Conservation and urbanism • Patrick Geddes in Edinburgh • The place and planning dimension • Car parking in conservation areas The creative re-use of historic prisons What makes a heritage-at-risk officer? No 150 July 2017 Institute of Historic Building Conservation 150th ISSUE
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© www.ihbc.org.uk @IHBCtweet Registered as a charity in England andWales number 1061593 and in Scotland number SC041945. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England number 3333780. Registered Office: Jubilee House, High Street,Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA Officers President David McDonald, president@ihbc.org.uk Chair James Caird, chair@ihbc.org.uk Vice Chair Kathryn Davies, vchair@ihbc.org.uk Secretary Jo Evans, ihbcsecretary@ihbc.org.uk Treasurer Jill Kerry, treasurer@ihbc.org.uk National Office Director Seán O’Reilly, director@ihbc.org.uk Projects Officer Fiona Newton, projects@ihbc.org.uk Consultations Coordinator consultations@ihbc.org.uk Membership Services Officer Carmen Moran, membershipservices@ihbc.org.uk LETS Officer Kate Kendall, lets@ihbc.org.uk Branch & Events Support Officer Carla Pianese, support@ihbc.org.uk Administration Officer Lydia Porter, admin@ihbc.org.uk Committee Chairs Policy Roy Lewis, policy@ihbc.org.uk Membership & Ethics David Kincaid, membership@ihbc.org.uk Finance & Resources Jill Kerry, resources@ihbc.org.uk EducationAndrew Shepherd, education@ihbc.org.uk Communications & Outreach Dave Chetwyn, communications@ihbc.org.uk Branch Officers North vacant NorthWest Crispin Edwards, 07768 502363 Yorkshire Matthew Bentley, 0113 247 8145 West Midlands vacant East Midlands Roy Lewis, 01623 756623 South Julia Foster, 01296 585888 SouthWest vacant East Anglia vacant South East Sanne Roberts, southeast@ihbc.org.uk London Sheila Stones, 01223 582716 Scotland Paul Zochowski, 01620 827264 Wales John Edwards, 07796 440934 Northern Ireland vacant Republic of Ireland Cormac O’Sullivan, 00353 5677 62907 Conservationandurbanism •PatrickGeddes in Edinburgh •Theplace andplanningdimension •Carparking in conservation areas The creative re-useofhistoricprisons Whatmakes aheritage-at-riskofficer? No150 July2017 InstituteofHistoricBuildingConservation 150th ISSUE Cover: Patrick Geddes’ incremental approach to improving Edinburgh’s Old Town involved the people who lived and worked there, and ensured that they were able to remain (see pages 4 and 19). Drawing by Rob Cowan C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 1 2 Briefing 4 The writer’s voice 4 Letter 5 Out of Context 6 IHBC green panel 7 Periodically 11 Conservation and urbanism 12 Planning for sustainable historic places Dave Chetwyn 15 Car parking in conservation areas Colin Davis 16 Reconciling conservation and sustainable development Sean McEntee 19 Conservative surgery in Edinburgh Steven Robb 23 Liveable Yangon: for whom? Linda Shetabi 27 Rebuilding and reconciliation in Homs Ataa Alsalloum and Iain Jackson 31 The creative re-use of historic prisons Will Holborow 35 Heritage at risk: prevention and cure Dan Longman 39 Notes from the chair 41 Director’s cut 43 Vox pop 45 New member profile 45 New members 46 Book reviews 49 Products and services 52 Advertisers index
Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Michael Taylor, ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com Editorial Board Nigel Crowe Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Rebecca Madgin Fiona Newton Elizabeth Smith Gordon Sorensen Jonathan Taylor Michael Taylor (chair) Green retrofit guest commissioning editor John Edwards Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2017 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Cathedral Communications Limited, High Street, Tisbury,Wiltshire, England SP3 6HA 01747 871717 context@cathcomm.co.uk www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions toContext Context is available to corporate bodies at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £60.00 Elsewhere £90.00 Context on-line archive Past editions of Context can be viewed on the IHBC website six months after publication. The archive provides a searchable database and reference for key articles. See www.ihbc.org.uk/page55/context_archive. 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. Briefing Context themes and copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November. The next three themes and copy deadlines are: IHBC Annual School, September, issue 151 (17 July) Floorscape, November, issue 152 (18 September) Isle of Man, March, issue 153 (12 January) Please contact Michael Taylor at ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com to discuss any editorial submissions or for information about the Context editorial board. 