Institute of Historic Building Conservation No 106 September 2008 IHBC Annual School in Guildford
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C O N T E X T 1 0 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 1 Context Cover: Bramshill House, HartleyWintney, Hampshire, now a police training college, was included in one of the Annual School tours. (Photo: RobertWalker) Is the IHBC’s mission totally misconceived? Editorial Places – or, rather, the importance to places of managing the spaces between buildings – were the subject of this year’s IHBC Annual School. So it is relevant to note the recently published survey by the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester announcing the happiest and least happy places in the UK. The survey, using data from the British Household Panel Survey, claimed to shed light on what makes people happy or unhappy. Apparently, being unemployed does not make you unhappy, as long as your neighbour is unemployed. Presumably the theory is that you will be pleased to see your neighbour suffer. So on balance you will be reasonably content. Which place did the survey find to be the unhappiest? Edinburgh. Ask a different question: which city in the UK represents the greatest achievement in urban design? Which has the richest heritage? There is a strong case for answering: Edinburgh. The fact that the UK’s best historic city is also the unhappiest place to live surely torpedoes everything that the IHBC stands for. But we should be cautious about accepting that result. For one thing, we know that Edinburgh has never come top in the Crap Towns survey (and the occasion when it came high in the list was the result of an organised campaign of voting by the people of its traditional rival Glasgow). So its status as an unhappy place must be in doubt. More extraordinarily, the team from the universities of Sheffield and Manchester declared that the variations they uncovered between different places in Britain were not statistically significant. In other words, these academics had published results of absolutely no value. This leads us to suspect that there may be a relationship between happiness and the quality of places after all; that the IHBC’s mission is well founded; and that the participants’ time at the annual school in Guildford was well spent. Now read on. 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 tbc email president@ihbc.org.uk Chairman Dave Chetwyn email chair@ihbc.org.uk Vice Chair Sheila Stones email vchair@ihbc.org.uk Secretary Richard Morrice email secretary@ihbc.org.uk Treasurer Michael Knights email treasurer@ihbc.org.uk Membership Secretary Jo Evans email membership@ihbc.org.uk Education Secretary John Preston email education@ihbc.org.uk Publicity Secretary Doug Black email publicity@ihbc.org.uk Law & Practice Coordinator vacant email law@ihbc.org.uk Director Seán O’Reilly email director@ihbc.org.uk Projects Officer Fiona Newton email projects@ihbc.org.uk Consultant Consultations Coordinator James Caird email consultations@ihbc.org.uk Membership Services Officer Devon DeCelles email membershipservices@ihbc.org.uk Administration Officer Lydia Porter email admin@ihbc.org.uk IHBC Committee Chairs Policy Mike Brown email policy@ihbc.org.uk Membership & Ethics Jo Evans email membership@ihbc.org.uk Finance & Resources Richard Morrice email resources@ihbc.org.uk Education John Preston email education@ihbc.org.uk Communications & Outreach vacant email communications@ihbc.org.uk Branch Officers North Geoff Underwood Tel 0191 433 3435 NorthWest Graham Arnold Tel 0151 606 2157 Yorkshire Keith Knight Tel 01904 658482 West Midlands Charles Shapcott Tel 020 7973 3660 East Midlands Roy Lewis tel 01332 591175 South Julia Foster Tel 01296 585888 SouthWest Ian Lund Tel 01380 724911 East Anglia Pippa Colchester Tel 01245 437337 South East David Kincaid Tel 01227 862185 London David McDonald Tel 020 8881 6724 Scotland Charles Strang Tel 01835 822560 Wales Nathan Blanchard Tel 01285 642428 Northern Ireland Sharon BrownTel 028 9754 3087 Republic of Ireland Cormac O’Sullivan Tel 00353 5677 62907 Business Office Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA England Tel 01747 873133 Fax 01747 871718 email admin@ihbc.org.uk Institute ofHistoricBuildingConservation No106 September 2008 IHBC Annual School in Guildford Briefing 2 Astley Student Award 3 Ecclesiastical exemption 4 TheWriter’s Voice 4 Out of Context 4 Letters 5 Periodically 6 EAUH conference report Dennis Rodwell 9 Newcastle Castle Keep Jim Croft 11 Supporting Columns Brian Morton 14 IHBC Annual School 2008 Managing the spaces in between OverviewDavid Kincaid 18 Keynote speech Baroness Andrews 20 Day school Elements of constructive conservation Steve Bee 21 Landscape urbanism Graham Marshall 21 Tools in placemaking Rob Cowan 22 Challenges in spatial management Rhynd Smith 22 Area evaluations John Cattell 23 Building in Context toolbook Nigel Barker 24 Planning trends and placemaking Ben Linscott 25 Seminars and tours Understanding lime 25 Community-led regeneration 25 Restoring historic traditional buildings 27 TheWatts Gallery and Cemetery Chapel 27 IHBC Fringe School 28 Religion and place in Tower Hamlets Lucy O’Reilly 35 Scotland’s architects online Yvonne Hillyard 38 Falling in love with Apafi Manor Jessica Douglas-Home 40 The City Palace Complex, Udaipur Prabha Prabhakar Bhardwaj 46 Notes from the chair 49 Director’s cut 48 Vox pop 50 Book reviews 50 Products and services 53 Advertisers index 56
