COMMUNITY AND HERITAGE IHBC Annual School at Warwick and Hatton Institute of Historic Building Conservation No 76 September 2002
A centre of excellence for courses in building conservation and the use of historic building techniques A wide range of practical workshops & seminars to include: 11-15 November Intermediate timber framing £295 13 November Timber decay and its treatment £90 14 November Repair of timber framed buildings £80 20 November Joinery by hand: sash windows £90 5 December Traditional timber frame construction £80 29 January Specialist science for the conservation of historic buildings £90 30 January Recording vernacular buildings for conservation: Day one £80 12 February History of English domestic architecture 1400–1625 £90 17 February English brickwork:Tudor to Edwardian £90 20 February Recording vernacular buildings for conservation: Day two £80 26 February History of English domestic architecture 1625–1830 £90 10-12 March Gauged brickwork £250 13 March Recording vernacular buildings for conservation: Day three £80 The English Heritage Masterclasses are in collaboration with nearbyWest Dean College 5-8 November Masterclass: Conservation of architectural metalwork £410 3-6 December Masterclass: Conservation engineering £410 21-24 January Masterclass: Conservation plans, recording for repair £410 4-7 February Masterclass: Conservation of masonry ruins £410 All suitable for CPD for architects, surveyors, craftsmen and other professionals. Please write or telephone for details and booking form: Weald & Downland Open Air Museum Singleton, Chichester,W. Sussex, PO18 0EU Tel: 01243 811464 Fax: 01243 811475 Email: [email protected] website www.wealddown.co.uk
C O N T E X T 7 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2 1 Context THE INSTITUTE OF HISTORIC BUILDING CONSERVATION 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. IHBC Officers President: Malcolm Airs e-mail [email protected] Chairman: Eddie Booth e-mail [email protected] Vice Chair: Ronnie Robertson e-mail [email protected] Vice Chair: Mark Strawbridge e-mail [email protected] Secretary: Richard Morrice e-mail [email protected] Treasurer: Michael Knights e-mail [email protected] Membership Secretary: Gus Astley e-mail [email protected] Branches Co-ordinator: Julia Smith e-mail [email protected] Consultations Secretary: Dave Chetwyn e-mail [email protected] Law & Practice Co-ordinator: Alexandra Fairclough e-mail [email protected] IT Manager: Peter Badcock e-mail [email protected] Branch Officers North: Ian Goodman Tel 01670 519391 NorthWest: Sheila Stones Tel 0161 242 1424 Yorkshire: Stephen Bateman Tel 01274 754551 West Midlands: Kathy Baird Tel 01939 238433 East Midlands: Fiona Newton Tel 01507 601111 South: Gill Butter Tel 02380 285324 SouthWest: David Stirling Tel 01249 706502 East Anglia: Michael Knights Tel 01603 222709 South East: Peter Cobley Tel 01622 221547 London: Jon Finney Tel 01895 250536 Scotland: Jim McDonald Tel 01236 616242 Wales: Trefor Thorpe Tel 01267 231568 N Ireland: Laurence ManogueTel 028 9146 9707 Republic of Ireland: Bernard Dee Tel +353 1 473 7721 Business Office Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA England Tel 01747 873133 Fax 01747 871718 e-mail [email protected] Cover photo: One of the hands-on traditional building skills sessions held as part of the IHBC’s Annual School at the BritishWaterways Heritage Skills Centre,Warwick. Keith Blackney, whose fingers are at risk, is showing an enthusiastic IHBC member the ropes. Photograph © Media 37. The first step in conservation is to agree on what we value. It is not easy. How are we to find out what different people value? How can we involve people with very different perspectives in the processes of change? Those were among the issues that this year’s IHBC Annual School grappled with. Judy LingWong (p9) discussed the implications of multi-culturalism. If we are all part of one ethnic group or another, it no longer makes sense to act as if there were one mainstream set of values and a few fringe groups who do not yet share them. ‘We come to know what we know we enjoy, we fight for what we love,’ Ling Wong said, implying that encouraging public support for conservation depends on relating to people as they actually are. The good news is that history and archaeology are popular.Yet a great deal remains to be done before that popularity is brought to bear in support of conservation, in a world where the Government is focused on modernisation and a rather narrow view of its priorities for the built environment. Martyn Heighton (p20) explained the National Trust’s own perspective on Editorial Conservation and its constituency these issues. The trust was set up in such a way that its membership has no direct responsibility for decisions the trust takes. But the NT ignores its members at its peril – and issues such as hunting with dogs shows how difficult the politics can be. Now the trust has announced that public support for buying Tyntesfield is to be rewarded by setting up innovative management arrangements by which local people can become involved. Making that work will be a real challenge. As Ian Sesnan pointed out in a different context (p26), you have to avoid the simplistic notion that there is one local view alone of what should be done. Peter Hinton (p23) noted that good cases have been made for the economic, social, educational, environmental, cultural and tourist value of the historic environment. Now, he says, we must learn to be brave enough to argue its intrinsic value. The link between community and heritage is essential if conservation is to be effective on the ground. It is also the essential foundation for conservation to punch its weight on the national political scene. Briefing 2 Out of Context 3 Periodically… 4 Annual School Report 2002 Jane Jackson et al 5 Coventry’s Phoenix Initiative George Demidowicz 17 Community, heritage and the National Trust Martyn Heighton 20 Repositioning ourselves in society Peter Hinton 23 Ten steps to community involvement Ian Sesnan 26 Exploring the virtual environment Mike Gogan 30 IHBC news: Notes from the chair 32 IHBC proposals for planning 32 IHBC news: Membership notes 33 IHBC and UNESCO: Make illicit trade a criminal offence Bob Kindred 35 Book reviews 36 Products and services 37
