Institute of Historic Building Conservation No 130 July 2013 Our seaside heritage
Historic Scotlandare delighted to be hosting Metal 2013, the triennial conference of the International Council of Museums Committee for Conservation Metal Working Group. This week-long international conference on metal conservation will take place in Edinburgh, Scotland from 16th to 20th September 2013. Delegates from around the world will share presentations on the conservation and preservation of historic metal including artefacts, sculpture and structures. Tickets for the event can be purchased using our online booking facility. Please contact us with any questions or queries about the event and we will get back to you as quickly as possible. We look forward to welcoming you to Metal 2013! For more information visit www.metal2013.org METAL 2013 International Conference on Metal Conservation 16 - 20 September 2013
C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 1 Cover: A new interpretation of our seaside heritage: Jabba the Hut was one of the winners of the competition to design a beach hut for the 21st century (see page 26). Photo: Garry Mayle Editorial www.ihbc.org.uk Registered as a charity in England andWales number 1061593 and in Scotland number SC041945. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England number 3333780. Registered Office: 3 Stafford Road,TunbridgeWells, Kent TN2 4QZ. Officers President Trefor Thorpe email [email protected] Chair Mike Brown email [email protected] Vice Chair Emilia Hands email [email protected] Secretary Eddie Booth email [email protected] Treasurer Richard Morrice email [email protected] Membership Secretary Paul Butler email [email protected] Education Secretary David McDonald 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 Carmen Moran email [email protected] Administration Officer Lydia Porter email [email protected] Committee Chairs Policy David Kincaid email [email protected] Membership & Ethics Paul Butler email [email protected] Finance & Resources Richard Morrice email [email protected] Education David McDonald email [email protected] Communications & Outreach Charles Strang email [email protected] Branch Officers North Geoff UnderwoodTel 0191 433 3435 NorthWest Crispin Edwards Tel 0161 474 2620 Yorkshire David Blackburn Tel 01943 603479 West Midlands Charles Shapcott Tel 0121 7044312 East Midlands Roy Lewis Tel 01623 756623 South Julia Foster Tel 01296 585888 SouthWest JamesWebbTel 01202 732849 East Anglia David Andrews Tel 07760 208231 South East Sean Rix Tel 01483 523379 London JohnWebb Tel 020 8871 6645 Scotland Stuart Eydmann Tel 01506 775279 Wales Nathan Blanchard Tel 01492 583443 Northern Ireland Colin Hatrick Tel 028 9064 1126 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] Institute ofHistoricBuildingConservation No 130 July 2013 Our seaside heritage A magic of its own ‘There are only four kinds of artistic activity: fine art, music, poetry and ornamental pastry cooking, of which architecture is a minor branch’. So wrote Berthold Lubetkin before he abandoned architecture in favour of pig farming. Architecture’s roots in ornamental pastry cooking can be seen more clearly than anywhere in our seaside resorts. Design for the seaside is intended to lift the spirits, enabling holidaymakers and excursionists to relax and lose their inhibitions.Who can forget the experience of the rattling old wooden rollercoasters, where the thrill of speed and stomach-churning turns was enhanced by the possibility that the salt-rusted nails would finally expire, allowing the sun-bleached planks to tumble to the ground. Health and safety? That’s not what we came on holiday for.We wanted an experience that we (and any of our children who survived) would remember. The location at the edge – where the finite world meets the infinite sea and sky, and the ceaseless waves roll and withdraw – gives the seaside a magic of its own. Such magic: sun, salt, seabirds, the architecture of enticement, piers, beach huts, pavilions, helter-skelters, merry-go-rounds, and promenade railings and shelters; and the faded glories of an era when resorts promised fun for all the family (such an unlikely prospect!) rather than places for the elderly to stroll away their sunset years. Architects at the seaside were expected to spark the imaginations of the people who saw and used their buildings through all sorts of exoticism, from the orientalism of Brighton’s Royal Pavilion downwards; or, similarly eschewing the everyday world, through the art deco, modernism or moderne that announced that these were not places constrained by architectural convention. Fred Gray (page 15) writes that new ways of experiencing seaside nature may produce new forms of seaside architecture. Anya Chapman (page 18) reports on some determined efforts to keep seaside funfairs and their rides going. Tina Lloyd (page 21) describes a conservation project that will lead to the reopening of Penarth Pavilion. Elizabeth Mayle (page 24) peeks out of the beach hut that she has designed and built for herself to report that in many places these small buildings are as popular as ever. David Viner (page 27) describes the conservation challenge arising from a traditional method of using old boats as breakwaters. And Antony Firth (page 30) argues that we now have an opportunity to make something of the marine historic environment. Briefing 2 Obituary: Anthony Swaine, architect and conservationist Richard Morrice 5 English Heritage selection guides, and introductions to heritage assets Paul Stamper 6 Periodically Bob Kindred 8 The writer’s voice 10 Legal briefing Tom Deards 12 Seaside architecture Fred Gray 15 Coasters at the coast Anya Chapman 18 Silver shingles for a seaside town Tina Lloyd 21 Beach huts, icons of the British seaside Elizabeth Mayle 24 Conserving the Purton hulks DavidViner 27 Heritage at sea Antony Firth 30 Relocating redundant church bells David Kelly 33 Regenerating historic areas in Cuba Nicholas Falk 36 Introducing HER21 Richard Morrice 39 Restoring Drake’s concrete house Paul Latham 41 Notes from the chair 45 Director’s cut 47 Vox pop 49 Book reviews 50 Products and services 53 Advertisers index 56