2 C O N T E X T 1 0 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 Context Briefing Copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November. The deadline for submission of material for the March 2009 edition, Issue 108, is 13 March. Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Fiona Newton 21 George Street, Louth, Lincolnshire LN11 9JU Tel 01507 602567 email editorial@ihbc.org.uk Editorial Board Fiona Newton (chair) Susan Brook (treasurer) Nigel Crowe (main features) Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Michael Taylor (main features) Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2008 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 context@cathcomm.demon.co.uk www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions to Context Context is available to non-members of the IHBC at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £50.00 Elsewhere £75.00 Subscription orders, together with remittances payable to Institute of Historic Building Conservation, should be sent to the IHBC Business Office at Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA. The views expressed in Context are not necessarily held by the IHBC or the publisher. Neither the publisher nor the IHBC shall be under any liability whatsoever in respect of contributed articles. We gratefully acknowledge the support of firms whose advertisements appear throughout this publication.While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this issue of Context is current and correct, neither the IHBC nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions which may occur. Defining curtilage Conservation officers need to take the issue of curtilage a great deal more seriously after the ombudsman required Cherwell District Council to pay £10,000 compensation and review all the Land Charges Register entries for listed buildings, after incorrectly identifying a curtilage-listed building and deciding that alterations to it were unauthorised. Although the ombudsman recognised that the circumstances of this particular case were complicated, it is worth noting a number of points: 1.These situations can potentially arise quite frequently, especially in rural areas where curtilages are often much less precisely defined. 2.The definition of curtilage used in Gardner’s Local Land Charges reference manual is quite rudimentary. It does not appear to reflect the thinking in listed building legal books (such as Charles Mynors’) with respect to current curtilage case law. 3.The definition of curtilage will generally will be a significant factor in future in relation to geographic information systems and the National Property Referencing System. 4. If curtilage has not yet been accurately defined by the local authority for local land charges purposes, this may put the authority at risk of challenge. It could also become a significant workload item for already overstretched conservation officers. 5.This will expose what many rural local planning authorities know to be incorrect, missing or ill-defined list entries, particularly those going back to the 1970s, and potential legal difficulties where consent or remediation action may have been required against wrongly designated buildings. 6.Most important, there will be implications for the transfer of list entries into the new heritage asset register (the so-called ‘legacy designations’: ugh!) where the asset will presumably require a new definitive map boundary (more work, more interpretation, insufficient resources?). The implications of the Cherwell adjudication have been drawn to the attention of Heritage Protection Division at English Heritage and its response to this will be awaited with interest. (Complaint No 06/B/17474 is dated 2 July 2008. In case of difficulty in locating this adjudication on the Local Government Ombudsman’s website, a copy can be obtained from bob. kindred@ipswich.gov.uk.) Bob Kindred MBE Prepare for take-off Airport operator BAA is being forced to remove unsuitable plastic double-glazed windows which it has installed illegally in one of the listed buildings the company owns near Stansted Airport in Essex. Action is being taken against BAA after the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) alerted the local authority to the unauthorised work. The building, a Grade II listed timber-framed and thatched cottage at Woodgates End in Broxted, dates from the 17th century or earlier. Uttlesford District Council is insisting that BAA submit a formal application to replace the windows with more suitable glazing. If it does not comply, BAA could face prosecution. The SPAB has been concerned about the plight of listed buildings owned by BAA near Stansted for some time and will continue to monitor their condition. Shire Hall restored The Grade I listed Shire Hall in Monmouth is being restored with the help of a £3.1 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The work by specialist contractors LinfordBridgeman involves restoring and repairing the structure, replacing the roof and installing a new lift. Built in 1724 to the design of Philip Fisher of Bristol, Shire Hall was the Shire Hall, Monmouth
