as artefacts found in archaeology. He also identifies the downside: that this comes at a cost of keeping up with the latest techniques and software or hardware, which increases the cost of documentation. They should be seen as a means to an end, not an end in themselves. With concerns about health and safety and associated legislation in the UK and the growing compensation culture here, it is instructive to look at Marilyn Kaplan’s long and interesting article on the history of safety and building codes in the USA. A single national code is only a decade old. Kaplan takes a positive view that decades of advancement in building safety and regulation have created more options for historic buildings, with code changes and new technologies successfully reducing physical and visual impacts. But proper enforcement of the regulations is required, as is greater flexibility of application (as recommended in our own PPG 15) to ensure the need to retain historic architectural integrity. Baird Smith and Carl Elefante examine historical developments over the past 40 years in sustainable design. They give an architectural conservation overview of the responses to the 1973 OPEC oil embargo; of emerging ideas about embodied energy; of the US secretary of the interior’s 1979 standards for preservation treatment (and the rehabilitation standards and guidelines in particular); and of technological developments and guidance on historic windows in the 1980s and 90s (mirroring English Heritage’s Framing Opinions campaign). They look ahead to concerns about the impact on historic buildings of the recent global economic meltdown, and the unsustainable and inequitable US consumption of energy resources. When the APT was established 40 years ago, none of the founders practiced engineering professionally. Early papers were technical, but they were not written by or for engineers, or about a subject for which technical training was necessary. It was not really until the 1990s that a formal engineering presence became evident. The article by Derek Trelstad and Robert Silman shows how the APT has redefined what it is or what its members know about conservation engineering. In looking forward, the article emphasises the need for thinking outside the box. It concludes by stating that ‘great things are not done by those who sit down and count the cost of every thought and act’. Other items of interest are an analysis by Robert Melnick of the effect of climate change on global and cultural landscapes and a report by DavidWoodcock on developments in preservation education in North America over the past decade, highlighting recent progress and the future implications for heritage educational from climate change, demographic shifts, physical security, landscape conservation, authenticity and economic imbalance. Ronald Staley, HThomas McGrath Jr, David Overholt and Thomas Whitmore explore how the process of turning a design concept into reality when preserving historic buildings has developed and improved since 1968. Frances Gale and Norman Weiss provide an update on buildingmaterials research over the past 10 years, outlining the challenges ahead. Natalie Bull concentrates on the APT’s strategic planning from 1995 to 2008, and how it has helped shape the organisation to be successful in future. Diana Waite concludes the issue by outlining the APT’s distinguished record as a publisher, and explaining how its responsibility for high-quality content is even
C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 11 more important in the digital era. The latest issue of RICS Building Conservation Journal (January– February 2010) has not been published separately, being bound within the institution’s Building Surveying Journal. It runs to rather less than eight pages. Nevertheless, the aim is to attract new audiences. The chairman of the Building Conservation Forum highlights recent concerns voiced by the SPAB about the lack of awareness of some RICS surveyors about the scope of listing (‘…only the front’). This is being addressed in part by a new best practice guidance note by a number of authoritative contributors, intended to define a more common purpose for chartered surveyors. The guidance note is downloadable free, but only to RICS members. The November 2009 issue of Natural Stone Specialist reports on the repairs that Nimbus Conservation is undertaking to stonework at Westminster Abbey’s Chapter House. This is undergoing its first major programme of repair since Sir Giles Gilbert Scott effectively rebuilt the outer skin of the walls in 1870. Although the abbey is a ‘Royal Peculiar’, the Chapter House is the responsibility of English Heritage. The Chilmark stone Scott used has held up sufficiently well for less replacement to be used in the £4 million project than initially anticipated. The December 2009 issue of Natural Stone Specialist highlights repairs to the Grade ll listed Compton House, Liverpool, which in 1865 started life as the world’s first department store. Mutilated in the early 1970s when the original entrance and ground floor stonework were hacked off to accommodate a modern shopfront, the store (now a branch of Marks and Spencer) has recently been restored. The original buff sandstone with a pinkish tinge was sourced from a quarry inWarrington, now closed. The best current replacement (sold as ‘Wild Pink’) is from Peakmoor Quarry. TheVictorian (No 32, November 2009) highlights Victorian architectural ceramics. A good place to start is the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sonia Solicari, curator of 19th-century ceramics and glass at the V&A, discusses the riches of the museum’s holdings and the recent redisplays in the first phase of extensive new Ceramics Galleries. These return to rooms designed by AstonWebb that were originally opened in 1903. The second phase, due to open this summer, will include a gallery dedicated to the preservation of Webb’s display cases. TheVictorian also features the current work of terracotta manufacturer Shaws of Darwen, whose products have been used to undertake extensive terracotta repairs to the listed Kentish Town Sports Centre, London (the old St Pancras Baths), replacing facings originally manufactured by Doulton and Co of Lambeth. Theatres Magazine (No 22,Winter 2009), published by the Theatres Trust, gives a brief history of fibrous plasterwork in theatres. This art perhaps reached its apogee of ornateness in the Edwardian era. The article describes typical recent reinstatements which, for example, allow electrical services to be concealed. It commends the acoustic properties of fibrous plaster and glass-reinforced gypsum (GRG). The issue also explains the thrust of the trust’s new three-year project Ecovenue. This will to provide specialist theatre environmental advice and undertake free Display Energy Certificate assessments with 48 smallscale theatres in London. This aims to reduce energy consumption, harness renewables and design sustainable capital projects in the light of the Climate Change Act 2008. The article does not say whether any of the theatres are historic, but some are likely to be. It will be interesting to see how or if the heritage and sustainability objectives will be reconciled. Finally, as I customarily report from time to time, the Newsletter of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art (Issue 29, December 2009) lists recent research awards that may eventually lead to publications of interest to conservation professionals. Publication grants were awarded to author Martin Cook (and his publisher) for Edward Prior (1852–1932): architect, scholar and gentleman; to Hilary Grainger on The Architecture of Sir Ernest George and Partners; and to Albert Grimstone for Building Pembroke Chapel:Wren, Pearce and Scott. Publication grants were also awarded to RIBA Publishing for a book on Sir Basil Spence by Louise Campbell, Miles Glendinning and Jane Thomas; and to Spire Books for Christopher Webster’s RD Chantrell (1793-1872) and the Architecture of a Lost Generation. A research grant goes to Roy Kozlovsky for research in the UK on Architecture of Childhood: English modernism and the welfare state. Bob Kindred MBE
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