2 C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 150 issues of Context Nigel Barker-Mills writes: Milestones are useful markers of progress and it was deemed fitting by the current editorial board that the 150th issue of Context merits a review of how far we have travelled. In providing this short and personal review I am following a well-trodden path.The last review of Context was provided by Bob Kindred in issue 100 (July 2007). He described the process of transforming what he described as a ‘kitchen-table newsletter’ into a professional institute’s journal. That first newsletter appeared in February 1983 under the editorship of John Fidler. The front cover welcomed readers with an official welcome to the Association of Conservation Officers under a cartoon and the title of Cornerstone. There were two features that have remained central to the publication to the present day: awful puns and great artwork, with both aspects reaching greater heights under its first professional editor (more of which later). Following a couple of years with volunteer editors from the ACO regions, in 1989 HallMcCartney was appointed publisher and Bob Kindred took over as editor. From the very beginning the publication was quarterly. In his decade as editor Bob Kindred, with Gus Astley (assistant editor), Jenny Pearce, Francis Biard and Peter Booth, commissioned editorial, illustrations and advertising to produce a newsletter that rapidly became eagerly awaited. It soon became a source of valuable information for what were often then described as ‘gallant’ conservation officers. Early issues tackled threats posed by new legislation, such as the 1983 Telecommunications Bill and the invention of dish aerials, while also reporting on the formation of new amenity societies and the recruitment of conservation officers to NorthWales. The newsletter became a ‘journal’ in 1989 and marked the 10th anniversary of the ACO in September 1991 with a special issue featuring some still-familiar faces on the front cover.The famous five propping up the dangerous structure were the late Gus Astley, whose memory and contribution to the ACO/IHBC is remembered with the student award; Chris Smith; John Fidler; a nonchalantlooking Mathew Saunders; and John Preston.The journal contained regular features including conference reports, Law and Practice and ‘M’Learned Friend’, in which Charles Mynors reviewed recent decisions in the courts with particular relevance to conservation. Although the journal was now a more substantial publication with colour covers, the editorial matter inside was still in black and white. It was at the Cardiff Annual School in the late 1990s that I was outrageously flattered and soft-soaped by Sarah Higgins, then vice-chair of the IHBC, who was seeking a successor to Bob Kindred as editor of Context. Before I knew it I had agreed to become editor, although in recognition of how far the journal had progressed under his stewardship, an editorial board was to be established and a professional editor appointed to develop the next phase of the publication. Context 66 (June 2000) saw the appointment of Rob Cowan as editor and a redesign notable for an increase in the number and quality of the cartoons as Rob began to make his mark. I particularly liked the cartoon with the reference to Shimizu and the character responding ‘bless you’ (Context 100, July 2007).The pop art cartoon of Eddie 18 C O N T E X T 1 0 0 : J U LY 2 0 0 7 bob kindred beyond the kitchen table Context’s lon est-serving editor reflects on more than a decade spent developing an association’s kitchen-table newsletter into a professional institute’s journal. With hindsight it may be that a single letter I received in early 1984 changed my entire experience of and career-long participation in conservation, and my nearcontinuous direct involvement with the Association of Conservation Officers and the IHBC ever since. I had not met Mike Pearce, the first chair of the ACO, when he wrote out of the blue to ask if I might be prepared to act as deputy to Context editor Jenny Birkett. I was both surprised and reluctant as I had had no previous editorial experience. I was certainly apprehensive when I attended my initial ACO committ e meeti g with established c nservation stalwarts, even though I w s soon put at ease. Publication of Context in the early days of the ACO was something of a kitchen-table operation. Today, as one of the very exclusive group with a complete set of Context, it is instructive to see how relatively quickly the journal developed fr m its humble origins. The first issue appeared in February 1983. The initial seven issues were photocopied, corner-stapled affairs of eight to ten pages, appearing intermittently. Edited by John Fidler, the newsletter circulated to a mailing list that probably did not exceed 200 souls. From August 1987 to April 1989 Context had a series of regional volunteer editors, often working in pairs. They not only coordinated the contributions, but also tried to find appropriate sponsoring advertisers