C O N T E X T 1 0 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 3 Gus Astley Student Award Bob Kindred announcing the awards Auspicious start for the Astleys Many IHBC members will remember with great affection Gus Astley, the institute’s indefatigable membership secretary and former principal conservation officer at Bath, whose untimely death in 2003 shocked and saddened all who knew him. Gus, a former SPAB Lethaby Scholar, worked tirelessly for both the ACO and IHBC, and for a time he was also assistant editor of Context. He gave his time and advice generously and with much good humour to the many members and students with whom he came in contact. The annual award aims to further aspects of the institute close to his heart: the promotion of best practice and raising professional standards, and assisting others in the early stages of their careers. After members and colleagues subscribed generously to a fund in his honour, the institute was delighted to be able to launch the annual Gus Astley Student Award in 2007. This recognised outstanding examples of undergraduate or postgraduate coursework relating to historic environment conservation. The judging panel was delighted with both the number and high quality of the submissions in the inaugural year, which bodes well for the award in the future. It was a great privilege to be able to attend the presentations by some of the candidates on the first day of the 2008 Annual School in Guildford, and those present acclaimed the presentations. It was also an honour to introduce Gus’ widow, Sheila Astley, who had graciously agreed to make the awards. First prize was awarded to David Hills for an extremely comprehensive and thought-provoking evaluation of the approach to managing changes to the exterior and interiors of the more than 2,000 flats that comprise the Grade ll listed Barbican development in the City of London. The judges were impressed not only with the care and depth of Hill’s analysis, but also with the potential to inform the implementation of heritage management agreement proposals in the heritage protection reforms if these are applied to post-war buildings. Second prize was awarded to Aishwarya Tipnis for a beautifully presented and reasoned conservation plan for the Grade B listed St David’s Hall, Dundee. The institute is especially keen to reach people very early in their career, such as undergraduates. IHBC director Seán O’Reilly remarked that there was ‘a growing awareness of how historic environment conservation, for all its challenges, is both a good career move and a practical way to address climate change.’ He said: ‘Conservation is about the future we want, not just the legacy we enjoy.’ It is hoped the ‘Astleys’ will build on this auspicious start, enabling the outstanding work of current students to be recognised and possibly be published in Context, and promoting the work to a much wider audience through assistance with, attendance at and presentation to the annual school. Details of the criteria for the 2008 Gus Astley Student Award (the winners of which will be announced at the 2009 Annual School in Buxton) can be seen on the institute’s website. Bob Kindred MBE on behalf of the Gus Astley Trustees Sheila Astley awarding the second prize to Aishwarya Tipnis. First prize was won by David Hills, seeVox pop, p50. scene of one of the most significant trials in British history when in 1839 John Frost and other Chartists were tried for their involvement in the Newport Chartist riots. The building will become a centre for the interpretation of the story of Monmouth. Inheritance A new report by the INHERIT project provides evidence and good practice guidance on heritage-led regeneration. It explores the value of heritage, looks at different approaches to heritage-led regeneration, and identifies the social and economic benefits that can be achieved. It explains the underlying processes involved in investing in heritage, identifies the ingredients for success, and evaluates EU regional policy on cultural heritage. The INHERIT project is led by the European Association of Historic Towns and Regions in partnership with the cities of Belfast, Newcastle upon Tyne, Göteborg, Verona, Gdansk and Ubeda. The report can be ordered from www. inheritproject.net. Bahá’í recognition UNESCO announced in August that the holy places at the Bahá’í World Centre, comprising 26 buildings in the Haifa/Acre locality of Israel, had been added to the list of world heritage sites. The Bahá’í Faith, which originated in Iran, moved its focus to Palestine in 1868, when the regimes of Iran and Iraq combined to exile and imprison its founder, Mírza Husayn Alí (1817– 1892), who later assumed the title (in Arabic) Bahá’u’lláh, meaning ‘The Glory of God’. Malcolm Lake, a Bahá’í and recentlyretired conservation planner from the south-west of Northern Ireland, has welcomed UNESCO’s recognition of the buildings, many of them dating from only the past 50 years, as being of outstanding universal value. ‘It is in marked contrast with the situation in Iran,’ he told Context. ‘For almost 30 years Iran’s Islamic government has been following a policy of cultural cleansing which, as well as judicially killing over 200 of the faith’s adherents, has involved the bulldozing of many Bahá’í cemeteries and the demolition of buildings associated with the history of the faith.’ Lake said that the most recent destruction had been of the early 19th century ‘house of Mírza Buzurg’, the childhood home in Teherán of Bahá’u’lláh.