2 C O N T E X T 7 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2 Context Editor Robert Cowan Editorial Co-ordinator Nigel Barker, 65Worplesdon Road, Guildford, Surrey GU2 9RT. Tel 01483 562 851 e-mail [email protected] Editorial Board Nigel Barker (chair) Catherine Croft (conference and exhibition reviews) Susan Brooks (treasurer and IT) Nigel Crowe (main features) Peter de Figuieredo (book reviews) Julia Smith (IHBC branches) Michael Taylor (main features) Context is published five times per year and is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2002 ISSN 0958-2746 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 e-mail [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 US$113.00 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 those 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 Deadline for next issue The deadline for the November issue of Context is 7 October. London’s bridges The Royal Mail’s Bridges of London issue features images of the Millennium Bridge,Westminster Bridge, Tower Bridge, London Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. The photograph of the Millennium Bridge, stretching across the 2nd class stamp, had to be considerably retouched for the stamp due to the scaffolding present following the wobbly opening in June 2000. The Tower Bridge 1st class stamp shown below features a photograph of the opening day ceremony in 1894. Transport and surprisingly the ODPM have no entry of any kind on the matter. So step forward for congratulation: the Lord Chancellor’s Department, with a commendable entry on ‘appreciating the worth of historic buildings’, viewable at www.betterpublicbuildings.gov.uk/images/ pdf%20files/Lord_Chancellors.pdf Will the rest follow where Lord Irvine leads? Bob Kindred Dual role honoured by MBE David Burton-Pye was awarded the MBE for services to conservation and tourism in Staffordshire in the Queen’s birthday honours list. He was a member of the Association of Conservation Officers for many years, and is active in the IHBC as longstanding secretary to theWest Midlands region. Burton-Pye is conservation and tourism officer at South Staffordshire District Council, with 850 listed buildings and 19 conservation areas under his remit, and a tourism industry that brings in about 1.2 million visitors a year, spending £36 million and supporting some 2,700 jobs. ‘It’s an unusual combination of roles which keeps me rather busy, but it also makes for a very enjoyable variety,’ he says. ‘It’s good to see something rescued sympathetically and to high standards while also providing jobs.’ David Burton-Pye joins other IHBC members such as Bob Bennett, Bob Kindred, David Martin and Chris Smith, who have been similarly honoured. Potential solutions on state aid The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Department of Trade and Industry and English Heritage have formulated a new Historic Environment Regeneration Scheme to solve the problems with heritage funding and European State Aid Rules. Following on from a ruling on the Middleport THI in Stoke-on-Trent late in 2001 by the Regional Development Agency, AdvantageWest Midlands (see Context 73, p4), the issue of heritage funding and state aid rules has increasingly come to light. The recent report of the TLGR Select Committee into The Need for a New Regeneration Framework highlights the current problem with regenerating heritage buildings and areas, and supported the Government’s decision to seek the European Commission’s approval for a scheme to enable the RDAs, English Partnerships and The department that cares We all want better public buildings, especially in a historic context, so the Government’s supposed commitment via ministerial design champions and so on, and the activities of CABE, should give us encouragement. Right? Wrong. Only one government department deserves commendation for its consideration of listed buildings on the Better Public Buildings Website, and it is not the DCMS.While that department, DEFRA, the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Work and Pensions and the Department of Trade and Industry all promote good new public buildings, none acknowledges any historic context. The Department for Education does not acknowledge any relationship might exist to historic schools, nor similarly the Department of Health to historic hospitals, despite an 1872 engraving of St Thomas’s Hospital, London, on its front page. The Treasury, the Department of
C O N T E X T 7 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2 3 local authorities to fund schemes associated with historic buildings and environments. The scheme submitted by the ODPM and English Heritage potentially offers a helpful solution. It seeks to gain approval for the funding of statutorily protected buildings, specifically listed buildings, conservation areas, scheduled ancient monuments, and historic parks and gardens. This would accompany notifications already submitted for the English Heritage and Heritage Lottery Fund grant programmes, including THIs. The new notification would clear local authority funds, and RDA funds such as single regeneration budget. The Government is awaiting the views of the commission on the scheme, although it is hoped that approval could be given later this year. A delegation travelled to Brussels in July to meet the director of state aid, Humbert Drabbe, and promote the case for allowing block exemptions for heritage funding. The delegation included Stoke-on-Trent City Council senior planning officer and IHBC consultations secretary Dave Chetwyn, JoanWalley MP, Anita Pollack of English Heritage, Steve Davies of the UKREP andWilliam Dorling, owner of Middleport Pottery (a Grade II* listed building currently affected by the state aid ruling). ‘Both the DTI and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have been very proactive in trying to solve this problem, and responsive to our comments and needs,’ Chetwyn said. ‘The EC appears to have accepted that historic buildings are a special case and I am hopeful of a successful outcome for the proposed block exemptions.’ CABE on the street CABE’s (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) report Paving theWay: how we achieve clean, safe and attractive streets is not a design manual but a study of the obstacles to producing clean, attractive streets in which people and not cars are paramount, chief executive Jon Rouse said at the launch. The difficulties of producing good design in the public realm were entertainingly explained by the architect Irena Bauman, a CABE commissioner. She is responsible for introducing, well-designed bus shelters into a major northern city in England. The list of people involved in trying to achieve what appeared to be a simple objective was staggering. Her call for highway engineers to be less prescriptive and more flexible – ‘less like a brick and more like a sponge’ – is one that many a local authority conservation officer will echo. It is gratifying to see case studies from two historic core zones, Shrewsbury and Bury St Edmunds. The latter scheme attracted praise for many aspects of its design. The document also includes extensive references and appendices, although the relevance of the ‘lessons from abroad’ must be limited given the very different legislative, cultural and historic context to the examples chosen. The research was carried out by Alan Baxter Associates. The study is well structured, but it does not tell the seasoned conservation officer much he or she would not already know. And by failing to address the question of resources and training, particularly in local authorities, it ducks perhaps the most fundamental obstacle of all. Rouse suggested that training for highway engineers needed to be more holistic, to include urban design. But in a world dominated by league tables, performance indicators that measure quantity and not quality, and a fragmented regulatory and maintenance regime, even the magic formula of urban design may not achieve significant improvements. The study’s message will also be restricted by its price, expensive for a 111-page paperback with disappointingly small illustrations, albeit in colour. Nigel Barker Paving the Way: how we achieve clean, safe and attractive streets, CABE and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, ISBN 0 7277 3140 8. Available from Thomas Telford Ltd, Unit i/k, Paddock Wood Distribution Centre, PaddockWood, Kent,TN12 6UU.Tel: 02076652464 or email [email protected]. Price £25.00 + £2.50 p&p New role for Cligman at HLF The Heritage Lottery Fund has appointed Judith Cligman as director of policy and research. She takes responsibility for strategic planning; development and delivery of the fund’s research programme; evaluation of the fund’s programmes and performance; external advocacy and representation; and managing the nine-strong policy department, comprising an access and learning team and a heritage sector team. Cligman joined the HLF in 1996. She started her career at the Courtauld Institute Gallery and since 1982 has been professionally involved with the historic environment, working for English Heritage and Essex County Council. She is a trustee of the Ancient Monuments Society, a member of the IHBC and is currently undertaking the diploma in the conservation of parks and gardens at the Architectural Association. She replaces Simon Olding who left the position after four years to become director of the Crafts Study Centre, based at the Surrey Institute of Arts and Design. ‘WE CAN’T really demolish it until they finish building it.’ The novelist Ian Rankin on the Scottish Parliament Building, quoted in the Observer. ‘THE LAST FEW weeks have been a great time to be a conservationist. Not only was 2,000 years of marsh recovery in East Anglia set in reverse but a 1928 parking garage in Soho was saved for the nation because it was the “largest and best-equipped building for the service of the motor-car of its day” (and certainly not because of its proximity to English Heritage’s headquarters in Savile Row)… As for old Victorian country houses… the listing classes… seemed as though some of their leading lights could still hardly believe that they had got away with [saving Tyntesfield].’ Martin Pawley writing in the Architects’ Journal. Judith Cligman: policy and research
4 C O N T E X T 7 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2 While the SPAB continues to celebrate its 125th birthday, the practical technical advice that has maintained the society’s’ pre-eminence among amenity societies continues to be reflected in its newsletter. The latest issue of SPAB News (Vol. 23 No. 2, Summer 2002) reproduces a very useful A4 checklist of issues that the society feels should be taken into account when any historic building change of use is under consideration. Technical secretary Douglas Kent answers questions frequently posed about clay pantiles, explaining the important differences to the characteristics of plain tiles, in particular how new tiles should be introduced and how details should be treated. The issue also has an inspirational account of repair (rather than conversion) of a visually arresting but decaying 17th century stone dovecote by a trust formed by villagers at Naunton in the Cotswolds. Repairs costing £10 had been assisted by the society in the 1940s. Liverpool is focus of TheVictorian, the magazine of the Victorian Society (July 2002, No. 10), and prefigures the appearance of the new Pevsner architectural guide to the city. There is an informative overview of the commercial architecture of the city and of its outstanding legacy of spectacular pubs, focusing on five in particular (and a sixth in Birkenhead), while in a city of such architectural magnificence, the members of the society’s Liverpool Group have also nominated their favourite 16 buildings. In the latest edition of the RICS Building Conservation Group Journal (Summer 2002) Ross Dallas and Andrew Morris explain the rapidly developing potential of laser scanning for the measured survey of historic buildings, particularly involving buildings