Context 86 - September 2004

IHBC Annual School in Northern Ireland No 86 September 2004 Institute of Historic Building Conservation

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C O N T E X T 8 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 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: David Lovie email [email protected] Chairman: JohnYates email [email protected] Vice Chair: Dave Chetwyn email [email protected] Secretary: Richard Morrice email [email protected] Treasurer: Michael Knights email [email protected] Membership Secretary: Mike Lea email [email protected] Consultations Secretary: Dave Chetwyn email [email protected] Law & Practice Coordinator: Vacant email [email protected] Education Secretary: John Preston email [email protected] Publicity Secretary: Sarah Buckingham email [email protected] Branch Officers North: John Pendlebury Tel 0191 284 2119 NorthWest: Anthony Blacklay Tel 01270 610050 Yorkshire: Keith Knight Tel 01904 658482 West Midlands: Karen Holyoake Tel 01384 826891 East Midlands: Fiona Newton Tel 01507 601111 South: Gill Butter Tel 02380 285324 SouthWest: Colin Ellis Tel 01305 838334 East Anglia: Mike McConnell Tel 01284 735057 South East: Paul Barker Tel 01825 760705 London: David McDonald Tel 020 8881 6724 Scotland: Charles Strang Tel 01835 822560 Wales: Nathan Blanchard Tel 01824 708048 Northern Ireland: Sharon BrownTel 028 9754 3087 Republic of Ireland: Bernard Dee Tel +353 1 873 7226 Business Office Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA England Tel 01747 873133 Fax 01747 871718 email [email protected] Cover: The clock tower of Lissan House, Cookstown, Northern Ireland, visited by delegates at the IHBC annual school in July. Lissan House was the runner-up in the BBC’s Restoration programme in 2003. So very different – and so very familiar Editorial of much of Northern Ireland’s rural landscape, and of many of its small towns and villages, but this itself may help to impose greater development pressure on larger towns and cities. The necessary understanding of how to achieve balance in managing urban change has yet to be generally learned. Despite all that, many of the participants who came to the 2004 IHBC Annual School from outside Northern Ireland returned home reinvigorated. First, the lack of resources, political will and general understanding is not exactly alien to the experience of conservationists in Great Britain. Second, the energy and enthusiasm – the ‘fiery spirit’ that Karen Latimer (p21) spoke of – of Northern Ireland’s often embattled conservation movement, and the knowledge and expertise of many of its practitioners, can be inspiring to those who may face less blatant opponents. At a time when politicians from England, Scotland andWales are visiting the Irish Republic to find out how to achieve the impossible (banning smoking in pubs), we should not be surprised at how much can be learned from the very different – but in many ways also very similar – conditions across the Irish Sea. What’s in a name? They sometimes call it Stroke City. Originally named Doire, the name was anglicised to Derry and renamed Londonderry by its later London-financed settlers. Nationalists call it Derry, while unionists call it Londonderry. Those not wanting to display a political affiliation call it Derry/Londonderry, or drop the two contentious parts and call it after its non-partisan oblique stroke. So far, so confusing. Understanding conservation in Northern Ireland (or, depending on your politics, the north of Ireland) depends on remembering something of the bitter history that is the background to today’s improving stability and vigorous prosperity. It quickly becomes clear that much of what we take for granted in Great Britain is missing. Conservation does not seem to be deeply embedded in policy or in the minds of decision-makers in Northern Ireland. The value of the repair and reuse of historic buildings to housing, tourism and the local economy – and in terms of making efficient use of resources – has yet to be fully appreciated. Political, economic and social change is in the air, and there are many other priorities apart from conserving buildings. Some progress has been made in highlighting the erosion of the character Briefing 2 Out of Context 4 Letters 5 Periodically 7 Helping people change historic places appropriately Steve Bee 9 Legal Briefing Charles Mynors and Alex Booth 13 IHBC annual school programme Malcolm Lake 16 Lessons from Northern Ireland Jonathan Taylor 17 Sense of place, change of heart, fiery spirits Karen Latimer 21 How planning policy protects our heritage John Linden 24 Plenty of policy, but too little protection Ian McQuiston 26 IHBC education pack David Engall 30 Notes from the chair 32 Membership notes 33 Vox pop 33 Book reviews 34 Products and services 37

2 C O N T E X T 8 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 Context Editor Robert Cowan Editorial Coordinator Nigel Barker, 65Worplesdon Road, Guildford, Surrey GU2 9RT. Tel 01483 562 851 email [email protected] Editorial Board Nigel Barker (chair) Susan Brook (treasurer and IT) Nigel Crowe (main features) Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Julia Smith (IHBC branches) Michael Taylor (main features) Cartoons by Robert Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2004 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Published for the Institute of Historic Building Conservation by Cathedral Communications Limited, High Street, Tisbury,Wiltshire, England SP3 6HA Tel 01747 871717 Fax 01747 871718 email [email protected] www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions to Context Context is available to non-members of the IHBC at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £50.00 Elsewhere £75.00 Subscription orders, together with remittances payable to Institute of Historic Building Conservation, should be sent to the IHBC Business Office at Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA. The views expressed in Context are not necessarily those held by the IHBC nor 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 Copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November. Copy deadlines in 2005 are: Issue Date March, Issue 88 14 January May, Issue 89 18 March July, Issue 90 20 May September, Issue 91 15 July November, Issue 92 16 September Walled Nursery renovations Renovation work on six out of the nine buildings at theWalled Nursery at Hawkhurst, TunbridgeWells, has been completed with the support of the buildings at risk scheme. It is expected that the refurbishment will be complete by December 2005. Built in 1850, theWalled Nursery formed part of a 1,200-acre estate owned by Charles Gunther, founder of the Leipzig Meat Extraction Company (which later became known as OXO). At that time, nine gardeners were employed within the wall. During the second world war the walled garden was looked after by one man on a much smaller scale. After the war the house and gardens were taken over by St Ronan’s School, and eventually leased out to a succession of market gardeners. Having leased the nursery for many years, Peter and Karen Horn bought it in 1995. TheWalled Nursery contains nine glasshouses built by Foster and Pearson, the Nottinghamshire company renowned for its horticultural buildings. In 2000, the Horns applied to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for support from the buildings at risk scheme to restore their glasshouses. They gathered quotes for the restoration: one of the companies quoted £80,000 to restore one glasshouse alone. So they carried out extensive research into the materials and techniques used to restore such glasshouses. They visited similar restoration projects at Leeds Castle, Maidstone, andWestdean Gardens, Chichester. The Horns submitted four quotes – including one to do the work themselves – and the council approved the grant aid on that basis. The total cost of the repair will be £78,000, split equally between the council and the owners. The existing glasshouses have brickwork on the lower parts using traditional lime mortar. The upper framework is made from pitch pine. The owners have left as much of the old wood as they can. In places where it does need to be replaced, they have used Russian red wood. The glass has a slight curve, a beaver-tail finish. Old glass is reused wherever possible. Mechanisms and guttering are made of cast iron. The buildings at risk scheme began in 1999 after a survey of all 3,000 of the borough’s listed buildings. Only six of the original 36 buildings at risk in the borough remain at risk. Brian Hayward, the council’s senior design and heritage officer, comments: ‘TheWalled Nursery is an important repair project to be grant aided through the buildings at risk scheme. It is great to see the glasshouses in their full glory and as a working nursery, which means anyone can visit. ‘It is a fine example of the borough council’s ongoing commitment to safeguarding the borough’s unique environment. By adopting a partnership approach with the owners we are able to save the time and costs which are associated with taking action against owners through the statutory processes.’ Nadine Squire No joy from spending review Gordon Brown has allocated 2.3 per cent more for DCMS over the period to 2007-8, an increase of £230 million. It seems that none of this is to be devoted to the heritage, which unsurprisingly gets no mention in the four pages of the DCMS chapter of the public spending review.Wither the Heritage Protection Review? Page 154 (18.7) refers to a real terms increase in arts funding, and page 155 (18.12) to front-line opportunities in sports and culture. That’s your lot. Efficiency gains of £260 million are also expected, including £115 million savings, some of which relate to ‘accommodation of sponsored bodies’ (English Heritage?) and £146 million savings on, among other things, local government cultural and leisure services. Bob Kindred The Melon House before and after renovation

C O N T E X T 8 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 3 Restoration drama The Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, NorthYorkshire has been named winner of this year’s RICS Building Conservation Award. The conservation project consisted of the restoration of the existing theatre building, the demolition of an extension Landmark’s latest The Landmark Trust’s latest property has been restored and is open to visitors. The six-storey Freston Tower, built in 1578 by the Ipswich merchant Thomas Gooding, overlooks the estuary of the River Orwell, near Ipswich, Suffolk. The tower may have acted as a lookout tower for Gooding’s returning English Heritage was fortunate in 2003/4 to receive funding under the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund to employ consultants to rove the regions, looking for the good and the bad. It is grateful to all IHBC members who helped in this search, and may yet come back to ask for pictures to fill empty slots. The texts and pictures are now being edited with the assistance of IHBC past chairman Eddie Booth. The booklets will be published in time for a planned launch of the English Heritage campaign Save our Streets. Charles Wagner and Jenny Frew, English Heritage Building Limes Forum conference ‘Training for the 21st Century’, the Building Limes Forum 13th Annual Conference, will be held on 15, 16 and 17 (am only) October 2004 at Lancaster Town Hall. Members and visitors will investigate in depth the subject of training in lime, from the modern apprenticeships to accredited conservation professionals, to address the national skill shortage and the government’s target of a qualified workforce by 2010. The conference fee is £160 for BLF members or £195 for non-members (includes membership for one year). On Saturday 16 October 2004 the first Lime Fair will take place at the town hall. All aspects of lime work will be demonstrated. Associated suppliers, material producers and trades are invited to take part. Details: [email protected]; www.buildinglimesforum.org.uk Green, pleasant and sustainable The Association of Gardens Trusts’ 2004 Conference on ‘This Green and Pleasant Land: the case for sustainability in the historic