4 C O N T E X T 1 0 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 Ecclesiastical exemption and institutional chapels Alongside the other higher-profile impacts of the forthcoming Heritage Protection Bill are some important changes to the way listed chapels at public institutions such as schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, almshouses and prisons are to be protected. Since 1994, article 6 of the Ecclesiastical Exemption (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Order has provided for the ecclesiastical exemption from listed building controls to cover institutional chapels, even where they are not covered by the heritage protection systems of one of the exempt denominations. As a major justification for the retention of the ecclesiastical exemption in the forthcoming legislation is that it provides equivalent protection for historic assets to the secular system of listed building controls, it is now important that this anomalous situation is resolved. It is clear that it was intended that this situation would be only temporary when the order came into effect in 1994. The government published the draft Heritage Protection Bill earlier in the year, and hopes to introduce the bill in the next Parliamentary Session (20089). Assuming the passage of the bill and its eventual implementation, expected in 2010/11, institutional chapels will retain the exemption only where they have elected to be covered by one of the denominational systems of control. Where buildings are used according to the rites of the Church of England, it is possible for the building to be opted in to the church’s faculty jurisdiction under the Care of Places of Worship Measure 1999. A number of college and hospital chapels have already made such an election. Where buildings wish to retain the exemption by opting in to such controls, contact should be made with Jonathan Goodchild, Casework and Law Officer, Cathedral and Church Buildings Division, Church House, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3AZ or on 020 7898 1883. Where a building is used primarily according to the rites of another exempt denomination, it may be possible to opt in to that denomination’s control systems. For further details, contact Jeremy Dann at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport at jeremy.dann@culture.gsi.gov.uk or on 020 7211 2348. If no election is made or it is not possible to be covered by a denominational system, buildings will be subject to local authority registered heritage asset controls (the successor to listed building controls) from the implementation of the Heritage Protection Bill. The DCMS has written to a number of relevant umbrella organisations and to the college chapels of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham to advise of the changes. However, conservation officers are best placed to know of buildings where action might be needed to opt in to denominational controls or where registered asset controls might apply for the first time. The DCMS would be grateful for any measures that conservation officers can take to advise those affected. Other impacts of the changes to the Ecclesiastical Exemption Order are that churches subject to sharing agreements will no longer be exempt, unless they are covered by the heritage protection systems of one of the sharing denominations; and the buildings of religious communities will also need to be subject to a denominational system in order to retain the exemption. Jeremy Dann is senior policy advisor in the Policy, Strategy and Resource Unit of the Culture Team of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. He is happy to advise further. From The Classical Language of Architecture by John Summerson (1963) WHILE Scamozzi echoes Vitruvius in calling the Corinthian ‘virginal’, Sir Henry Wotton, a few years later, distorts him by calling it ‘lascivious’ and ‘decked like a wanton courtezan’, adding that the morals of Corinth were bad anyway. Nevertheless, the Corinthian has always been regarded as female and the Doric as male, with the Ionic in between as something rather unsexed – an aging scholar or a gentle matron. Serlio’s recommendations are perhaps the most specific and consistent. The Doric, he says, should be used for churches dedicated to the more extroverted male saints (St Paul, St Peter or St George) and to militant types in general; the Ionic for matronly saints, neither too tough nor too tender, and also for men of learning; the Corinthian for virgins, most especially the Virgin Mary. ‘YOURTREATMENT of one of the loveliest old houses in Monmouthshire has been described as though it were a property featured in Footballers’ Wives. Having seen what you did the comparison is not inept. By the time your behaviour came to light you had done a great deal of damage to the house. ‘Fixtures intended to improve the property had been added without consideration or sympathy, like painting a moustache on a signed painting or adding a drum-and-bass track to music written by Mozart. ‘Over a considerable period of time you proceeded you treated planning regulations with contempt and as if they did not exist.You have already spent a considerable amount of money – £750,000 – doing your work. Now you will have to spend considerably more in putting it right. ‘For two years your family have not been able to live in the house and they have been subjected to ridicule and vilification.You have been made a public laughing stock, which has had a profound effect on you, your wife and your family. ‘The acquisition of a historic property is a privilege of wealth which goes handin-hand with a responsibility to care for and preserve it. Improvements are consistent with progress but preservation for future generations means it must be carried out carefully and sympathetically. ‘You thought that possessing the resources to buy this property gave you the right not to be bound by such mundane and restrictive considerations.’ Judge Morgan fining businessman Andrew Hazell £40,000, and ordering him to pay £8,470 court costs and to undo the illegal changes to his Grade II listed house The Grondra (see Context 105, July, p40). The Grondra: £750,000 wasted