lacking crisply defined profiles. Initial trials have been quite small and the pitfalls are explained. Nevertheless the technique may still be more economical than traditional methods if thoughtfully applied. Tanya Spilsbury summarises the findings of recent research on the sustainable re-use of historic buildings. She notes that 77 per cent of those authorities with a regeneration policy had experienced a reduction in listed buildings-at-risk, compared with only 44 per cent of those who had no regeneration policy. The remainder of the issue is devoted to resumes of the roles of the national amenity societies, but curiously omits the Ancient Monuments Society. Publication of each Journal of Architectural Conservation promises important insights. Vol. 8 No. 2, July 2002, does not disappoint. A previous issue analysed historic lime and gypsum plaster floors with the promise of this further article from DavidWatt and Belinda Colston (this time with Anthony Goode) on the results of their sampling and analysis, and invaluable compressive strength testing, of new plaster floor mixes. The article concludes the invaluable coverage of this neglected material with considerations of repair and maintenance. The two articles provide a significant addition to the literature on this subject. Every succeeding year sees an escalation in the literature-of-lime and it is becoming difficult to assimilate diverse developments. Here Paul Livesy, a cement chemist, explains how to succeed with natural hydraulic lime mortars by explaining what they are, how they relate to hydrated lime or Portland cement, and the role of pozzolanic additives.What is quite useful is that some of the common misconceptions about the basic materials are explained, together with six common mistakes observed on apparently properly operated sites. Best practice being developed through the Foresight lime project is explained. This intends to provide advice on selection of mortar materials; uses of mixtures for different exposure conditions; design of mortars (lime and water content, age and curing temperature); workmanship; and evaluation of conformity. IHBC members Jane Kennedy and Rob Pickard provide, respectively, reflections on Jane’s 12 years as surveyor to the fabric at Ely Cathedral and a comparison of practice in area-based conservation management in England, Spain, Denmark, Germany, France and the Czech Republic. The approach to Risk Management at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge had been explained in the November 2001 issue. Now another significant aspect of the museum’s conservation is explained: the elaborate intact polychromatic decorative scheme to the grand entrance hall designed by Edward Barry. Such original work of this type is becoming increasingly rare. Its conservator Tobit Curteis reminds us that while there is a place for accurate reconstruction, conservation of the original design and materials is especially valuable in this context, provided that management of the maintenance, numerous visitors and proper environmental controls will ensure the long-term survival of the completed work. The Newsletter of the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art (Issue 14, June 2002) refers to research awards where we may expect useful publications in due course. These include grants to compile a gazetteer of mediaeval chapels (Kent Rawlinson, Durham University); a monograph on the work of architects Connell,Ward and Lucas (Dennis Sharp), and research on the English garden city and American city beautiful movements (Alissa Ardito,Yale University). Natural Stone Specialist (June 2002) contains a lengthy article on the stonework conservation undertaken by St Blaise on the Milford Aqueduct, built in 1803 for the Somerset Coal Canal but abandoned after 50 years. The canal no longer exists, but the route is considered historically significant. The work was prompted by the Avon Industrial Buildings Trust working with the Somerset Coal Canal Society and Midford Environment Group, assisted by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund. A passing item of note in the July issue is a slates-to-Cornwall story. Despite being within spitting distance of the Delobole slate quarries (and the local vernacular roofing material), the roofs of the new National Maritime Museum in Falmouth have been covered in grey/green material from Argentina. So much for the Roofs of England. Bob Kindred MBE Periodically…
C O N T E X T 7 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2 5 ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT Community and heritage How can conservationists engage communities, not just to fulfil an agenda for political correctness, but to enhance and validate their projects and proposals? That question was at the heart of the IHBC Annual School 2002, organised in partnership with British Waterways, and held at the University of Warwick on 4–7 July. Delegates also spent time at the British Waterways Heritage Skills Centre at Hatton, sampling the range of hands-on courses in traditional conservation and restoration techniques. The overview of the School presented below is followed by more detailed accounts of some of the talks. The three days of the 2002 Annual School at the green-field campus of the University of Warwick included lectures relating to the current agendas of community and social inclusion, and hands-on traditional building craft skills. Evening entertainment included a visit to one of the greatest guildhalls in the country and an annual dinner and dance (the IHBC comes of age?), and on Sunday a more select group visited the outstanding Abbey and Castle at Kenilworth in the footsteps of Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester. For most delegates the first hurdle was realising that, despite very clear joining instructions, the University of Warwick is on the outskirts of Coventry – some 10 miles from the historic city for which it is named. The overall theme was Heritage and Community. An impressive array of speakers from both of these fields talked about just that, demonstrating the different ways in which