environment’ will be held on Friday, 15 October at English Heritage, Savile Row, London. John Gummer MP will be the keynote speaker. Tickets cost £75. Speakers include AGT president Gilly Drummond, Alan Barber of CABE Space, Kate Clark of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Jim Dixon of Peak District National Park Authority, Deborah Lamb of English Heritage, Peter Matthew of the ODPM, Charlie Parker of Liverpool City Council, Michael Rowan of Mile End Park and TNH Sanderson of Eshott Hall Estate. Contact Kate Harwood at AGT, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ. Tel and fax 020 7251 2610; [email protected]; www.gardenstrusts.org.uk ships, or simply been built an extravagant folly (if so, it was one of the earliest in the country). It may even have been built to coincide with Queen Elizabeth’s progress to Ipswich in 1579. Richard Griffiths Architects was responsible for the restoration. Photography? No problem Some local authorities have been told recently that using photographs of private buildings in conservation built in 1963, and the construction of a new extension providing bar, toilets, actors’ changing facilities and community meeting spaces. The theatre now remains largely as conceived when first constructed in 1788. One of the most difficult issues was identifying the best decorative scheme. This was decided by gathering information from the Bristol University Theatre Collection, evidence from other theatres on the same circuit, the Eyre manuscript and various publications dating back to the early 19th century. Streets (and booklets) for all This autumn will see the publication of the eight volumes of Streets for All for the other regions of England, following on from the publication in 2000 of Streets for All: a guide to the management of London’s streets. The London booklet has circulated widely throughout England, and although most of its messages are equally applicable in any part of the country, there was a strong feeling among English Heritage’s regional staff that each region needed its own, with all points illustrated by pictures taken within the region. Over the past four years, Streets for All has proved a useful document for conservation officers and civic societies to use in dialogue with colleagues in highways, transportation, streetscene and road safety, as English Heritage tries to improve the quality of the public realm in historic areas. Its findings have been echoed in other reports released since, and over the past year the English Historic Towns Forum’s focus on the public realm has raised many of the issues that are covered.

4 C O N T E X T 8 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 ‘THE SYSTEMATIC design and delivery of buildings has led to the displacement of architectural design by engineering design. This is a more convenient way for the new integrated construction conglomerates to serve their clients. The service providers have turned to mass-customisation as an easy way to meet demand for buildings. ‘This industry is dominated by a few major conglomerates offering a complete service, in which the role of the independent professional is simply irrelevant. Electronic procurement and automated contract negotiation enable bargains to be struck quickly, instantly launching a semi-automated procurement process. ‘There is no aesthetic requirement and no need for imaginative solutions. Few people have the skill or money to maintain the old, manually constructed, bespoke buildings. So the stock of old buildings is quickly replaced by shiny new standardised products that can be maintained by a semi-skilled workforce.’ A possible future scenario for the built environment professions imagined by the authors of The Professionals’ Choice, a report commissioned by Building Futures, a joint initiative between CABE and the RIBA. ‘THE NATIONAL Trust’s work in conserving historical examples of working-class housing is admirable.Who is conserving the memory and fabric of the “alternative” working-class housing – the ambitious municipal schemes for rehousing the working poor that began almost a century before the slum clearance programmes of the 1960s and transformed Britain’s cities between the wars? ‘The media repeatedly reminds us of the failures of the ’60s high-rise experiment; a generation has grown up since Thatcherism killed public housing; and we have largely forgotten earlier council schemes that were architecturally innovative and socially informed, and are still remembered fondly by those who grew up in them. ‘In Liverpool, most of the 1930s council blocks that have not been bulldozed are being redeveloped as luxury housing to feed the City of Culture bubble. If working-class culture is going to be as museum piece, how about giving us all a chance to visit ‘the council flat’?’ Eve Rosenhaft in a letter to the Guardian. ‘THE PROPOSAL to identify and destroy buildings because they are perceived by some to be vile is disturbing. If a building has reached the end of its useful life and no appropriate reworking of the building is possible, then so be it. Take it down and develop it with a use more appropriate to the needs of today. Any archaeological dig in any city will reveal layers of previous buildings that have either made way for others or have been adapted as the city grew and flexed in response to change. ‘Growth and change are driven naturally by the opportunity for benefit and society’s acceptance of change, not by the form of intervention that RIBA president George Ferguson proposes. The good and the not so good, the beautiful and the ugly, exist side by side and should continue to do so in a tolerant society.’ Kevin Steer commenting on the RIBA president’s war of eyesores in a letter to Architects’ Journal. area character statements and similar documents can infringe the Freedom of Information Act or the Data Protection Act. Happily they are mistaken. The last part of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 comes into force on 1 January 2005. The act is purely about local authorities and other government bodies having to make available to anyone who asks a great deal of information that has hitherto not made readily available. It can not be construed as having anything to do with seeking the permission of individuals to photograph their buildings. Neither do you need permission under the Data Protection Act to photograph a building. That act deals only with personal information. A building can not in any way be construed to be such. Even details such as the house number and telephone number are classed as information in the public domain and hence not covered by the Data Protection Act. Neither is any problem caused by the fact that you can find out who lives in a house by knowing its address, as the information that allows you to do this – such as Land Registry data and census records – are also in the public domain. Even the fact that a captioned photograph of a grand house tells you that this is the home of the Duke of So-and-So is no problem, as the information is recognised as being public knowledge. Personal information is what it says: matters such as criminal records, school records, financial records and medical history.You would pretty well have to ban photography in all towns and villages if buildings were personal information. The only photographs that would be the concern of the Data Protection Act are those of identifiable individuals, but even then they must be the focus of the photograph. This point was clarified by the courts at the end of last year, when it was ruled that pictures of individuals recorded by CCTV cameras in a shop did not constitute personal data as the focus of the picture was the protection of the shop. There is absolutely no need to ask a private individual to take a picture of their property from a public vantage point under any circumstances. There are, though, controls on taking photographs of military establishments, government buildings, airports and other ‘strategic’ locations that come under public control. ‘THE RESPONSIBILITY of the architect charged with the care of a historic building should be to embrace the challenge of designing the necessary changes with creativity and integrity, and with an eye to posterity. How many public buildings have been disfigured by “temporary” access solutions that may remain in place indefinitely?… Are we really so timid that all interventions in future, from this arbitrary moment in the continuum of time, should be reversible?’ The architect Richard Griffiths complaining in Building Design of statutory bodies’ advice that alterations to historic buildings should be reversible.

C O N T E X T 8 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 5 Letters Accreditation: altogether now From Jonathan David, Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers I was interested to read the article by Stuart Eydmann and John Preston (‘It’s time to have your say on accreditation’, Context 85, July 2004) about the IHBC’s approach to current demands for accreditation of professionals working on historic buildings. The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has been following developments at the Edinburgh Group, but currently sees no easy way forward for crossdisciplinary organisations such as ours. We are slightly different from the IHBC in being a qualifying body, but unlike the IHBC only a small proportion of our members work on historic building projects, and rarely as a lead consultant. We are watching the CARE scheme being developed by the ICE and IStructE in the hope that it may prove suitable for at least some CIBSE members, but currently it is felt to be too engineering-oriented. CIBSE believes that its members who work on historic buildings need to take a holistic view: it is not a matter of inserting equipment, but very often of understanding how the building performs and avoiding the imposition of ‘hardware’ solutions. However, the small number of members likely to be interested means that the cost of setting up and running a scheme would be prohibitive for CIBSE. In addition, while we are very sympathetic to the aim of ensuring that work on historic buildings is done by suitably skilled professionals, we are not currently convinced that an accreditation scheme would achieve this aim for building services. Instead, it would restrict work to those few consultants who work full time on historic buildings, with the remainder deciding that the cost and time involved in obtaining accreditation was not justified and pulling out of this area of work. This would lead to a reduction rather than an increase in the range of skills available, which is not what English Heritage and Historic Scotland have in mind. CIBSE is not the only professional body for which these issues arise but we probably cover the widest range of disciplines of any such institution. Our view is that the only viable approach is one scheme covering the various specialist professions rather than a separate scheme for each. Only in this way will it be possible for a financially viable scheme to be produced. Is there a role for IHBC in this? Jonathan David Impartial assessments From Michael Heaton Shane Gould’s article (‘Analysing and recording historic buildings’, Context 84, May 2004) and the survey on which it is based are to be welcomed. Gould omits only one important issue relating 1990-99, School of Conservation Sciences Research report No 10, Bournemouth University). Developers have accepted the protocols, after much protest, because they now know the process can work in their favour. They perceive it to be impartial. This does not mean that assessments and evaluations are a waste of time: quite the opposite. Michael Heaton A bid too far From PhilipVenning, Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Your report ‘Funding cut for church casework’ (Context 84, March 2004, p2) states that the SPAB is getting extra cash from English Heritage for churches casework. Alas, no.We put in a bid in 2003 but were unsuccessful. However, we do get extra cash from English Heritage for theWilliam Morris Craft Fellowship, for which we are most grateful. Philip Venning New life for buildings at risk From Ian Lush, chief executive, Architectural Heritage Fund I am grateful to Bob Kindred (‘Buildings at risk: why are we still in the dark?’ Context 85, July 2004) for his recognition of the work of the Architectural Heritage Fund and of the Association of Preservation Trusts. As Bob rightly says, the AHF targeted local authorities throughout the UK earlier this year with information aimed at encouraging them to work with building preservation trusts (BPTs) in their area, or even to consider setting up a BPT themselves. This campaign, ‘A Future from the Past’, encouraged officers and members from local authorities to view buildings at risk as an opportunity for potential regeneration, not a liability, and there has been a very positive response so far. The importance of BPTs was also endorsed in the recent ODPM committee report into the role of historic buildings in urban regeneration. One of the committee’s recommendations reads: ‘Building preservation trusts perform an important role in bringing back into use neglected buildings which the private sector are not interested in. They are severely short of money particularly in terms of core revenue funding. The government needs to review the level and nature of funding to the trusts.’ to assessments and other forms of predetermination analysis (unless I have missed it): the ‘unwanted’ or unexpected answer. Did he ask local planning authority officers what they do when the assessment concludes that the building does not warrant their attention or, worse, that it has been incorrectly listed? My experience is that they either ignore or derogate the assessment. For the assessment approach to be effective it has to be widely adopted, and to be widely adopted it has to be seen to work, sometimes, in the applicant’s interests. (I infer, for the purposes of this letter only, that the applicant’s interests diverge from the public interest presented by the local planning authority). The experience of archaeologists with PPG16 is especially pertinent here: the majority of pre-determination assessments and evaluations conclude that there is little or no archaeological potential to the site (Darvill, T and Russell, B 2002 Archaeology after PPG16: archaeological investigations in England

6 C O N T E X T 8 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 BPTs are of course not the only option for the regeneration of buildings at risk. The AHF has also been working with bodies such as the Development Trusts Association and Groundwork UK to encourage their members to look at historic buildings as potential assets and locations for their work, either on their own or in partnership with a local BPT. There is considerable financial support from government and elsewhere for community development initiatives. Although this funding is not targeted at the historic environment, some of it could easily be re-directed towards projects involving historic buildings if such partnerships succeed. This is also one of the themes of ‘Community-led Regeneration 04’, the joint AHF/APT Conference in Belfast in October, at which representatives of development trusts, Groundwork, funding bodies, local authorities and the private sector come together with BPTs to discuss mutual concerns and the potential for joint projects, as well as looking at success stories throughout the UK. However, all these initiatives still rely on core information and support from local authorities. The AHF, along with many other organisations, will continue to press for more consistency from authorities. Only then will more buildings at risk be brought off the registers (where these exist) and given new life. Ian Lush Best value’s vicious spiral From Mike Brown, London Borough of Barnet Readers will be aware of last year’s IHBC/English Heritage survey into local authority conservation officer staffing levels which revealed, unsurprisingly, that provision was at best patchy and, in places, non-existent. This issue of resources is going to come to a head shortly if and when the ODPM implements the new best value performance indicators (BVPIs) for conservation. These are 1) Assessment of heritage assets in council ownership; 2) Conservation area reviews and character appraisal statements; and 3) Creating historic environment records. With as few officers as there are around the country, swamped with casework, there is little likelihood of these BVPIs being realised without drafting in new people. That would cost local planning authorities money they do not have. Equally, in the south east of England there are virtually no potential staff out there to employ.We simply poach staff off one another from the same diminishing pool. Any new staff will need training, which will take time (two years plus, on top of their primary profession) and more money. Many of the BVPIs (such as conservation area appraisals) will take planning delivery grants to employ more planners, the route to improved conservation and design performance (and better exploitation of the heritage as a resource for the nation) seems obvious. Mike Brown (whose views are not necessarily those of his employer) Thank you, IHBC From Laurence Manogue, past chairman, IHBC Northern Ireland Branch Can I thank all those of you who attended and supported the annual school in Derry? I have been overwhelmed with all the cards, letters and emails of support and good wishes from many people. I have now completed all the chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments and am out of hospital at home. The recovery process however is taking nearly as long as the treatment and is very frustrating. Of course I am renowned for my patience! I am still not able to eat and have to rely on my feeding tube, but am told I am a ‘better colour’. Sounds almost like a racist comment. I understand from the feedback forms that all went well and that it was a good school. I was trying to attend at least the dinner, but fell foul of the chemotherapy regime at the last moment. The success of the school was totally due to the fact that a small dedicated band of Sharon Brown, Kenny Moore and particularly Jill