C O N T E X T 1 3 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 4 39 MICHAEL MUNT The aftermath of a fire A fire can provide a chance to re-evaluate a historic building, its uses and its role in the wider urban composition, as well as creating the challenge of how to save its structure. A bad fire in a heritage asset can rob an entire place of part of its collective memory and identity. It throws up many challenges: should we strive to achieve a complete restoration of the lost significance or try to get a passable facsimile, or perhaps a new building that takes over the role of the lost asset, especially in its assimilation into the townscape?While the conservation advisor considers options, the owner or homeless tenant waits to resume occupation.Two fires in the east of England where I had been working as an historic areas advisor for English Heritage recently led me to think more deeply about how we handle fire and its aftermath in historic places. There is little detailed guidance on post-fire procedures. English Heritage has published advice on fire prevention1 and in 2003 issued a report addressing what framework should be used to re-evaluate the situation following the fires at Brighton’sWest Pier.2 It emphasised that this advice ‘would not be inconsistent with similar circumstances elsewhere’ and ‘in addition… that the outcome would be of no little interest beyond Brighton’. The report discussed the restoration work after the fires at Uppark, Chester Rows, Hampton Court andWindsor Castle in the 1990s, and addressed reconstruction (returning a place to an earlier known state involving the introduction of newmaterial). It also referred to the Riga The repaired frontage to West Street in November 2013 30–34West Street at the height of the fire on 7 December 2011 Charter of 2000 relating to Authenticity and Historical Reconstruction in Relationship to Cultural Heritage, and its main principles. As many will recall, the West Pier fires reduced this listed building to a cast-iron frame.Yet after its detailed deliberations the report concluded that ‘the West Pier was the most important pleasure pier ever built in terms of its climactic and seminal engineering design, its architectural ambition and as an enduring social symbol of Brighton as the acme of seaside resorts. Repair and reconstruction would allow these significances to be References 1 S Emery (2004) Fire Safety in Historic Town Centres, English Heritage 2 Richard Morrice (2003) Report into recent practice following catastrophic damage at historic places with particular reference to Brighton’sWest Pier, English Heritage
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