we can engage communities, not just to fulfil any agenda for political correctness, but to enhance and validate a project or proposal. Human rights legislation, social inclusion and government initiatives raise an important issue about how we in the world of heritage engage communities. Traditionally conservation has been top-down, with ideas and values based on national importance and outstandingness. It can be difficult to see how community values, cultural diversity and these traditional, expert values can work together. Looking at the emerging issues and using case studies, the School looked at what this means for the individual conservation officer and the conservation professional. It also brought out the theme emerging from the recent joint IHBC/IFA conference in Oxford that those working within the Historic Environment need to form closer links. Of which more later. The School was organised by Jane Jackson of English Heritage and Sarah Higgins of Tewkesbury Borough Council (co-chairs), with commitment and capable assistance of local boys Roger Cullimore of Warwick District Council, George Demidowicz of Coventry City Council and John Yates of English Heritage. Mark Strawbridge of Nottingham City Council, John Preston of Cambridge City Council IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002 Photograph © Media 37
6 C O N T E X T 7 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2 and Stephen Bateman of Bradford City Council, all members of IHBC Council, were drafted in. Mark Strawbridge was entertainments officer for the School, responsible for booking all our live music. Last but by no means least was the team representing our partners in the School: British Waterways. Nigel Crowe heads the Hatton Craft Skills Centre, and Amanda Witherall is the business manager who with Christine Warne turned her administrative skills very ably to the organisation of bookings and the practical sessions at Hatton. James Clifton, is project manager of the Bedford and Milton Keynes Canal Project and our treasurer (and an impressive figure with a flip chart). Sadly, due to circumstances outside their control, a number of the committee were able to make only a fleeting appearance at the actual event. Particular thanks must go to our sponsors for the Day School, Ventrolla, and to Hall McCartney for the organisation of the exhibition. Thursday 4 July: Motivation and inspiration The School’s opening session was ably chaired by James Clifton, a long-serving ACO/IHBC member. James represented the 2002 School Organising Committee in welcoming delegates to the campus. Joyce Bosnjak is a county councillor with Nottinghamshire CountyCouncil. Joyce gave a very spirited and inspirational first paper of the conference about the Littlewood Farm Project, of which she is chair. It is a health and heritage scheme, providing a community-orientated secular retreat, serving both the local former coalfield settlements of Shirebrook and MansfieldWoodhouse and the wider business and voluntary sectors. The site is a former stone-built farmstead on the border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire with a long history of habitation and of serving the (produce) needs of the local community. It has only relatively recently fallen into disrepair and dereliction. Although not listed, it is in the Pleasley Vale Conservation Area and within an area of natural landscape beauty. As such it is an important and much-loved local landmark. Taking the maxim ‘health is not just an absence of illness’ as her starting point, Joyce described the proposals and how they will interact with local community activity and development. The retreat will provide training in, among other things, stress management, conflict resolution, citizenship and alternative therapies.This, as well as providing somewhere to achieve respite from generally domestic, non-violent situations (it is not a refuge). It will be free at the point of asking to anyone, either from the local community or referred from elsewhere. The building will be solarpowered, super-insulated and have reed-bed sewerage, and the grounds will be managed on permaculture lines. The landscape setting and sense of local history is unique to the place and also considered to be a major asset in the delivery of the proposed service. This project sees health as a three-dimensional process: cultural and spiritual as well as physical. Simon Ainley gave a lively talk about the Foxton Inclined Plane project. Simon qualified as an architect, and worked for some years in the British Waterways architects office on the plans to refurbish Gloucester Docks. In 1989 he was appointed waterway manager for Braunston, becoming responsible for a specific length of waterway. Foxton Locks and the inclined plane were part of his management responsibilities for the next 13 years, and its refurbishment and eventual restoration remain a project close to his heart. For those without a detailed knowledge of canals, the inclined plane was a short-lived piece of technology. The one at Foxton was initially built between 1898 and 1900 to replace the existing flight of 10 locks. It would reduce the loss of water from the locks and speed up the movement of boats. Boats enter wheeled tanks of water that are then transported sideways between two different levels of canal. The inclined plane only worked for about 10 years, when lack of traffic saw the locks reinstated.The remaining structure was largely removed in 1927.The only remaining relatively complete inclined plane is at Coalport in the Ironbridge Gorge. But it does not function. At Foxton, growing use of the canals and an interest in the technology saw the formation of a partnership between British Waterways, the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust, the WaterwaysTrust, Harborough Borough Council, Foxton Parish Council, English Heritage and the Old Union Canals Society. A feasibility study showed that a full restoration was feasible and desirable. At this stage the IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC delegates at the BritishWaterways Heritage Skills Centre at Hatton Locks.