2 C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Fiona Newton 21 George Street, Louth, Lincolnshire LN11 9JU Tel 01507 602567 email [email protected] Editorial Board Nigel Crowe Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Rebecca Madgin Fiona Newton (chair) Michael Taylor Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2013 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 corporate bodies at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £60.00 Elsewhere £90.00 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. Briefing Context Copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November. The copy deadlines in 2013 are: September, Issue 131 19 July November, Issue 132 13 September CONTEXT READER SURVEY Let us know what you think about Context. Please take a minute to fill in our survey. www.surveymonkey.com/s/ contextsurvey Cornish survival The oldest surviving secular building in Cornwall will be removed from English Heritage’s Buildings at Risk Register following the completion of a careful repair and conversion project for the Prince’s Regeneration Trust. The Grade I listed Old Duchy Palace in Lostwithiel, Cornwall, built in 1292, was used by the Duke of Cornwall (the Black Prince) as an administrative centre for the Duchy of Cornwall. The palace fell into ruin in the 17th century during the Civil War, and other buildings were built around and integrated with the remaining structure. The remains of the convocation hall were bought by the local Freemasons Lodge in 1878, and the building was converted and used as a masonic lodge until 2008. The empty building was acquired by the Prince’s Regeneration Trust in 2009. Comprehensive repair and conversion was undertaken with its local development partner, the Cornwall Buildings Preservation Trust, with grants from the European Regional Development Fund, English Heritage and Cornwall Council. Medieval features such as the second floor, 13th century rose window surround have been uncovered and conserved. Remains of the masonic use of the building have been retained, including an all-seeing eye wall painting and hex-alpha coloured glazing. The building’s likely BREEAM ‘very good’ rating is believed to be the highest achieved for a medieval Grade I listed building. The project was led by Purcell architects. The Station Master’s House at Ribblehead has been restored by the Settle and Carlisle Railway Trust.
C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 3 Regency splendour Lord LloydWebber and the Really Useful Theatre Group have restored the Rotunda, Royal Staircases and Grand Saloon of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Visitors to the theatre will also be able to view the statue The Three Graces, a copy of which was bought for the theatre by Lord LloydWebber for £600,000. It will be permanently displayed in the Lower Rotunda. The two-part restoration of the building has begun with the reincarnation of the surviving Regency public areas. After stripping away nine layers of paint and some wallpaper, forensic research revealed the original colour scheme. This has been used to transform the front of house areas to their original Regency splendour. All statues and pictures which were part of the original decorative scheme have been cleaned and restored. The central window in the Grand Saloon, bricked up for many years, now lets in the daylight. There have been four theatre buildings on the Drury Lane site since 1653. The current building, designed by Benjamin DeanWyatt, dates from 1812. Battersea: work in progress Since 2006 Battersea Arts Centre has been developed architecturally through a process called BAC Playground Projects. The centre is based in the building which was originally constructed to house Battersea Town Hall: a Grade II* listed, labyrinthine building with over 80 rooms and a rich, complex, often volatile history dating back to 1893. Battersea Arts Centre’s relationship with the building spans over five decades and many campaigns to save the building. The projects have happened as part of Battersea Arts Centre’s mission ‘to invent the future of theatre and to create a 21st-century theatre in a 19th-century town hall, preserving its rich heritage, while equipping it for a resilient future’. Changes include opening up the circulation of the building, improving the access, upgrading the entrances and the facade, and preserving historical features such as the octagonal dome, the Robert Hope-Jones organ and the mosaic flooring. A new community hub with offices and workshop space will be available in the building’s lower hall. A new lift to all four storeys will make the building fully accessible for the first time. The project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, is due to be completed in 2016. National character areas The South Purbeck National Character Area is the 25th revised profile of a national character area to be published as Natural England refreshes the entire series. England has been divided into 159 distinct natural areas. Each is defined by a unique combination of landscape, biodiversity, geodiversity, and cultural and economic activity. Their boundaries follow natural lines in the landscape rather than administrative boundaries, offering a broader perspective on the natural environment. As part of its responsibilities in implementing the Natural Environment White Paper Biodiversity 2020 and the European Landscape Convention, Natural England is revising its national character area profiles to make environmental evidence and information easily available to a wider audience. National character area profiles are evidence documents that will provide a much greater level of detail to help inform decisions that affect the environment at both a local and a national scale. Each one includes a detailed description of key landscape features and the most important elements of biodiversity, geodiversity, land management and use, access and engagement; a summary of the ecosystem services that the national character area supports and how these might be secured; and a set of statements of environmental opportunity which set out possibilities for future enhancement of the area.
