6 C O N T E X T 1 0 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 7 Periodically… It seems that Marianne Sühr has become the poster-girl of the conservation movement. Having been dubbed Miss Restoration, it seems that no conservation publication can resist eventually putting her on its cover. She recently featured on the cover of the Cornerstone, the SPAB newsletter. Now Marianne appears, club-hammer in hand, on the front of the RICS Building Conservation Journal (Issue 46, June 2007). It is to be hoped that all this encourages more women into the profession, to address a clear and longstanding gender imbalance. The latest issue describes Ms Sühr’s repairs to a neglected timber-framed house for her own occupation in Oxfordshire, including removal of the cement render, replacement of the rotten sole plate and refurbishment of the sash windows with linseed oil paint. Further instalments on the restoration are promised. Also in the issue, David Atkin warns of the dangers of inappropriate sandstone repair in Scotland. This comes in the light of a preventable death from falling masonry, a consequence of poor building workmanship. DavidWatt describes the 80 per cent Defra-funded consolidation of the standing remains of Caister St Edmund’s Roman walls, just south of Norwich. This was undertaken as a special project under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. While the protection of bats in historic buildings is generally well understood, this issue also makes a plea for consideration of swifts, house martins and swallows, which are also protected under theWildlife and Countryside Act. These birds are declining towards extinction and are vulnerable to many types of building renovation operations. An article by Edward Myer suggests sensible measures to help avoid disturbance and recommends seeking professional advice when planning to install artificial nesting places. As has been the case in each of the last two years, the summer issue of the Journal of Architectural Conservation (Vol 13, No 2) has been a special issue. This year it is devoted to the particular technical, political and legislative challenges of conserving modern architecture. Although over the past two decades interest has increased considerably in professional circles, this has not been matched by wider public support. Indeed, in some countries, indifference at best and almost open hostility at worst can be detected towards many post-war buildings of merit. Conserving these buildings has often required a high degree of technical specialism and the development of innovative solutions. Recourse to the tried-and-tested methods of earlier, traditionally-constructed buildings would usually be inappropriate or impractical. Increasingly too, there are concerns about the sustainability of 20th century construction. More stringent energy conservation is needed in buildings built in an era of cheap energy supply, often without an awareness or serious regard to the resources consumed. Legislation and policy are influenced by the socio-political conditions in which they are established. The prevailing conditions raise questions of which and how many buildings and structures should be preserved; the levels of protection to afford; how to resource future repair and maintenance; and who should best undertake it. These factors also vary from culture to culture and according to differing political systems. The survival of important buildings from formerly totalitarian regimes in newly-democratised nations, or structures related to cold-war military operations, poses particular problems of whether they command sufficient political sympathy or public support for their retention. All these cultural, philosophical, technical, environmental and political aspects of modern ‘historic’ buildings are closely intertwined. The papers in this JAC special issue focus on these diverse aspects singly and collectively. John Allen reflects on his involvement over the past 20 years with the repair of many of the iconic modernist buildings of the inter-war and post-war eras. He emphasises that for these buildings to continue to function in an appropriate way, yet to be true to the ideals of their original designers, a balance must be struck between preservation and change. There must also be ‘a sustainable consensus of the stakeholders’, with the statutory authorities on one side and the owners, occupiers and their professional advisors on the other. This should operate for a sustained period. Some projects, Allen argues, require ‘a balancing of seemingly irreconcilable extremes’. It is a testimony to his remarkable successes that, by identifying a working pattern of five types of projects, he can now demonstrate how the differing challenges of each can achieve this equilibrium. He tellingly observes that his practice, embarking on such work 20 years ago, started out ‘like novice skaters who shuffle round the edge of the ice rink clinging on to the barrier for support’. He adds that, when taken with the constraints imposed by formal designation, this may not always serve the ends of conservation. The ability of buildings to evolve to meet new regulatory requirements and new environmental concerns is developed by John Hudson. He explains the adaptation of one of Britain’s tallest post-war commercial buildings, the listed Cooperative Insurance Society Tower in Manchester, to meet the challenges of climate change and
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