C O N T E X T 7 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2 7 estimated cost of the project is £8 million, but it is projected to be a major visitor attraction bringing over £1 million per year into the local economy. The project raises a number of issues – certainly one about conservation philosophy, and the desirability of reconstruction of a largely missing structure of which there are scheduled remains. It also raises questions about communities. There are of course different types of community involvement, and meeting the competing expectations and demands of geographically local as well as specialist/thematic communities will always prove problematic for a restoration project of this type. The Virtual Experience Company is dedicated to the creation of real-time virtual reality models of heritage sites and museum artefacts. Mike Gogan talked about how the use of virtual reality techniques enables people to explore and learn about a building or environment in a way that would otherwise be impossible. This could be a building that no longer exists, one that has been substantially altered, or one that has still to be developed. The visual results shown were impressive. The time and resource cost of this type of consultation/public involvement creates a mixed response, though. There were ‘wows’ from those who had no access to this type of technology and saw the incredible usefulness of it, and scepticism from others about its relevance to their own situations where low-tech is the norm. See p30 for more about these techniques. The main business of the afternoon concluded, there was time for a swift drink in the bar and dinner in the university restaurant before coaches whisked delegates to the heart of historic Coventry.We were the guests of the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Coventry at a reception in the Great Hall of the medieval Guildhall of St Mary. This amazing building, one of the finest guildhalls in the country, is a reminder of the size and importance of the medieval city. Its survival, scarred but intact beside the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, seems nothing short of miraculous. Plied with alcohol by the Lord Mayor, delegates were able to spend time exploring the building and its fine 15th century stained glass windows, and the Tournai tapestry, commissioned for the visit of HenryVIII in 1500 and still viewed in its original position beneath the window. George Demidowicz led a walking tour that took in, among other areas, the sites of the Phoenix Initiative, Coventry’s millennium project and the subject of his talk on the following afternoon. Other delegates explored a hostelry close by that had provoked some interest with its contemporary design. Friday 4 July: Motivation and inspiration (continued), IHBC Day School, sponsored by Ventrolla The Day School was in good hands with the chair for the day, IHBC President Malcolm Airs. Recently described as ‘an informed and neutral facilitator’, Malcolm is reader in conservation of the historic environment at the University of Oxford, and chaired the recent IHBC/IFA conference ‘Planning and the Historic Environment: agenda for the 21st Century’. He welcomed new delegates to the Day School and introduced our first speaker. Martyn Heighton is the NationalTrust board director for West England and Wales. He led the recent successful campaign to save Tyntesfield, the last surviving intact example of a Victorian house and estate. Martyn was director of leisure services for the City of Bristol, where he led the Harbourside Regeneration Team. Immediately before joining the National Trust he spent four years as chief executive of the Mary Rose Trust. The NationalTrust grew out of the grime of the urban industrial landscape at the end of the 19th century. In 2002 the trust is moving away from what has been seen as its particular niche in the heritage sector, and is tackling the challenging new agendas and policy directions that have been set out in the DCMS report A Force for Our Future.There are new agendas emphasising themes with which people will more easily connect, and ways of meeting the new emphasis on community-led conservation to create value and improve quality of life. Martyn outlined the following areas where he saw the National Trust as leading the way in realising the current agenda: tourism: looking at the impact of visitors to heritage sites such as Sutton Hoo, where a partnership with English Heritage, the NHMF and the British Museum has resulted in a new visitor centre at the site telling the story of the Saxon burial; Operation Neptune: looking after the maritime heritage, a long term successful engagement with conservation of the coast; Southall Workhouse: the trust is looking at different buildings, different approaches, and changing the way in which people view the NationalTrust and its conservation work in the built heritage; protection of the landscape, saving outstanding areas of the countryside and improving public access and interpretation; creating new partnerships, as in Birmingham, where the trust has moved into a very urban environment and is working with the city council to secure the future of the few remaining areas of back-to-back housing; and encouraging traditional farming practices, bringing back the animals, the landscape and the skills to the countryside and, most important, working with the local farmers. All these concerns are brought together in the purchase of Tyntesfield. It will be a test-bed for the way the trust connects with communities, and for working with partners such as the local authorities, the University of Bristol and Avon Wildlife Trust. All were involved in the launch of the appeal, and will share in the project. Tyntesfield is much more than a house: the context is the whole estate and the contents, including workshops and forges, as well as education and the craftsmanship of Crace and Gillow. Martyn’s reflections on the School theme appear on p20. IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002
8 C O N T E X T 7 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2 Philip Grover has been director of postgraduate studies in historic conservation at Oxford Brookes University since 1995. He has developed Brookes as one of the leading centres for conservation education and research. The Local Authority Conservation Provision (LACP) Study is a recent commission from English Heritage. Philip explained the background to the study. Local authorities are at the front line of preserving historic buildings and areas. Conservation officers should be not just policing change, but facilitating, enabling and inspiring. But in contrast to the archaeologist in local government, where data has been gathered over the past 10 years on provision and status, there is little information about the lot of the conservation officer. The new study of built environment specialists was commissioned by English Heritage and a panel including representatives of the IHBC, in the light of reforms in the planning system that could downgrade or underplay the historic environment. The average staffing level of respondents is two. The average salary is £20,000-£25,000. Twenty-five local authorities had five or more specialists. Of lead specialists, 76.4 per cent were IHBC members. Six per cent had no specialist staff. ‘The last two years has seen a period of decline of staff and funding.’ As for workloads, 53 per cent of time is spent on development control casework, 22 per cent on care of resource, 15 per cent on policy and strategy, five per cent on education and promotion, and four per cent CPD. ‘Constant fire fighting rather than positive, proactive projects.’ The impact of best value: ‘Best value inspection concluded ‘2* service, likely to improve’. Subsequently both staff moved on and as yet their posts have not been filled.’ Working relationships: ‘All too often a conservation adviser is seen as a semidetached official working to his or her own agenda.’ The majority of conservation officers had good relationships with development control and English Heritage. The worst relationship was with public utilities: 20 per cent said it was poor. The survey gives a picture of the effectiveness of local authority specialists, from strong specialist-led teams to others with poor status and poor funding: ‘under resourced and overworked’. Philip closed with another quote: ‘Like so many authorities our conservation department is under-resourced and not well managed. It is an uphill struggle and frustrating because we could do so much more. PS This had better be confidential.’ (The rapid survey of resources in local authorities carried out by Gill Chitty and David Baker for English Heritage is available on the English Heritage website. Entitled Heritage Under Pressure, it was commissioned last year to inform the response to the consultation from DTLR on the future of planning.) ‘People and Places: social inclusion policy for the built and historic environment’, a recent consultation document circulated by DCMS, is intended as a practical guide to how issues of social inclusion are and can be addressed in the built and historic environment. It asks English Heritage and CABE to take a lead in promoting the social inclusion agenda across the sector, and for all those involved in the built environment professions to think about how they can reach out to excluded individuals and communities. It provides examples of schemes that already involve architecture and historic places in tackling social inclusion. Nicole Crockett is director of the Building Exploratory in Hackney, a unique organisation that aims to capture the imagination of local communities and enable them to understand how their area developed, what is like now, and how it could be in the future. It is the only interactive centre in Britain to explain building, conservation, construction, design, planning, housing IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002 The questionnaire, initially sent to chief planning officers, has had a response rate of just under 60 per cent. The weakest response has been from those authorities without an IHBC member. There has been a very basic follow-up telephone survey to non-responding authorities, asking six basic questions about staff, grants and the key question from PPG15: can you call on sufficient conservation advice? The returned responses are still being analysed. Some key data has already emerged. Many authorities could not identify how many Grade I, II*, and II buildings they had, or how many actual listed buildings as opposed to list entries. Only half had a Buildings at Risk register. The quotes below are taken from the survey. ‘This authority has severe financial problems and does not really understand the importance of funding for its most important asset.’ The trend is that spending has remained flat or has been reduced. This is especially evident in the grants budgets. It is slightly healthier where grants are a partnership with English Heritage or the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF): ‘X has been successful at securing external funding, but only at the expense of mainstream conservation work’.