4 C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 Painshill’s grotto restored The restored 18th-century crystal grotto at Painshill landscape garden in Cobham, Surrey has been reopened. The grotto is a centrepiece within the historic landscape garden created by the Honourable Charles Hamilton between 1738 and 1773. The heritage project has been supported by private trusts and the Heritage Lottery Fund, which awarded Painshill Park Trust a grant of £747,400 for restoration works. Thousands of crystals of calcite, gypsum, quartz and fluorite have been used to restore the folly, which historically has been recognised as the finest stalactite grotto in Europe. The crystals have been embedded with lime mortar on to a framework of inverted wooden cones, to recreate the dazzling stalactite effect of the original grotto. Inspired by the grottoes in Italian Renaissance gardens, Charles Hamilton commissioned the grotto maker Joseph Lane in 1760 to construct this folly for a sum of £8,000 (the equivalent of £600,000 today). The restoration has combined extensive research of archive material and archaeological data. The Glorious Dead English Heritage has carried out conservation works on the Cenotaph inWhitehall for the forthcoming first world war centenary commemorations. The Cenotaph’s Portland stone is naturally susceptible to weathering and pollution. Although English Heritage carries out maintenance work every year, a more thorough cleaning was needed. The architect Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869–1944) produced his design for the Cenotaph within hours of the peace treaty marking the formal end of the first world war being signed in 1919. Intended only as a temporary part of the celebrations which followed, the Cenotaph was originally made of wood and plaster. However, the public reaction to the monument was so strong that Lutyens was commissioned to design a permanent memorial. Lutyens’ design is more complex than is at first obvious. There are no straight lines. Instead every surface is subtly curved with the raking verticals meeting at an imaginary point 1,000 feet above the ground. The idea was to ‘bridge the space between Heaven and Earth’. The Cenotaph was unveiled by King George V as he made his way to the ceremony for the UnknownWarrior inWestminster Abbey on 11 November 1920. Grants for war memorials Since 2004, English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation have jointly funded a Grants for War Memorials scheme run in partnership with theWar Memorials Trust. £800,000 has been given to more than 250 projects. The annual amount available has been doubled to £200,000 for the next two years. Individual grants of from £3,000 to £30,000 can be given for up to 75 per cent of costs for repair, conservation, cleaning and work to improve the legibility of inscriptions. Three of the five latest grants include £30,000 to the Oldham Liaison of Ex-Service Associations for the repair of a Grade II listed memorial from 1923 in Oldham, Greater Manchester, which features a group of soldiers cast in bronze atop a large granite plinth; £5,000 towards the restoration of a Grade II listed peace memorial outside Watford Town Hall depicting three men on an inscribed limestone plinth. One man represents the fallen, one the wounded and one victory; and £10,000 to assist with repairs to the Grade II listed Portland stone clock tower in Stockwell, south London, which was built to remember local men who never returned from the first world war. English Heritage is also working with theWar Memorials Trust on a new online crowd-sourcing database called War Memorials Online. Members of the public are invited to log-in, and enter photographs and information about their local war memorials, with an emphasis on noting their condition. War Memorials Online will help to identify which are in need of repair and so help with the effective distribution of grants from theWar Memorials Grant Scheme and other sources. Money where your mouth is Are you restoring a house (or a barn, a castle or windmill) for your own use? Would be willing to share the pleasures and pains of the experience with Context readers? Please contact editorial@ihbc. org.uk to discuss a possible article. The south transept piazza and undercroft area atYork Minster has been renewed.William Anelay was the building conservation specialist, and Arroll & Snell the architect. The Painshill stalactite grotto has been recognised as the finest in Europe.
C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 5 Obituary Anthony Swaine, architect and conservationist Anthony Wells Swaine, who has died at the age of 99 without ever really retiring from practice as an architect, was born in 1913. His background was artistic, his mother being an art teacher, and it was his step-grandfather, a priest in the Dutch Roman Catholic church, who introduced him to architecture, visiting churches and explaining the importance of liturgy for design.When illness took him out of school, he spent more time with his grandfather until joining the college of art in Margate. Showing a greater interest in architecture, he moved to the office of Harry H Stroud, an architect in general practice in Ramsgate. In 1931, after badgering Harold Anderson, the cathedral architect in Canterbury, he joined his office. He was 18. Anderson’s practice included work with historic buildings.While Swaine trained in the evenings, the work of the office gained him both knowledge of conservation and a facility with traditional design and detailing. His chance to move into practice on his own account, however, came as a result of the war, first as clerk of works at Canterbury Cathedral, then with much work carried out for theWar Damage Commission. His is the rebuilding of the chancel at All Saints church, Lydd, on the Romney Marsh (1958, following his conservation of the rest of the church, 1951–3). He also worked on repairs to St James, Bermondsey, where the spire had been shattered by vibrations. Meanwhile, on complaining to the then chief investigator in the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, S J Garton, that the list for Canterbury was lacking in terms of its coverage of medieval buildings, he found himself asked to assist Anthony Dale, later Garton’s successor, to revise that list in the light of his knowledge of the medieval city. He moved on to produce the first lists for Rochester, Chatham, Tenterden,Whitstable and Sandwich. Swaine is remembered in Canterbury for, among other things, having taken the photograph (following a night of fire-watching on the cathedral during the air raid of the night of 31 May, 1942) which showed the scale of the damage to the Whitefriars quarter of the city. In his eyes, the damage of the air raid was compounded by the actions of the town clerk and city engineer: ‘Many buildings, although damaged, were left standing and capable of repair; however, while the ashes and cinders were still warm, the evil act of matricide was about to begin.’ Swaine was there at the beginning of a debate about the form which new development should take which has swung back and forth in Canterbury ever since. His concern for historic buildings and areas led him in the 1960s to take over work in Faversham from David Nye on the restoration of buildings in the Market Place and in Abbey Street. This led in 1967 to work on Faversham Conserved, a report commissioned jointly by Faversham Borough Council and Kent County Council. His work on area conservation in Faversham was therefore contemporary with the comparable but much better known reports on Bath, Chester, Chichester andYork, commissioned by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government at the time of the 1967 Civic Amenities Act. He was a little later to produce a similar report on Margate Old Town, a place which also owes a considerable debt to him. Best known for his conservation work, he was also a capable architect in mid-20th century variations of traditional styles. He was among those who re-used buildings and bits of buildings. He re-used parts of the gatehouse from Forester’s Hall, Canterbury, as an addition while repairing the Wealden Hall in Ivy Lane, and his own house in Deal was also something of a palimpsest. He helped save St Edmund’s Chapel in Dover, and Eastbridge Hospital in Canterbury was under his wing for many years. His work was not restricted to the southeast of England; he lectured in Europe and advised on the restoration of the church of the Madonna dell’Orto in Venice after the 1966 floods. He was a trustee of Venice in Peril and also of the Ancient Monuments Society. Swaine’s last major new work was the new chapel at the priory in Minster-inThanet but he was still the inspecting architect at All Saints, Lydd at the time of his death. He will be remembered in Kent for his generosity as an architect, numbers of whom practised with him, and as a conservationist who influenced many in public and private practice. Anthony Swaine Architecture will continue to practise from the Bastion Tower, one of the surviving bastion towers, a remnant of the city walls of Canterbury. Richard Morrice The 13th century St Edmund’s Chapel, Dover, which Tony Swaine restored in the 1960s The chancel at Lydd, restored by Tony Swaine (Photos: Anthony Swaine Architecture)
6 C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 English Heritage selection guides, and introductions to heritage assets Paul Stamper writes: The selection of what we now call heritage assets has always been guided by explicit criteria, notably in the various Acts which define English Heritage’s mission, and by the Principles of Selection. However, of necessity such guidance is very general: ‘Most buildings before 1740 will be listed’, for example. More detailed criteria have been produced in the past to assist in designation recommendations, notably for scheduling under the Monuments Protection Programme, which ran from the mid-1980s, but not for all asset types. Especially for buildings, precedent, rather than publicly-available guidance, tended to provide the steer. Thus, the publication of a comprehensive series of designation selection guides was a key element of the heritage protection reform programme, which began in 2003. In particular it was at the core of a move to a designation system that was fully transparent, accountable, with the means to allow our recommendations to be checked and challenged, and which drew owners and the public into the process more fully. The selection guides also help our advisers to draft designation advice, and list entries, which are fuller and richer in context and detail than in the past: explanation has supplanted bald identification.We know from feedback that our colleagues in local authorities find them useful and interesting, and that they are being used in university departments as teaching aids. The series is now complete, and available on the English Heritage website at www.english-heritage. org.uk/caring/listing/criteria-forprotection/selection-guidelines/. In all there are 44 guides: 20 on building types (a second edition in 2011 comprehensively updating the original 2009 issue); 18 on archaeological sites; four on designed landscapes; and one each on battlefields and on ships and boats. All have been written by English Heritage experts, and drafted to be authoritative, up to date, and accessible. A consistent format gives a brisk overview of current understanding of the asset type, especially how it developed through time, and applicable selection criteria. Illustrations and selective bibliographies accompany each. Under the National Heritage Protection Plan (NHPP) and by agreement with the minister, English Heritage will increasingly concentrate on thematic or area-based assessment projects, rather than primarily responsive spot-designation.While the selection guides remain an essential starting point, it will sometimes be the case that where dozens of very similar assets are being assessed, ever finergrained and more detailed guidance will be needed. A good example of where this has already been deployed is in our work on railway signal boxes, precipitated by technical advances which will see most of Network Rail’s 750 boxes become redundant over the next 10 years. Following a largely desk-based overview by John Minnis, in part facilitated by photographs provided by Network Rail (safety issues greatly limit unescorted access to boxes), detailed and specific designation criteria were The German Military Cemetery on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire. Opened in 1967, the location, with its silver birches and heather, deliberately evokes a north German heathland. It contains the remains of 5,000 German nationals, civilians as well as service personnel, who died during the two world wars.The Grade I designed landscape is on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. England’s largest turf-cut maze, at SaffronWalden (Essex), measures 35 metres in diameter. Its date is unknown, although it predates 1699 when monies were spent recutting it. Lying on The Common, this was and is a public amenity, and a scheduled monument.