to defray the costs, found local printers, and then stuffed all the mailing envelopes themselves before lugging the whole lot to the post office. This slightly shambolic production system, passing from hand to hand, could not be sustained. The first significant cha ge was the professionalism introduced through Mike Pearce’s contacts with publishers HallMcCartney in Letchworth.With an excellent freelance copy editor Jonathan David and financial help with a new computer for the editor, the new working relationship enabled a proper, regular publishing schedule to be introduced. A consistent house style was established and the process of sourcing advertising was devolved to Hall-McCartney. All this enabled the editor to edit. This production process, beginning with Co text 23 (September 1989), was maintained successfully for over a decade. Quarterly publishing of Context required a balance to be struck between a frequency that would limit production costs for a then still quite small association, andsufficientregularitytokeepmemberswell-informed of professional, technical, and political and p licy developments. This was an era when government consulted with the sector infrequently if at all, and only gradually with ACO as a body of expert opinion.There was certainly no luxury of a 12-week consultation protocol and no easy fac lity to inform members of our views or responses on the occasions when we were called to make them. It was also an era before e-mail (perhaps a mixed blessing) where Heritage Link’s excellent e-newsletter and other almost instant forms Milestones 1983 February: first issue of Context. John Fidler is editor 1987–9 Context edited by a series of regional volunteer editors 1989 Hall-McCartney appointed publisher. Bob Kindred takes over as editor 1999 Bob Kindred steps down as editor. Editorial Board formed, chaired successively by Nigel Barker (1999– 2005), Mike Brown (2005) and Fiona Newton (2006–) 2000 Rob Cowan appointed as editor 2002 Cathedral C mmunications appointed publisher 150th ISSUE
C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 3 Booth alongside his Notes from the Chair inContext 73 (March 2002) was also inspired. The new Out of Context was created in 2000, to be followed some years later by the Vox Pop feature, as the journal continued to evolve. Issue 73, (March 2002) saw the introduction of colour inside, and the appointment of new publishers, Cathedral Communications, as Context continued to go from strength to strength. The establishment of the editorial board enabled the journal to take on a wider perspective as responsibility for planning themes and future issues became a collective one.That perspective could be both thematic, as in the special issue ‘Context 2000’, concentrating on 20th-century heritage to mark the turn of the millennium, or geographic, as demonstrated by issues on American conservation practice and on conservation in other European countries.The breadth of that vision reflected the increasing influence of the IHBC with its work in Romania, and its increasing stature as a professional institute. The six years I chaired the editorial board (1999–2005) were hugely rewarding, particularly because of working with colleagues including Peter de Figueiredo, Mike Taylor, Susan Brook and Nigel Crowe.The looming deadlines, alternate deluges and droughts of editorial material and last-minute scramble for illustrations were all, on the whole, exciting in a good way. But after six years it was right that the challenge should pass on to others, including Mike Brown, Fiona Newton and Mike Taylor, who have continued to develop the journal and ensure that it remains relevant as well as entertaining. Looking back, I remember the excitement of creating the first fullimage cover for ‘Context 2000’, with the dramatic arc of the London Eye and the rakishly angled title, which now seems unremarkable. Similarly, the excitement of the first full-colour issue in 2002 sticks in the memory. But deep inside there remains the disappointment that ‘Have I Got News forYou’ has never alighted onContext as its publication of the week. What has Thimble CollectorsWeekly got that we haven’t? Nigel Barker-Mills is a former chair of the editorial board of Context. A history in 100 places Historic England is asking for help in telling the story of the places that have shaped England’s story. Through ‘Irreplaceable: a history of England in 100 places’, it is appealing for nominations for places, big or small, that deserve a higher profile for ‘the groundbreaking moments in history they have witnessed’. The nominated place must be locatable on a map. It should be something specific such as a building, structure, archaeological site, battlefield or tree, and not a city, town, region or ocean. It need not be well known, but it should have had an impact on local, national or world history. The nominated place can be of any age