C O N T E X T 1 0 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 5 Letters… A visit to Mr Bricolage From Peter Fisher I read with interest Dennis Rodwell’s letter in Context 105 (July), in response to Tony Redman’s article in the May issue. Not having read Tony’s article, I do not wish to comment on the substance of the debate, but I feel I must point out one error in Dennis’s letter. Referring to the French bricolage (a much more elegant word than the English ‘DIY’) chain Mr Bricolage, he writes: ‘It is symptomatic of the perception that DIY culture originated in Britain, that the French-based international chain of DIY stores trades under the name of “Mr Bricolage”, not “M Bricolage” as linguistic purists might expect.’ This is not quite correct. Contemporary French usage prefers ‘Mr’ as the abbreviation for ‘Monsieur’, rather than the ‘M’ which was traditional in the past. As a French householder, I can confirm this from bank statements and bills. I do not know the reason for the change but can only suppose that ‘Mr’ avoids any possible confusion between M for Monsieur and M as the initial of a personal name. I think French people would definitely refer to the store as ‘Monsieur Bricolage’ rather than ‘Mister Bricolage’. So it can not be argued, on linguistic grounds, that DIY culture was exported from Britain to France, although that may be the case. I suspect that the phenomenon is probably common to all western countries at a similar stage of development. This leads me to comment on some of the differences between the two countries in terms of planning and conservation. Other than in the case of monuments historiques and secteurs sauvegardés (roughly translatable as conservation areas, but much fewer in number and designated centrally), there is, as in Britain, very little control over domestic alterations. In general terms, a permis de construire is normally required only in the case of erecting or extending a dwelling or domestic curtilage, or adding additional doors and windows. Everything else is permitted development, which gives considerable scope to the brico-depôts to sell their standard modern materials. However, at least in our neck of the woods, DIY does not seem to have had nearly as harmful an effect on the character of domestic buildings as it has in Britain. The mass of French people have either better taste or, as I think more likely, just a less self-conscious approach to house improvement. Either way, one sees less of the sort of poncification or sheer insensitivity all too frequent in Britain. I think a stronger public awareness of regional building styles and materials in France, to some extent recognised by the DIY catalogues, also helps. The downside in France is the proliferation of zones d’activités around the towns. These make out-of-town shopping centres in Britain look positively self-effacing, but they have undoubtedly helped to preserve the character of historic town centres, sauvegardés or not. It is still possible to find good artisans. For really skilled craftspeople working on historic buildings, an organisation called the Compagnons du Devoir (worth a look on Google) arranges on-the-job training on an apprenticeship basis.The apprentices travel from job to job around France and abroad in an almost medieval manner – literally journeymen. Also, as in Britain, there is increasing consciousness of the benefits of using lime. We recently had our house ‘buttered’ (something between pointing and rendering, and looking much more appropriate for rough, uncoursed stonework in France than it would in Britain) in a lime mortar, with excellent results. Our local canton (grouping of communes) has produced and recently updated an excellent ‘design guide’, dealing with both aesthetic and practical matters. The guide, aimed at people restoring derelict houses in the area, does not hesitate to give names of good architects and builders, although it is not mandatory to follow its advice. So there are good and bad sides to the systems of planning control in France, as there are in Britain, although the emphases tend to be different.We in Britain are probably more successful in preventing urban sprawl (green belts and all that), while the French (with a similar population in twice the land area) have always seen aménagement du territoire (planned development) in a more positive light.When it comes to preserving the character of villages and town centres, I think that France definitely has the edge. Peter Fisher
6 C O N T E X T 1 0 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 Periodically… Despite the preoccupation of many heritage professionals with the forthcoming heritage protection reforms, wider issues of sustainability and climate change are exercising others in the sector. From preparation for a zero-carbon world to mitigating for the effects of climate change, publications in the sector are reflecting the new realities. How to make theatre buildings more sustainable was the theme of the Theatres Trust 2008 Conference, reported in the latest issue of Theatres, the trust’s newsletter (No 16, Summer 2008). Two of the exemplars illustrated are iconic, historic listed buildings: London’s National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon. Many of the solutions advocated are straightforward, but costly and complex to implement: modification to lighting; air-conditioning; bettercontrolled natural ventilation; better draught lobbies; appropriate insulation; audience comfort managed by air quality not air temperature; and groundsourced heat pumping. Many pre-war buildings are better built in terms of energy efficiency than their post-war counterparts, but it is not always appropriate to apply new technology to old problems. Sometimes it is about making the existing infrastructure more efficient, maximising inherent building and system characteristics, and using appropriate materials and plant efficiently. Big dramatic gestures do not always make the difference either. Partly it is down to better management, integrating better habits into everyday life. The issue also looks at energy efficiency of theatres as a building type, in order to comply with new government legislation relating to energy performance certificates, to enable UK carbon emissions to be cut by 60 per cent by 2050. Having dealt with fire protection and prevention in the last issue of RICS Building Conservation Journal (April 2008), the current issue (June 2008) deals another disaster type: flooding, a problem becoming a more regular occurrence in the face of climate change. It would appear that in future many historic property owners will have to accept the inevitability of increased flooding. In two articles, Jagjit Singh gives clear and simple advice on approaches to the post-disaster drying-out process for timber and masonry. He emphasises the crucial importance of monitoring throughout, and the associated health and safety issues. IanWainwright of Ecclesiastical Insurance identifies some simple regular maintenance initiatives owners can take. These are more closely related to efficient drainage systems rather than to sudden inundation, but Singh argues that greater patience is required when the latter happens, as the time saved by quick-drying techniques is no compensation for possible lasting damage.Where some buildings regularly flood, he argues, it may not be feasible to continue to restore them. Douglas Kent, the SPAB technical secretary, also advises on how to avoid flood damage and what to do when the worst happens. Nicholas Kelly, who formerly worked in loss adjusting and contentious claims in the insurance industry, demystifies the dark art of loss adjusting. On the subject of what might be called permanent inundation, Howard Jenkins gives a short history of the stabilisation of the foundations of Winchester Cathedral in the water meadows of the River Itchen. Between 1905 and 1912, divers removed the peat around the masonry to stabilise it. One of the divers,WilliamWalker, worked in complete darkness for five of those years, up to 20 feet down in the gravel layer, laying 25,800 cement bags. He received the Royal Victorian Order from King George V in 1912 for his arduous and skilled work. The journal showcases the work of Bill Sargent, one of the most skilled and imaginative pargetters in East Anglia. Sargent is worried about the future for skilled craftspeople. Many who have become involved in the past 10 years are inept, he writes. ‘The building trade abounds with these so-called experts. Conservation needs to be regulated. It’s our heritage and culture they are messing up.’ Anyone involved with public realm environmental improvements that incorporate hard landscaping should be aware of the new British Standard BS7533 and the implications for the types of materials used. The new standard covers pavements constructed with clay, natural stone or concrete pavers. As explained in Natural Stone Specialist (May 2008), specifiers or contractors wishing to comply will have to abandon site-mixed bedding and jointing materials. The use of pre-blended low modulus mortar that can meet the specification is