C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 7 developed for signal boxes, along with a ‘long shortlist’ of likely candidates. We also drafted ‘standard paragraphs’ (below) which succinctly provide an authoritative background history and quantification to accompany individual advice and list entries. From the 1840s, huts or cabins were provided for men operating railway signals.These were often located on raised platforms containing levers to operate the signals, and in the early 1860s the fully glazed signal box, initially raised high on stilts to give a good view down the line, emerged. The interlocking of signals and points, perhaps the most important single advance in rail safety, patented by John Saxby in 1856, was the final step in the evolution of railway signalling into a form recognisable today. Signal boxes were built to a great variety of different designs and sizes to meet traffic needs by signalling contractors and the railway companies themselves. Signal box numbers peaked at around 12,000–13,000 for Great Britain just prior to the first world war, and successive economies in working led to large reductions in their numbers from the 1920s onwards. British Railways inherited around 10,000 in 1948 and numbers dwindled rapidly to about 4,000 by 1970. In 2012, about 750 remained in use; it was anticipated that most would be rendered redundant over the next decade. The principle agreed between English Heritage and Network Rail was that the outcome would be the listing of the best, and typically most representative, examples of the independently designed signal boxes produced by each of the 19th- and early 20th-century railway companies, together with examples of boxes which demonstrated exceptional engineering and design solutions because of their location.Weight was given to group value with other railway buildings, and to the survival of switch-gear and the like.Work is still in progress, but it is already clear that from the 50-odd boxes under assessment we will be recommending quite a number for listing, to add to the 80 or so already on the list. Complementing the selection guides is a growing number of Introductions to Heritage Assets (IHAs), available at www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/ listing/criteria-for-protection/IHAs/. These are accessible factual overviews of particular asset types, intended to assist in designation assessments as well as having a wider educational value. The first phase of the work saw the drafting, again by English Heritage experts, of 41 IHAs on archaeological site-types, in part to update and complement the 250 or so Monument Class Descriptions used by the Monuments Protection Programme of 1986–96. Next, our new responsibility for maritime designation was facilitated by two IHAs which covered the ships and boats used in English waters for the periods prehistory to 1840, and 1840–1950. These are now being joined by IHAs on particular building types, generally more recent ones for which there is no overview in print. Typically these are buildings under threat of change or demolition, often as a result of change in public policy, which have been identified as targets for work under the NHPP. The first, on coastguard stations, has been published on the English Heritage website, and we anticipate half a dozen or more being added each year. Signal boxes, based on the new understanding outlined above, will soon appear, along with others on public libraries, post-war commercial offices, suburban houses, drill halls, and amusement parks. Paul Stamper, senior adviser in the designation department at English Heritage An early 19th-century corn mill at Staveley, NorthYorks. Surviving original sash windows impart a surprisingly domestic character. Listed Grade II. A 570-metre long line of anti-tank pimples (or ‘dragon’s teeth’) on the Isle of Grain, Kent, listed at Grade II. Increasingly listing is being used as an appropriate way of designating 20th-century military structures of all sorts. This innocent (if quirky) tin shed at Shirewell, Devon, served as a skittle alley from 1932. It began life as a first-class railway carriage, built in 1897 as part of QueenVictoria’s Diamond Jubilee train. Listed Grade II.
8 C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 Periodically Hard on the heels of the excellent final 2012 issue of the Association of Preservation Technology Bulletin, the Journal of Preservation Technology, comes the first issue of the current year (Volume XLIV, No 1, 2013). This is devoted to preservation-engineering education at the university level.With the loss of experienced practitioners to retirement, the need for conservation specialist skills is ever greater and a new phalanx of suitably educated professionals needs to march forth. The issue, guest-edited by Douglas Porter and Ronald W Anthony, has its origins in a colloquium held at the School of Engineering, University of Vermont, in 2009. This was sponsored by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training and the Getty Conservation Institute. The objective was, and is, the enhancement of the skills of engineers faced with the special demands posed by the evaluation and repair of historic structures, and to encourage collaboration between university engineering programmes, practicing engineers, professional societies and students. This should promote the expansion of existing engineering curriculums to include a specialisation in historic preservation, and incrementally foster student interest, professional recognition of the discipline and development of new courses. By setting out the principles of preservation engineering and the challenges for the future, the introductory essays by John Ochsendorf and Edmund Meade describe the roles of the preservation structural engineer in demonstrating the safety of historic structures and the incremental augmentation of existing educational programs necessary to ensure the continuing development of essential competencies. Drawing on his UK experiences, long-standing IHBC member John Fidler, now based in Los Angeles, reviews the current state of advanced conservation training in the USA while cross-referencing to the demand for conservation engineers in the UK and in the courses being taught in Europe. He also highlights the concerns about the quality of expertise that led to accreditation schemes for architects (AABC) and engineers (CARE) in the UK, all of which continues to have implications for engineering education. David Fischetti develops this theme further by considering what aspects of the repair of historic structures could be identified by new engineering curriculums. Specific elements require understanding about the application of the right techniques and the right knowledge at the right time. Richard Ortega outlines the performance evaluation of existing buildings systems and how competencies can be incorporated into engineering education. Paulo Lourenço looks at the specific core engineering competencies associated with