Kerry worked hard to make it all happen on the day, when I had to stand down due to my illness. It was the first school I have missed in 10 years – but beware, I’ll be making up for it next year. I’m booking my place now, and look forward to seeing old friends and colleagues next year. Laurence Manogue Impact of wheelie bins From a conservation officer My local authority is currently proposing to introduce a wheelie bin system with three bins per household and collections every two weeks. I am concerned at the impact of this proposal on our historic towns and villages, and would be interested if any readers you have direct experience – good or bad – of such schemes. Please contact me by way of [email protected] Name and address supplied longer than a year to complete, yet the best value assessment is annual. The ODPM and the DCMS need to work together to frontload the resourcing of these targets. The need is for a more attractive and better-paid profession to bring in new talent. In the meantime there is a vicious spiral: no BVPI means no planning delivery grant means no new resources means no BVPI, and so on. For conservation officers in London there is an extra problem. The current bout of reforms at English Heritage is stripping out about a third of the London inspectors, and the most experienced ones at that.Word is that those who survive have been told not to do any more casework, which will be delegated/dumped on the ‘poor bloody infantry’ in the local planning authorities. An already stressful existence will be made rather worse for the officers involved. It will almost certainly result in a reduction in service to our customers and the loss of performance on eight- and 13-week decisions, with a likely consequent loss of planning delivery grant – a further vicious spiral. English Heritage reforms will inevitably weaken the planning system in London.What is the story in other regions? If the answer to NHS waiting lists was more doctors and nurses, and the answer to slow planning decisions was

C O N T E X T 8 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 7 Periodically… The March issue of Context commended the first of two articles in the Journal of Architectural Conservation concerning the conditions required to enable historic windows and doors to remain serviceable rather than be replaced. The articles were based on painstaking and methodical research in Sweden over more than two decades by Sonja and Hans Allback. The couple were initially seeking scientific evidence on the performance of original features to help counter the arguments for replacement with triple glazing. The second article in Vol 10, No 2 (July 2004) makes a compelling case for careful joinery repairs and decoration using linseed-oil paints and putty. The type of flax grown in northern climates produces the ideal linseed oil for external decoration because it is high in linolenic acid. This in turn contributes to faster drying – one of the supposed disadvantages of using paint of this type. Detailed descriptions are provided of the methods of preparation prior to decoration; techniques for the application of linseed-oil based paints to joinery and information about curing times; and valuable detail about such matters as its self-cleaning through chalking and its life-span for storage. The scientific evaluation of exposure to emission risks when used is also explained at length. This is a compelling case for a material and methodology exploiting a sustainable natural resource, allied to practical experience, long-term evaluation and a revival of traditional methods and skills. A logical extension of this is the following article by Viscount Coke. He documents his dissatisfaction with modern paints on the Holkham Estate in Norfolk, the discovery of and satisfaction with the Allback paints, and the decision to import them from Sweden and market them through the formation of Holkham Linseed Paints. The estate has over 300 houses and 50 farm steadings and barns, as well as the Grade I hall. A six-year maintenance cycle of conventional joinery repainting would amount to tackling 50 houses per year. The use of linseed-oil paints would enable the estate to move to a 14-year cycle. The article demonstrates the problems of modern alkyd oil-based paints, the advantages of linseed-oil based paints and the importance of using good traditionally grown Scandinavian pine for repairs. Also of great interest in this issue is John Mansfield’s article on Development in Conservation Policy: the evolving role of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. Many will have registered the hostility towards a role for CABE in the summary of responses to the Heritage Protection Review. Mansfield argues that, having been recently established and having evolved rapidly, CABE has begun to present a more pervasive agenda that goes beyond mere guidance and may threaten the potential introduction of a series of non-regulatory requirements which need to be addressed by developers. The author sets out at some length the problems with CABE’s guidance. This should be required reading by conservation professionals. Reference is made to Moving Towards Excellence in Urban Design and Conservation, where CABE’s 11th-hour involvement to skew the content led to IHBC’s refusal to endorse it, while the Planning Officers Society who initiated it are not even credited. Mansfield concludes that ‘many local planning authorities have not achieved a balance between contextual sensitivity and economic imperatives that is necessary to support the objectives of a larger urban-renaissance programme’. Consequently designers and developers assessing the design risk of development or the redevelopment of conversion schemes in historic centres ‘must now factor in the significant barrier that CABE has come to represent’. (One also wonders what would happen if DCMS secretary of state Tessa Jowell were to merge CABE and English Heritage?) The thematic content of TheVictorian (No 16, July 2004) anticipates the transformation of Sir George Gilbert Scott’s St Pancras Station into the forthcoming Eurostar