C O N T E X T 7 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2 9 history and management. It combines all this under one roof. The project seems such a good idea that it seems to inspire all those who discover it. It is highlighted as an exceptional project in the document People and Places. CABE is keen to see it replicated, and has treated it as a model for how to set up architecture centres, although it is really about the study of a local area, and design is only part of its focus. The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is funding a major education programme. The centre is housed in an old school building off Hackney’s Kingsland Road in one of the most deprived areas in the country. Founded in 1994, it is nothing like any ordinary museum, and its mix of high- and low-tech exhibits includes a threedimensional model of the borough made by local primary school children. There are free workshop sessions for children, and free public tours. Nicole’s previous job promoting architecture to the public at the Architecture Foundation seems to make her well suited to her current position. The models, interactive displays, quizzes and questions help the local community to understand the area. IHBC Chair Eddie Booth spoke of what the developing agenda means for members of the Institute. His comments on the School are to be found in his Notes from the Chair (p32). Lunch in the university restaurant provided the opportunity to talk informally with a number of the speakers. It was clear that those who were able to stay for discussion were finding it a stimulating experience. The first group departed for hands-on workshops at British Waterways Hatton Skills Centre accompanied by a packed lunch. Two more sessions ran on the Saturday morning and afternoon. Friday 4 July: Culture and regeneration, IHBC Day School, afternoon session Judy Ling Wong is director of the Black Environment Network (BEN), a UK-wide organisation with an international reputation as a pioneer in the field of ethnic participation in the built and natural environment. She has a background in psychotherapy, and has worked both in the arts and community involvement. Judy spoke enthusiastically about how we can broaden the conservation agenda and engage socially excluded groups. She is known for forging challenging conceptual perspectives on participation and social inclusion. In establishing ethnic participation she integrates social, cultural and environmental concerns. Judy is a major voice on policy towards social inclusion, and continues to sit on a number of influential steering groups and committees. They include the Power of Place executive committee, and the DCMS policy group that produced the recent People and Places, developing social inclusion objectives for the built and historic environment. Recognition of Judy LingWong’s work has come with the award of an OBE in recognition of her outstanding contribution to ethnic environmental participation. BEN uses the word ‘black’ symbolically, recognising that black communities in many areas are the most visible of ethnic communities. The work of BEN is about finding routes to engage all communities in the enjoyment of their environment, acting as an adviser on policy and strategy, providing training and promoting the organisational change that lays down the basis for effective work with ethnic groups. BEN has worked with English Heritage, Greenpeace, the HLF, the National Trust and the V&A, among others. ‘Multiculturalism recognises the richness and relevance of cultural influences that are all around us. We are all part of an ethnic group. It’s not about doing favours to a little group of people, but working towards the overall vision of a cohesive society. The need is to change the context – to do away with the situation that creates these disparities. Then move from awareness to commitment in action.’ Changes come through thinking; feeling for the subject, underpinning the essential motivation to reach out; and action. Raising awareness and understanding of issues creates emotional motivation, but the commitment to change needs to come from the top of the organisation, or you will never get the resources. The role of BEN is ‘building a framework within which participation by everyone can take place’. BEN works to support ethnic communities, but recognises that mainstream organisations must also be supported. It can facilitate the contact with ethnic groups and devise projects that cross boundaries, working on good will, and finding historically neutral places where change can begin. BEN’s work recognises the power of the basic human process. ‘We come to know what we know we enjoy, we fight for what we love.’ But how can you love something that you have never enjoyed? This is what access is about. We have to expose people to the historic environment, to show what it means, and have a genuine wish to engage in a way that recognises that we have a long way to go. There is the difference between going for historical meaning and going for theme park heritage – the rosily packaged version.You are not entertaining, but giving enjoyment because the experience has drawn them out and informs their life. Judith Grice directs BritishWaterways’ multidisciplinary Waterways Conservation and Regeneration Group of 70 conservation, design and planning staff. Over the years she has been involved in the regeneration of urban environments in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham, and has promoted schemes for leisure, tourism and conservation in the countryside. Promoting the conservation-led approach has led to awards from BURA, the Civic Trust and tourist boards, and her work was recognised with an OBE in 1998. Judith spoke about the role of waterways heritage IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002
