40 C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 advice: ‘approach with caution’. Two complementary presentations dealt with energy conservation. Caroline Rye of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), reported some ground-breaking research on retrofitting traditional buildings. A website had been provided for the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance’s report Responsible Retrofit for Traditional Buildings.We were advised that measured U values often showed better thermal efficiency than calculated ones. While internal wall lining could improve thermal performance, the jury was out on the effect of internal wall lining on moisture movement. Traditional construction with solid walls and no damp-proof course was a breathing construction: permeable, allowing absorption and evaporation of moisture, compared to modern construction with its barriers and cavities. Internal insulation interrupted permeability, leading to high moisture levels to which joist ends might be vulnerable. Mould might also form, contributing to respiratory problems for occupants. In solid-walled buildings, heat was predominantly lost through walls and measured as a U value.The government’s Green Deal was underpinned by approved tables. Rye’s research has shown that heat loss when measured is very often less than calculated values in the approved tables, such as for stone and brick. A table of recorded U values is available from SPAB.Without accurate information there could be consequences for fabric degradation and health. As the second half of a double act, Michael Jones of the Portman Estate gave an estate manager’s pragmatic approach to retrofitting and sustainability. The Portman Estate owns 350 predominantly Georgian, Grade II listed buildings in London’sWest End. Jones said that for estate owners the main drivers were the market requirements, legislation and financial considerations. Experience suggested that the market was not demanding low-energy lets, but energy bills, lighting and quality of finishes were important to tenants. Paul Drury of the Drury McPherson Partnership, previously director of English Heritage’s London Region, noted that the project to renovate Forty Hall apparently started to evolve at the same time as his work on English Heritage’s Conservation Principles.This helped to give depth and substance to the notion that conservation was informed change. The project started with a conservation plan, containing research into what existed and how it came to be as it was, and recording of the building and its features. Described by Drury as a ‘country box’, an early example from 1630, on the cusp between medieval and classical, the house was re-cast into a classic Georgian house and refenestrated in 1708. It was altered by the families that lived there throughout the 18th century and then perhaps most dramatically altered by the Bowles family in 1894, with the removal of the principal and secondary staircases. The new arrangement allowed the creation of what we now regard as conventional, private bedrooms in place of the oldfashioned country house enfilade arrangement, each room serving as a link to the next. The proposed removal of this staircase proved to be the most controversial element in the refurbishment of the house. A number of factors combined to support the notion of reinstating the original staircase design and circulation pattern: questions of public access and presentation, and means of escape and the introduction of a lift, all essential to securing the substantial Heritage Lottery funding necessary to the project.While the proposal was soundly based, the result of careful thought and discussion, and was felt to improve both legibility and functionality, this ‘intelligent compromise’ between preserving as found and turning back the clock still generated a moment of ‘oh heavens, what have we done?’ when the Victorian staircase was removed, Drury said. Gary Butler, a conservation architect with specialist knowledge in architectural design and traditional construction and repair techniques, showcased a number of domestic projects that gave a perspective on real life and people’s use and expectations of their homes.The skill of marrying architectural integrity and clients taste was a key theme, which again picked up the thread of solutions requiring intelligent compromise. John Simpson of Ushida Findlay Architects Room Service described the restoration of the St Pancras Hotel. From an initial philosophy of minimum intervention, the stages of significance assessment informed the immense task of conserving and restoring this gothic masterpiece. Conservation principles meshed with the need to upgrade the building’s services for its continued use so that Scott’s Midland Hotel could re-emerge from years of decline. Particularly gratifying were the efforts taken to recreate intricate wall decorations, and the overhaul of the famous staircase.The recreated spaces and interiors of the building are testament to the care and forensic approach taken. JohnWebb, David Hargreaves, Barry Sellers (London Borough of Wandsworth) and ChristineWhite (London Borough of Enfield) The Long Gallery at Temple Newsam House, a Tudor-Jacobean mansion in Leeds with more than 40 restored rooms on view (Photo:Tim Stephens and Allyson McDermott) The drawing room of a 1740s house in Mayfair with a French-style interior installed in the early 1950s. The architect or decorator is unknown. How does one assess the significance of such a room? (Photo: Neil Burton)
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