terminal. IHBC member Roderick Shelton describes the alterations now in progress. Robert Thorne then outlines the proposals to restore the Midland Grand Hotel on which the Victorian Society had fought proposed demolition as long ago as 1978–80. This magnificent building will have particular resonance for many founder members of IHBC as the gothic location for our new institute’s launch in 1997. Also republished is the description from even further in the past (the Victorian Society’s 1966 Annual Report) of the anticipated battle to save the building – unquestionably the campaigning case of that year. Sir Hugh Casson had suggested that for £250,000 the hotel’s 66,000 sq ft of offices could provide a vast students’ hostel, while Dr Schlaffenberg (then Camden Council’s planning officer) said that the adjacent Kings Cross station would make a good indoor sports hall. Other interesting and topical items include advice on how to erect flood defences without defacing a historic building, based in part on English Heritage’s largely unheralded recent Technical Advice Note Flooding and Historic Buildings, and an item on the RIBA Drawings Collection and RIBA/ V&A Architecture Partnership. This is the first time that the national museum of the decorative and applied arts has gone into partnership with and provided a home for a private organisation, whose staff and collections will remain entirely the property and under the control of that institute. The facilities will reopen to the public in the Henry Cole wing of the V&A in November. The SPAB has renamed its newsletter Cornerstone (Vol 25, No 2) with the aim of broadening its appeal outside the membership. Polarised reactions will almost inevitably follow if the tirade by former SPAB scholar and architect Shawn Kholucy about recent cover designs is any measure. The last three depicted ‘a man supposedly from English Heritage’s listing department standing outside a 19th-century fake gothic doorway of the very worst type’ with ‘Disney-style hinges’; a gasometer; and uPVC windows in the process of installation into a clapboard cottage. On safer ground, perhaps, the issue is principally devoted to articles on brickwork, covering familiar ground of manufacture, colour, texture and skills.

8 C O N T E X T 8 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 A notable article worth seeking out by Timothy Easton describes new research findings on the skilled external painting of brickwork commonplace until the 19th century. The issue also provides a checklist of repair and conservation tactics and predominantly Portland limestone interior of St Paul’s Cathedral by Nimbus Conservation of Frome, Somerset, and the use of latex for poulticing the internal facades. Among news items was the securing byWells Cathedral Stonemasons of the last supplies of Beer stone for future work toWinchester and Exeter Cathedrals. Beer comes from a quarry-mine near Sidmouth in South Devon where production will soon cease. This unique stone is unlikely to be available again, but supplies for cathedral restoration requirements will be guaranteed. In future any substitute stone is likely to be French. The June 2004 issue featured conservation of the granite Godolphin House in Cornwall as a result of the largest English Heritage grant ever awarded in that county – £879,000 to bring five years of repair and conservation to a conclusion. On the news front, the issue reported on a new greenfield supply of Clipsham stone in Rutland. It is unusual for a techniques in dealing with Septaria (mudstone) found particularly on East Anglian churches; and technical advice on osmia rufa, the red masonry bee, including information on the extent to which this insect will damage buildings, and the level and types of control that can be used. It is worth repeating an observation in The Theatres Trust Newsletter (No 72, June 2004) by trust director Peter Longman, that ‘nobody knows how the government will decide to divide up the Lottery proceeds after 2009 when Camelot’s second licence expires’.While Longman’s preoccupation is naturally with theatres, he observes that for anyone running a large capital project, 2009 is only just around the corner. A £10 million offer today may well not result in a final claim for payment for at least five years. Longman comments that it is ironic in these circumstances that the Heritage Lottery Fund has been accused of not spending its cash fast enough, and also that it is no wonder that the HLF is now showing signs of caution in taking on big new commitments. (One also wonders what would happen if DCMS secretary of state Tessa Jowell were to merge the HLF with English Heritage?) Although Natural Stone Specialist regularly carries a specific conservation feature, recent issues have also been invaluable for the shorter items on stone supply in particular. The main conservation item in the May 2004 issue describes the cleaning of the to individuals probably leading in due course to publications of interest. Awards include those to Katherine Wheeler-Borum for work on renaissance architectural history and the rise of modernism in Britain; to Joanna Guildi for research on the spaces of privacy in architecture, 1780-1832; to Alan Crawford for research in Berlin on Hermann Muthesius’ interest in the arts and crafts movement; to Dr Vaugh Hart on Vanbrugh; and to Paul Snell on the Victorian architect JD Sedding. Bob Kindred MBE virgin quarry to be opened for the supply of dimensioned stone, possibly because of the six metres of overburden needing to be removed, but there are believed to be 600,000 tonnes of reserves. Elsewhere it is stated that a new company run by Simon Stainer has started supplying Horsham limestone from a new quarry called Theale, particularly for use as roofing. Between 700 and 800 tonnes have already been extracted. Finally, as customarily reported from time to time, the Newsletter of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art (Issue 18, June 2004) has recently announced research awards �� Restoration Yorkshire II Managing the Project Friday 19 November, 10am–4pm King’s Manor, York A one day conference jointly organised by Institute of Historic Building Conservation and Association of Preservation Trusts Theme: Managing the Project. Following last year’s overview of the problems and challenges in saving our regional heritage this year’s conference explores the process of managing the project from first ideas to project completion. Including defining the brief, financing the project, selecting and appointing consultants, applying for grant aid, managing work on site and claiming grant, through to project completion. There will also be case studies including Manor Lodge Sheffield, and Gayle Mill North Yorkshire which were features on this year’s BBC2 Restoration series. Details from Keith Knight ([email protected])