C O N T E X T 1 0 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 7 a must. The drawback is that a constant supply of bagged materials – sometimes in two parts – is expensive and difficult to accommodate in confined areas. One solution is to use a silo, common on construction sites but until recently not adapted for use in hard landscaping. The June issue of Natural Stone Specialist features current developments in molecular chemistry related to staining and cleaning of stone. These use ‘van der Waals forces’, the forces that hold a substance together through the attraction of opposites: in the case of stone, the negative and positive charges within each molecule. These forces explain how impregnators work in preventing liquids from soaking into stone. The treatments are said not to result in an uneven build-up on the surface because they are not surface coatings. Some of these applications use electrolytic technology to restore the surface polarity of the stone. This is useful in slip resistance. Other applications will remove rust stains (stains from discarded old nails are illustrated) from stone without using acid or damaging the surface. The July issue of Natural Stone Specialist expresses concerns about the downturn in funding for heritage projects, reflecting that the recession in the 1990s may be with us again. At that time the albeit slim pickings of conservation work proved to be a safety net for many stone companies. If there is a looming recession, big companies which have spent a decade or more on new build will take a greater interest in the heritage sector.With greater price competition, the specialist firms will have to tighten up. This coincides with the reduction in Heritage Lottery Fund grants, and the modest increase in English Heritage funding primarily directed toward the heritage reforms and the listed places of worship scheme (itself substantially bankrolled by the HLF). The same article also refers to English Heritage’s ‘Strategic Stone Study, intended to map all the sources of building stone in the UK (sic) and identify the stones used on specific buildings’ (involving the British Geological Survey, CLG and BRE. This would clarify the position of local availability and assist in repair and new construction, which would bolster local distinctiveness. Natural Stone Specialist describes the start of the project as ‘inauspicious’, with wrangles over contracts between the two organisations. Pilot projects commenced in Derbyshire,Warwickshire and Herefordshire last September, followed by Dorset. The British Geological Survey hoped that the information would start appearing on the internet around December 2007, but it did not and still has not at the time of writing. It appears that the amount of work required was seriously underestimated and ‘a degree of flexibility’ over the timescale to complete the work is now needed. To keep the cost down, volunteers from local organisations (especially geological societies) are carrying out much of the research. In Cornerstone, the newsletter of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (Volume 29, No 2 2008), Philip Venning continues to expresses the society’s concern about the Heritage Bill: scepticism about it being adequately resourced – ‘very much a case of fingers crossed’ – and the possibility of the new system running side-by-side with the old one for a very long time. The role of the national amenity societies has not received as much attention in the press as English Heritage or the local authorities, despite the vital statutory role they play in the process. A further article by Matthew Slocombe also queries how the reforms will function without proper funding and what the changes will mean for the SPAB. Given the SPAB’s statutory role, conservation professionals will find this an interesting exposition of its concerns. Another worry to the society is the recent publication of English Heritage’s Conservation Principles. SPAB has deep reservations about the section on restoration (in the pejorative sense) and points out that, far from being academic, the principles go to the heart of what English Heritage will permit and why. Venning recounts a former English Heritage chief executive saying that, with some exceptions, the organisation worked broadly to SPAB’s rather ‘austere principles’, but adding that within the organisation there were some who believed that the SPAB view had been too dominant, with too much emphasis placed on historic fabric at the expense of historic design. For the SPAB this rings alarm bells: ‘the frustrated restorers must be kept at bay’. Venning concludes that the problem of restoration is an unavoidable and insoluble one; that significance and values are subjective, and depend on who is making the judgment. He reminds us, in the 50th anniversary year of the Victorian Society, of the low value attached to 19th century buildings in the post-war period. For SPAB, the alternative to restoration is protection. In the words of the SPAB manifesto: ‘Thus only can we protect our ancient buildings, and hand them down instructive and venerable to those who come after us.’ During the year, Cornerstone is focusing on the overlooked art form of medieval metalwork. The issue has many fine photographs of important survivals. An article by Peter Rumley, author of SPAB’s recent technical pamphlet (No 17) on the conservation of leadwork, identifies the alarming state of the craft. He states that plumbing leadwork is completely neglected and asks who will in future undertake lead wiped joints, soldering, fabrication, gilding and casting? Within 10 years, he claims, the senior practitioners, who had traditional apprenticeships in these techniques, will have passed away. It seems that the CITB, SummitSkills, the All Party