timber, masonry and earthen construction, and at what courses need to address. Ronald Anthony shows how wood engineering and design relate to existing structures, and how they should be part of a preservation-engineering programme. Michael Schuller deals with the increasing role of nondestructive evaluation of existing buildings. And Donald Friedman concludes with the relationships between the history of building technology and our understanding of the existing building environment. Many of these issues can clearly also inform UK practice. On the subject of engineered structures, Theatres Magazine (No 35, Spring 2013), the journal of the Theatres Trust, has a very interesting item on the Paines Plough Roundabout. This is a low-cost, flat-packed, fully selfcontained auditorium for an audience of 156 patrons which it would be easy to imagine could be erected in large redundant spaces such as civic, commercial or industrial buildings where a consciousness-raising, or better still a regenerative (even if temporary) reuse was sought. The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has recently funded development of the prototype for Sheffield Theatres and it was used experimentally at Shoreditch Town Hall late last year. Seeing it reminded this reviewer of the transforming effect of the (albeit more sophisticated) Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. The adaptability of this latest innovation in intimate performance space is a genuinely exciting development. This is the time of year when annual transactions appear from the Ancient Monuments Society and the Association for Studies in the Conservation of
C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 9 Historic Buildings (ASCHB). That ought to be a good enough reason for readers to be members of both organisations. The AMS Transactions (Vol 57, 2013) concentrates its 156 pages largely on specific buildings or building types. Subjects covered include Robert Hradsky on the Middle Temple Hall of 1562–70, with its spectacular roof and screen; Stephen Porter on the road bridge at Berwick-on-Tweed, begun in 1611 and opened in 1624; James Bettley on the complex and gripping tale of the medieval timberframedWool Hall in Lavenham, dismantled on 1912 to be carted away for re-erection elsewhere, but for the generous intervention of Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, and much overt and covert agitation by the SPAB, who ensured its return and restoration (an insight into pre-first-world-war heritage politics and social mores); and Jill Atherton, Richard K Morris and TimTatton-Brown with some observations on the medieval fabric of the Old Bishop’s Palace,Worcester. For those looking to place a building type in context, Amber Patrick draws together the results of her own study of early malt kilns from the 18th century to the second half of the 19th century by looking at 23 examples across 14 counties. This is a particularly useful guide to appreciating what elements are significant about these buildings. The latest ASCHB Transactions (Vol 35, re 2012) similarly looks in its 68 pages at individual buildings and one unusual building type. Jane Kennedy explains the vault repairs to the 15th century tomb of Sir Robert Danvers at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Robert Thorne sets out the planning and conservation of King’s Cross and St Pancras Station between 1987 and 2012. Alec Forshaw, the former conservation officer for Islington looks at the conservation issues of the Islington (north-east) side of Kings Cross. And Colin Kerr explains the recent interior conservation and restoration of St George, Hanover Square, a model church of the Queen Anne 1711 Act, and All Saints, Margaret Street, London, an ecclesiological, William Butterfield church of 1859 (the colour photos are particularly good). It is worth drawing particular attention to two of the articles. In the first, on the unusual building type, Christopher Rayner tells of the conservation of wartime underground air raid shelters. He discusses their current and future threats, and the conservation challenges they pose. His examples include Dover, Stockport, Rochester and Brighton. The second article is William Mann’s exploration of the conservation issues surrounding the remarkable repair and reinstatement at Astley Castle,Warwickshire, for the Landmark Trust. Seriously damaged by fire in 1978 after continuous habitation for 800 years, the building demonstrates the highly successful outcome of that most challenging of approaches: inserting modern fabric sympathetically into an ancient ruined structure; finding the right ‘balance between the raw, scaleless characteristics of a typical ruin and the warm, measured qualities of a house’; and ‘reconciling localised particularities with a constant search for elemental clarity’. This project is well worth studying by anyone faced with marrying seriously damaged historic fabric with a use involving sympathetic contemporary design. The latest issue of The Historic Environment: policy and practice (Vol 4, No 1, April 2013) has several papers of particular significance to current UK practitioners. Rob Lennox looks at the background surrounding the recent reform of planning policy and particularly the political advocacy by the sector to secure sufficient recognition of heritage protection by the present government. The paper is a useful resume of the implications of the premature abolition of PPS5 and the realisation from many quarters that unless a convincing case was advanced in favour of the benefits of heritage, adoption of the contentious draft of the replacement National Planning Policy Framework would be likely to result in a serious weakening of heritage protection. The sector is not always known for its close cooperation, but the coordinated response and leading campaigning roles of the National Trust and the Heritage Alliance in the face of some ignorant and provocative statements by ministers is explained. This skirmish with government (with battles still to come?) had a relatively happy outcome. Although it will be some time before we will know if the sector’s intervention has secured an undiluted level of protection, the government has since been anxious to assure the sector that this is still the case. All of this, of course, prefaces the impact of the additional continuing reforms in the Taylor Review. Heritage protection reform is predicated on knowledge and the understanding of heritage assets that flows from accessibility to comprehensive and up-to-date historic environment records (HERs). A paper fromTim Evans asks whether inconsistencies in the methodology of recording data is creating gaps in the record, and alarming questions about the deposition of grey literature and excavation reports. The paper highlights considerable discrepancies between the three national recording systems and the alarming gaps that have emerged. Evans states that if we do not know what recording has been done, and where to see what has been found, our knowledge base has been undermined. When so much importance is now attached to the central role of HERs for heritage management, the conclusions do not seem likely to engender confidence by users, particularly when the non-statutory status and inadequate resourcing aspects are also considered. While the UK system struggles transactions volume 35 for 2012 AssociAtion for studies in the conservAtion of historic buildings aschb transactions volume 35 for 2012