C O N T E X T 8 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 9 STEVE BEE Helping people change historic places appropriately English Heritage believes that its planning and development group’s new structure, process and approach will enable it to provide a better service. The planning and development group of English Heritage provides statutory and non-statutory advice and guidance on the effect of new development on the historic environment. We advise government on the statutory protection of historic places.We allocate and monitor the grant assistance EH provides towards the care of historic places, and we care for EH’s 400-plus historic properties. English Heritage is currently engaged in the most comprehensive review of its structure and service provision since it was created nearly 21 years ago. When we announced a new structure for the planning and development group, as a component of this review, in March this year, I wrote to all our main stakeholders to explain the reasons for doing so. This did not prevent speculation and comment in the press, and elsewhere, about motives and outcomes. This fuelled uncertainty within and beyond EH, so I am grateful for this opportunity to explain the changes we are making in context, in Context. It is not true that EH is withdrawing or reducing its regional presence. In fact we are strengthening it. Planning and development group regional directors will remain the primary contact with regional agencies and local authorities. Regional directors’ current responsibility for managing our properties will be transferred to the new territory level, of which more later. This will allow them to extend their successful engagement with regional partners, developers and local authorities, and strengthen EH’s reputation as a helpful partner in the planning process. The resources available to us to do this are inadequate. Over the past five years our government funding has increased by only three per cent, a substantial reduction in real terms. (The Arts Council for England received an increase of 53 per cent over a similar period). There is no point just complaining – we do, and will continue to, press the case for stronger support for the historic environment from government – but we also have to get on and make best use of what we have. So, like all organisations, we make economies, prioritise our activities, seek synergy through partnership working, and try to be more efficient. To do this, the planning and development group has addressed the three essential components of its service: its culture, systems and structure. Organisational culture In my opinion, the organisational culture has the greatest influence on an organisation’s quality of service. However inefficient its processes, however cumbersome its structure, it can provide a good service if the commitment is there from the organisation as a whole and from individuals with in it. This has tended to be how EH has coped with increasing demands for advice and assistance. Our research shows that EH has a strong reputation for the quality of its advice, but is criticised by a minority of users for being slow and inconsistent. EH is generally accepted as England’s leading authority on the historic environment, but is being stretched ever further to meet the demand for advice. In attempting to respond to all of these, we have raised expectations that we should provide a similar service in all circumstances. Over the past year planning and development staff have strengthened the positive aspects of our culture, so that best practice becomes standard practice. This has included, among over 20 separate initiatives, staff training in customer-focus, launching the planning and development Charter, more consistent procedures, and earlier engagement in the development process. Staff require corporate guidance on how to allocate their time to best effect. Our corporate strategy and principles of conservation, currently being prepared, will help provide this. Operating systems If operating systems are inefficient, we can still provide a good service, but it takes more staff time – time that would be better spent on active engagement. EH has invested £5.5 million over the past two years in new ICT hardware and software. The planning and development group has taken the opportunity to improve Concase, its computerised casework management system. This is now faster, easier to access, and structured to record the more consistent procedures to which we are now working.This ensures that everyone follows the procedures, and the audit trail will help us respond to challenges. We are also investing in GIS (geographical information systems) to bring us up to the level of the best local authorities in providing electronic access to map-based information, at first for staff, but ultimately for everyone, over the web. Structure We might improve our service sufficiently by simply improving our organisational culture and systems. But we would not secure the efficiencies we had predicted (on which investment had been justified), and improvements would not be sustained. The old structure of the planning and development group resulted in some very broad reporting spans and varying differentials between the levels of management. This made communication, up and down, through

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