C O N T E X T 1 4 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 45 JOHN EDWARDS Why building conservation needs BS 7913 BS 7913: Guide to the Conservation of Historic Buildings, written by experts representing a range of professional and heritage organisations, is the only UK-wide standard of its type. British Standards are well known within all sectors but perhaps not seen as very relevant to the heritage sector. They can be seen as potentially damaging where they may impose modern thinking and standards which might be inappropriate.There are, however, numerous British and European standards that lay down best practice within the heritage sector, and the one that should have the most positive impact is BS 7913: Guide to the Conservation of Historic Buildings, which was published on 31 December 2013. Unlike any other ‘guide’, this was produced by a broad range of experts from all professions, representing some of the most respected professional and heritage organisations from across the UK, including the IHBC. It went through an extensive public consultation process, which makes it the most authoritative UK-wide guidance on building conservation. As a guide it touches on all essential issues, providing an excellent checklist of the things that should be considered. While building conservation experts who have a broad scope of knowledge should already have this, one must bear in mind that the majority of people who deal with historic and traditional buildings are not experts, and come from the mainstream property and construction industry. They typically will not refer to, say, the English Heritage ‘Principles of Conservation’, because they probably do not even know they exist. But they will have heard about British Standards and will hopefully follow BS 7913: 2013. This means that they will get to understand conservation philosophy, including ‘significance’ and how it is used. They will be directed away from some of the common practices that are unnecessary and damaging, such as solid-wall insulation and cement renders and, we hope, be encouraged to think about the causes of problems like damp, and not automatically install chemical damp-proof courses and such like, when they are rarely required. During the consultation process there was a little criticism about the simple, straightforward language used in the standard, which is unlike many heritage ‘policy’ documents.This is one piece of advice that the drafting panel considered and rejected, as the document was intended to communicate with everyone involved with traditional and historic buildings.That meant using the most appropriate language for this very broad audience. Those involved in controlling and regulating conservation can therefore refer building owners, consultants and contractors to BS 7913 with the knowledge that it is easy to read and contains good, authoritative advice of the kind that they will not see anywhere else in one place. Somerset House, London: heritage impact assessments have been carried out for temporary installations, following BS 7913.
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