10 C O N T E X T 7 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 2 in underpinning successful regeneration. She used the example of Tower Wharf in Chester to show the added value of heritage: the excavation of an old canal basin as the centrepiece for redevelopment revealed the remains of a sunken boat. Despite the delays, the resulting publicity was so great that it created far higher commercial value for the site. BritishWaterways owns and manages as many listed buildings as the National Trust (3,000) and is the UK’s largest owner of industrial archaeology. Half the population lives within five miles of a waterway, and the canal network extends through some of the most deprived areas in the country. Waterways heritage is a big driver for regeneration. At BrindleyPlace in Birmingham there was investment of £54.5 million, and 17,000 jobs were created. In Leeds and in places such as Sowerby Bridge you see the ripple effect of regeneration extending beyond the waterway corridor: the work around the canal has been the catalyst for a wider regeneration. One of the main challenges for British Waterways has been peoples’ perception – of the organisation, of heritage, and of sustainability.The role of the Heritage Skills Centre has been first to train BritishWaterways’ own staff, but then to address a wider audience – volunteer groups, school children and contractors, trying to fill the skills gap. The heritage input to leisure and tourism has informed the navigation strategy, and helped to resolve conflicts between the different users of the canal network. Sustainability has been crucial to the success of BritishWaterways in regeneration, bringing together heritage, planning and environmental awareness. Success depends on working in partnership, attracting wider support and greater resources for a project. George Demidowicz heads the City of Coventry’s conservation and landscape team. Since 1997 he has been responsible for coordinating and managing all the heritage aspects of the Phoenix Initiative, Coventry’s millennium project. (Some delegates had enjoyed a guided tour around this area of Coventry the night before). The project, a walk linking the uncovered remains of St Mary’s Priory and the new Coventry Cathedral to the motor museum, will take people through 1,000 years of history. The idea arose from consultation about moving the motor museum, and revealed a call for more housing and gardens, and more attention to Coventry’s history. Designed by MacCormac, Jamieson and Prichard in 1997, the scheme links new and refurbished public spaces. There is also an extensive public art programme. The works by artists about memories of the city were integral to the process of making places. The artists worked at relating people together, and people with places. The new Priory visitor centre is a contemporary design in the historic context. A fuller account of the initiative is given on p17. Nuradin Dirie is senior project officer for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) Environment for All programme, which makes opportunities for looking after the local environment relevant and accessible to ethnic minorities and disadvantaged communities. It is funded by the Community Fund with support from Barclays PLC. Prior to joining the BTCV, Nuradin spent several years working with local communities both in the UK and East Africa. The BTCV is the UK’s largest practical conservation charity, promoting hands-on projects in urban and rural areas. Its purpose is to ensure that the potential of volunteers for the environment is realised. Its vision is a world where people value their environment and take practical action to improve it. The grant from the Community Fund to set up the Environment for All project is aimed at opening up the organisation, and putting into place local project officers to reach out to ethnic communities and other disadvantaged groups. The Black Environment Network worked with the BTCV undertaking a review A loose approximation of the mashed potato A long-standing member writes: It is with great regret that I must report that the social event following the AGM and Dinner at this year’s Annual School was not only an unfortunate episode in terms of taste and decency, but also a flagrant example of people ‘having a good time’ with no thought for others, that is, those of timorous disposition. The music was inhospitably loud and projected thus by a couple dodgy characters (probably from the village). On several occasions I had to witness the rather unsettling sight of a Vice Chair (no less), in what appeared to be a frock coat, dirty-dancing a louche quickstep, actually with a lady member. I would have appealed to the Chair. Alas, he too appeared to have no regard for position, recklessly throwing himself about in a loose approximation of the ‘mashed potato’ and other modern routines; hoping, no doubt, to impress the younger members with his ‘cred’ and general hip-daddy-o-ness – but sadly looking more Red Adair than Fred Astaire. While our President rescued a little of the dignity of the occasion by showing, on the dance floor, a grace and elegance much envied by less experienced bon viveurs and another Vice Chair maintained a sense of duty by ensuring that no one else drank any of the wine, all in all the Annual Dinner represented a regrettable letting down of standards. Some of the members present were not even properly attired, tweed obviously being ‘out’ this season (at least in terms of outer garments). I urge members to resist this ‘dumbing down’. Join with me in calling for a return next year to what we have always enjoyed and treasured: an Annual Dinner unpolluted by ‘light jazz’, and followed by afterdinner speeches in which fellow professionals have the opportunity to impress us with their erudition and rich fund of amusing anecdotes, free of the accustomed requirements for brevity. IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002 IHBC Annual School 2002 The music for the dancing at the dinner was provided by Baddabing, the jazz by Patrick Sprakes and the ceilidh by Fiona Maurice Smith. Contact Mark Strawbridge at [email protected] for details.
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