8 C O N T E X T 1 0 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 Building Services Engineering Group and the government persistently fail to listen to pleas for leadwork training. It is ‘a mess’ and ‘those people involved in the provision of training of our traditional skills should be ashamed of themselves’. It has a familiar ring, don’t you think? The sheer diversity of conservation issues is amply demonstrated in the current issue of The Journal of Architectural Conservation (Vol 14, No 2, July 2008). Keith Gardner gives a detailed and graphic account of the tortuous negotiations and disagreements over the approach to the proposed 2005 demolition and rebuilding or repair of the chimneys of Battersea Power Station. This monumental west London industrial building, built in phases between 1929 and 1933 but with its fourth chimney added only in 1955, became redundant in 1983. One of the first post-war buildings to be listed, it is now Grade II*. It is building for which the epithet ‘iconic’ seems fully justified but its future remains extremely precarious. The article deals with the disagreements between Parkview, the owners between 1993 and 2006, and its professional advisors; English Heritage; Wandsworth Borough Council; the Twentieth Century Society; and the Battersea Power Station Community Group. It usually goes without saying that the success of many projects rests on sound understanding of the history of a site, its significance, the materials and structure of its construction, and a coordinated, multi-disciplinary evaluation. Elizabeth Hirst tells the story of the sevenyear restoration of Cusworth Hall, owned by Doncaster Council, which was completed last year. The article provides an excellent illustration of how a logically phased programme has achieved the required aims. It focuses on the re-presentation of the interior decoration of the 18th century chapel by James Paine, including the discovery of hidden figurative ceiling paintings, the importance of phased research and investigation, and the range of skills required to deal with the suspension and repair of the plaster ceiling; the conservation and reinstatement of the large ceiling oil painting; redecoration using bespoke lead paints; and materials analysis leading to the repair and stabilisation of the original red plaster floor. Buildings are not always buildings. Sometimes they are ships. Gina Crevello and Paul Noyce describe the trials for the electrolytic treatment of corrosion to the wrought-iron frame accelerated by chlorides on the Cutty Sark (Grade I listed). The intention of the original conservation plan was to carry out electrolysis for chloride ion removal in vulnerable areas. Although the serious fire that swept through the hull of this famous tea-clipper in May 2007 changed the scope of the work, the authors consider the concepts and treatments. The system parameters and design underpinning the research to date have shown very promising results. The authors discuss the detailed results and conclusions, and the relevant postfire considerations. This year, Liverpool is European City of Culture: ‘TheWorld in One City’, according to its slogan. The recovery of many parts of its historic urban landscape were on display to the many Context readers who attended last year’s IHBC Annual School. Dennis Rodwell, who spoke at that school, has reviewed the wide issues of urban regeneration and the management of change in the city against the background of the threats posed to the world heritage site inscribed as ‘the supreme example of a commercial port at the time of Britain’s greatest global influence’. These threats are identified as tall buildings and ‘iconic’ modern architecture in relation to the concept of ‘historic urban landscape’ (a UNESCO World Heritage Centre initiative aimed at the protection of urban identity at the scale of cities, rather than within the narrower British concept of conservation areas). It throws the issue into sharp relief in relation to the current debate about the need for and likely effectiveness of planning ‘buffer zones’ around world heritage sites. The continuing celebrations of the Victorian Society’s 50th anniversary include its AGM in Leeds and TheVictorian (July 2008, No 28). This issue is largely devoted to ‘northern grit’ – Leeds andWest Yorkshire. Richard Pollard describes some of the highlights, reassessments and discoveries in the forthcoming revision to Pevsner’s Buildings of England series Yorkshire: the West Riding, which was first published in 1959 and revised by Enid Radcliffe in 1967. TheWest Riding disappeared in the 1974 government reorganisation but it is pleasing to see the historic name live on. Since then the landscapes and townscapes synonymous with steel, coal and textiles, and the polarities of high Victorian prosperity and grinding poverty, have been utterly transformed. The architectural legacy is equally varied. With structural changes in the economy and society come oftenintractable problems of building redundancy. Mike Green, of the society’s northern buildings committee presents the current issues with statutory casework in Huddersfield. MartinWard of architects BDP describes the refurbishment of Leeds Grand Theatre, one of the country’s largest provincial theatres. The works involve Leeds City Council, which owns it; Leeds Grand Theatre Trust, which runs it; Opera North, whose home it has been since 1977, and grant-funding bodies, the Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund andYorkshire Forward. Originally the theatre crammed in 2,600 patrons but it can still seat 1,450. Bob Kindred MBE
C O N T E X T 1 0 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 9 European Association for Urban History conference, Lyon Picking up the threads in Lyon The European Association for Urban History (EAUH) was founded in 1989. The first of its biennial conferences was held in Amsterdam in 1992, Edinburgh hosted the sixth in 2002, and the ninth was held this August in Lyon.The event has become a major meeting place for academics and practitioners from many disciplines: historians and geographers, sociologists and economists, anthropologists and ecologists, archivists and heritage specialists, architects and urban planners. This year’s conference, under the theme ‘Comparative History of European Cities’, attracted over 500 participants from 40 countries, many of them from well outside Europe.This gave an opportunity to set the main theme into the context of European-inspired urban developments in Africa, the Americas and Asia, and to explore common themes such as port cities, 20th and 21st century migration and urban expansion at a stage in history when, for the first time, over half the world’s population lives in cities. The conference programme itself was intimidating to the uninitiated. With 56 sessions and discussion groups condensed into three strictly timetabled days, it was only possible to join a limited number of these.The organisation of these conferences is such, however, that presenters submit their written texts at least two months in advance.These are then posted on the conference website, and participants are given a memory stick when they arrive.This eases the passage of what would otherwise be a Lyon: view across the river Rhône to the historic centre In serious decline by the early 1960s, the medieval Saint-Jean quarter was one of the first of France’s historic city centres to benefit under the 1962 Loi Malraux, the measure that also underpinned the renaissance of the Marais quarter of Paris, the lower town of Chartres, and historic areas across the country.