10 C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 with the mundane practicalities of heritage management from a government hostile to planning (and by implication the ‘drag’ of heritage on enterprise), interesting concepts are emerging elsewhere that also deserve our attention. Loes Velpaus from the Netherlands discusses the historic urban landscape approach to urban heritage management heritage – the kind of place management advocated by the RTPI and also central to the seminal, if now entirely discarded, Power of Place. Claudine Déom and Marie-Andrée Thifault examine how community engagement has led to the conservation of massive unlovely grain silos in Montreal by recognising that heritage values extend beyond aesthetic considerations. Ken Taylor looks at the cultural mapping of tangible and intangible heritage and local distinctiveness at Angkor in Cambodia, and remote communities in the Himalayas. And John Bold reviews the impact of the Council of Europe’s South-East Europe Integrated Rehabilitation Project Plan, which from 2003 until 2010 facilitated heritageled regeneration in countries such as Albania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. Items plucked from the columns of a recent issue of Natural Stone Specialist (May 2013) include the development of candidates to attain the Level 6 NVQ in ‘Construction Site Management: conservation’ and the importance of this for the skills base in the stone industry. It seems that one advisory service facilitating these NVQs has seen interest triple in 2013. That must be good news for the sector. Also noted is an overview of limestone by Barry Hunt (following his general introduction to natural stone for construction in a preceding issue of Natural Stone Specialist). Hunt describes this stone’s fitness for purpose and durability, and sets out a table of some standard tests applicable to it. On the subject of skills, the SPAB’s Lethaby Scholarship scheme has been going since 1930 and the William Morris Craft Fellowships since 1998. These initiatives have greatly added to the development of a new generation of individual building professionals and the expertise of craftspeople essential for the proper care of historic buildings. The SPAB Magazine (Spring 2013) explains what the participants did in 2012 and what value they gained from the opportunity the society gave them. The latest issue also explains the scope of a pioneering database of Welsh stained glass (http://stainedglass. llgc.org.uk); the generally alarming state of cemetery monuments (using as a comparison those illustrated in a book by Batsford published in 1916); and the practical application of the SPAB philosophy of repair applied to the 16th-century south porch doors at Beckley Church, Oxfordshire. Various options were considered for the doors in 1996: removal; repair and retention in situ; taking down, conserving and fixing in the porch or elsewhere in the church; making new facsimiles; or making a new design. The second option was pursued. The article provides a detailed assessment of the construction which informed the repairs, which are well illustrated in the article. The project clearly demonstrates that such historic fixtures can be retained in situ by a combination of conservation and minimal replacement of losses, following the principles of conservative repair. ‘In the end, they had neither to be fixed “dead” to the walls as a static display, nor replaced with facsimiles or doors of a new design, nor indeed burnt as firewood, as had been suggested by a number of people!’ More research awards likely to lead to publications of interest to conservation professionals have been gleaned from the Newsletter of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art (Issue 36, May 2013). Among those noted are to Robert Kronenburg into the intriguingly titled The Architectural History of British Popular Music Space: 1650–1950 and to Rosemary Hill to prepare her bookThe Antiquary in the Age of Romanticism. Bob Kindred MBE From Architecture, Mysticism and Myth by WR Lethaby, published in 1892 The history of architecture, as usually written, with its theory of utilitarian origins from the hut and the tumulus, and further developments in that way—the adjustment of forms to the conditions of local circumstance; the clay of Mesopotamia, the granite of Egypt, and marble of Greece—is rather the history of building: of ‘Architecture’ it may be, in the sense we so often use the word, but not the Architecture which is the synthesis of the fine arts, the commune of all the crafts. As the pigments are but the vehicle of painting, so is building but the vehicle of architecture, which is the thought behind form, embodied and realised for the purpose of its manifestation and transmission. Architecture, then, interpenetrates building, not for satisfaction of the simple needs of the body, but the complex ones of the intellect. I do not mean that we can thus distinguish between architecture and building, in those qualities in which they meet and overlap, but that in the sum and polarity of them all; these point to the response of future thought, those to the satisfaction of present need; and so, although no hut or mound, however early or rude, but had something added to it for thought’s sake, yet architecture and building are quite clear and distinct as ideas—the soul and the body. Of the modes of this thought we must again distinguish; some were unconscious and instinctive, as the desire for symmetry, smoothness, sublimity, and the like merely aesthetic qualities, which properly enough belong to true architecture; and others were direct and didactic, speaking by a more or less perfect realisation, or through a code of symbols, accompanied by traditions which explained them. The main purpose and burthen of sacred architecture—and all architecture, temple, tomb, or palace, was sacred in the early days—is thus inextricably bound up with a people’s thoughts about God and the universe. Behind every style of architecture there is an earlier style, in which the germ of every form is to be found; except such alterations as may be traced to new conditions, or directly innovating thought in religion, all is the slow change of growth, and it is almost impossible to point to the time of invention of any custom or feature. As Herbert Spencer says of ceremonial generally: ‘Adhering tenaciously to all his elders taught him, the primitive man deviates into novelty only through unintended modifications. Every one now knows that languages are not devised but evolve; and the same is true of usages.’