10 C O N T E X T 1 0 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 daunting marathon. For me, the most interesting sessions and papers were those that concerned the influence that history plays in how cities function and look after their heritage today; and how their past influences both the conscious and the subconscious choices made by civic leaders and citizens for the present and future. Many cities across all regions of Europe have lost the manufacturing industries that caused them to develop as urbanised centres; and historic port cities around the world, such as Lagos, Baltimore and Hong Kong, have frequently lost their initial raison d’être (principally as the result of changing working practices and containerisation) and have redefined themselves, especially in the historical relationship between their built environment and human activities at their waterfronts. Examples were presented of several smaller and less well-known cities across Europe that have been inspired by a revival and re-interpretation of their historic roles and traditions. Oulu in Finland, 300 km south of the Arctic Circle, was a river and maritime trading centre based on timber, salmon, furs and hides until it fell into serious decline by the 1970s. It has since evolved into a major centre for research and development in fields related to satellite technology and mobile telephones: a re-invention of the historical role of Oulu as a centre of communication. The city’s pioneering spirit and new selfimage have been encouraged by regional economic development policies that offer a high degree of fiscal autonomy and favour initiatives taken at local level over those generated or imposed by national government. One has to ask whether similar policies in England would not help to address the north-south divide. The northern Croatian city of Varaždin, which was founded as a military stronghold in the early 1200s, became an economic then administrative centre. In the 19th century it developed flourishing craft and manufacturing industries, and has a rich heritage from the baroque period. In 1999, as part of the city’s cultural renaissance and tourism promotion,Varaždin revived the medieval concept of a ‘Street Strollers’ Festival’. For 10 days each September this transforms the historic centre and neighbouring streets and squares into a giant outdoor stage set for interactive and spontaneous performance by musicians, actors and entertainers. It adds a new dimension to the life of the city. In 2007, 250 events involving 1,600 performers from 20 countries attracted 200,000 visitors to Varaždin. Lyon, the venue for this year’s EAUH conference, is itself both a laboratory and a witness to cultural and socioeconomic continuity.The medieval Saint-Jean quarter of the historic centre, which had become seriously dilapidated and partly abandoned, was one of the first of the secteurs sauvegardés to be designated under the 1962 Loi Malraux. It witnessed what was seen at the time as a remarkable revival in its fortunes. Trompe l’oeil murals have a long history in Lyon dating back to the renaissance. Today, the association of artists (Cité de la Création) of Lyon, funded by a public-private partnership that includes sponsorship from the financial, manufacturing and construction sectors, is responsible for a continuing programme of painting and periodic re-painting of scores of otherwise blank gable and other walls across the city. Invariably dramatic and colourful, often totally deceptive until one is close up, many of these murals relate Lyon’s position as a city of innovation and innovators.They portray the city’s role in the cinematograph, printing and textile industries, and famous citizens such as the renaissance architect Philibert de l’Orme and writer François Rabelais, and the 20th century city planner Tony Garnier. Lyon lies at the confluence of three rivers that flow into it from the north: two natural rivers, the Rhône and the Saône, and one man-made, Beaujolais wine. From the 16th century onwards Lyon became famous as a centre for the production and manufacture of silk, becoming known as the ‘silk capital of the world’.Today, the silk industry has all but disappeared. In 1900 it employed 40,000 workers; now, around a dozen undertake commissions. Nevertheless, Lyon today leads Europe in the manufacture of artificial and high technology fibres, including fibre optics, and remains an important centre for the fashion industry.The ‘threads’ of three rivers and of fibres continue to drive the prosperity of a city that is third in the population table of French cities after Paris and Marseille, and second in terms of its metropolitan area. An understanding of urban history has an important part to play in today’s management and tomorrow’s success of historic cities. Heritage-led regeneration is not just about the buildings and tourism. The tenth conference of the EAUH, to be held in Ghent, Belgium, from 1 to 4 September 2010, will have as its theme ‘City and Society in European History’. Dennis Rodwell is an architect-planner and cultural heritage consultant. Trompe l’oeil murals are an important feature of today’s Lyon, from the historic centre to the city’s social housing districts. Reviving an old tradition in the city, blank lower walls and entire gables display a wide range of depictive, imaginative and fantastical images.
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