Tel: 01621 818155 Email: [email protected] www.mumfordwood.com EXCITING NEW ENHANCEMENTS ACROSS OUR CONSERVATIONtm PRODUCT RANGE n Choice of glazing units: 12, 14 and 24mm thick n NEW24mm triple glazed version n Now internally glazed for enhanced aesthetics n Excellent thermal performance n Knot-free engineered timber n Superb acoustics n Manufactured entirely in Great Britain n Industry leading warranties Visit us at The Building Centre, London or at our Essex showroom Casement Windows Entrance Doors Garden Rooms Bi-Fold Doors THE FINEST TIMBER WINDOWS & DOORS THE VERY BEST, NOW EVEN BETTER
12 C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 Legal briefing Changes to the listed building consent regime The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (which received Royal Assent in April) introduces more flexibility under the listed building consent regime, writes Tom Deards. The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 has made a number of significant changes to the existing regime for listed building consent, namely: the exclusion of structures or objects from listing, certificates of immunity from listing, heritage partnership agreements, listed building consent orders and certificates of lawfulness of proposed works.These measures, when brought into force (by way of subsequent statutory instruments) should significantly reduce the number of individual applications for listed building consent in relation to minor or routine works to listed buildings. In addition, the act replaces the need to obtain conservation area consent for the demolition of unlisted buildings in a conservation area with a requirement to obtain planning permission. Existing regime Section 7(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 prohibits any person to execute or cause to execute ‘any works for the demolition of a listed building or for its alteration or extension in a manner which would affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest’ without before obtaining listed building consent from the local planning authority or secretary of state under section 8. There is currently no way for a person proposing to make minor works to a listed building to legally determine whether those works would, in fact, affect the special character of the building without making an application for full listed building consent. Understandably, conservation officers are unwilling to give any kind of informal assurances in the absence of a formal application. Furthermore, there is currently no equivalent in the listed building consent regime to ‘permitted development rights’ under the planning regime or ‘class consent’ under the scheduled ancient monument regime, which grant advance blanket consent to development or works which, while they affect the special character of a building are still relatively minor or un-controversial. Exclusion of specified objects or structures from listing Schedule 17 of the act amends the 1990 act to provide for a new listing of a building to state specifically that an object or structure is excluded from the listing. It also allows for existing listings to be updated, to exclude specific objects or structures. This should be a very welcome provision which will allow developers and conservation officers to specify at the outset which parts of the listed building are intrinsic to its special interest, and avoid some of the frequent debate over whether a particular object or structure is part of the listed building or within its curtilage when subsequent works are proposed. Certificates of immunity from listing The 1990 act is further amended by Schedule 17 to introduce a right for any person to apply to the secretary of state for a certificate stating that the secretary of state does not intend to list a specified building for at least five years. An application for a certificate can only be made after planning permission is granted but will remove the risk to a developer of a listing between the grant of planning permission and the carrying out of works. Heritage partnership agreements Section 60 of the act inserts a new section 26A into the 1990 act which enables a local planning authority to enter into an agreement with any owner (or a tenant for a term of seven years or more) of a listed building, which effectively grants advance listed building consent for works specified in the agreement, subject to conditions also contained within the agreement. Section 26A also sets out a very wide range of other provisions that a heritage partnership agreement may contain. These include setting out works which would not affect the character of the listed building (and, therefore, not require listed building consent at all), provision for the maintenance and preservation of the listed building, for public access or the provision of facilities, information or services to the public, for the restriction of access or use of the listed building, and provision for payments towards the cost of works by the local planning authority, English Heritage or the secretary of state. A number of other bodies can be party to a heritage partnership agreement in addition to the local planning authority and the owner of the listed building: another local planning authority, the secretary of state, English Heritage, a person with another legal interest in the building, an occupier of the building, any person involved in the management of the listed building, and any person who appears to have a ‘special knowledge or interest’ in the listed building (or buildings of architectural or historic interest more generally). A heritage partnership agreement must be in writing and contain provision for review at specified intervals as well as provision for possible variation and termination. A single agreement may relate to more than one listed building, which opens up the possibility of a single agreement to cover a network of listed buildings across administrative boundaries. There are also further powers for the secretary of state to make regulations for a number of further details in heritage partnership agreements, as well
flippingbook.comRkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=