and it does not need to be on the National Heritage List for England. It could be where an important historical event happened, where a social or cultural trend emerged, or where a scientific discovery was made. New life in the valleys Planning permission has been granted for a mixed-use development in the Stroud valleys designed by Assael Architecture. Stroud District Council hopes that the scheme will promote interest in other disused industrial sites in the 13-mile conservation area that runs along the valleys. The project includes the conversion of the Grade II listed Ham Mill, and the creation of 100 new homes alongside commercial and community space. Ham Mill produced cloth from 1608 to 1900. It was occupied by a carpet manufacturer until 2000, since when it and the surrounding industrial space have remained unoccupied. Design guidance The Design Companion for Planning and Placemaking, a primer ‘for planners, councillors, highway engineers and anyone involved in planning, creating or changing places’, has been published by RIBA Publications. It is intended in some ways to replace the 2000 publication By Design, which was the first government guidance on design in the planning system since 1953. By Design was withdrawn in 2014 on the ground that the role of design in the planning system was now universally understood. The government said that it did not intend to publish printed Ham Mill is to be converted to a mixed-use development.
4 C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 © Science sceptics From Stephen Howard Gray, East Sussex The articles in the May issue of Context on green retrofit were excellent. However, although the thermography equipment and other tools of the trade are new, the science is no different to that taught by Conrad Smith when I was a student at the Brixton School of Building in the 1960s. My concern would be that the science might be too much for members who come from a professional background that is not science-based. This could frustrate appropriate retrofit proposals or falsely endorse inappropriate proposals. FromTwo Friends: Rabindranath Tagore andPatrickGeddes, byArthur Geddes (Patrick’s son), 1961 Together, Patrick Geddes and his wife Anna spent the first 10 years of their married life in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town, among a mixed community of working folk: respectable artisans, rough but decent labourers and also the demoralised and the ‘down and out’, while nearby the barracks in the Castle spread its fringe of pubs and prostitution. The folk dwelt packed into small crowded flats of one to three or four rooms, opening off a multi-storeyed common stair. As a boy 30 years later, I had said of the Old Town’s poverty, suffering smells and squalor, ‘This is almost more than I can bear’. I still remember the look on my mother’s face as she answered quietly, ‘This is nothing to what we knew!’ And when my children say much the same to me I can recall her answer and echo it to them: though all too slowly, improvements have been going on, partly due to the personal efforts of my parents together. What was distinctive in this was that they dwelt and worked among those they wished to help, to teach, and to learn from. With their own small capital for a start, they bought historic dwellings and also ancient ruins which they cleared to make courtyards letting in a glimpse of the sun, where children could play and old folks rest, and graced with a tree and a few flowers, green and bright against the dark, high tenement walls. They lost their capital, of course. But when in later life Geddes replanned old cities with citizens’ money, with public funds in Scotland and then in India, he remembered that in the end ‘it [is] always the poor who pay’. No home was ever pulled down without good cause, unless it could be replaced by a better one. No neighbourhood, no community, should ever be uprooted unless transplantation will renew its life. With the ruins of the past to clear away like rubbish, there is always an element of half-forgotten, half buried heritage to conserve, respect and cherish. The Mid-Cheshire Community Rail Partnership has commissioned a series of 1930s-style railway posters promoting attractions of the Mid-Cheshire Railway Line.They feature scenes of cities such as Chester, Manchester and Stockport, and sites near stations such as the Lion SaltWorks Museum and (seen here) the Anderton Boat Lift. replacement guidance itself, but that the industry was welcome to fill the gap. Urban Design London responded by commissioning the new document. The Design Companion includes a contribution from IHBC president David McDonald on the historic environment, and the book is edited by Context editor Rob Cowan. It provides explanations, examples, tips and practical advice to help the reader understand and apply national design policies and guidance, such as the National Planning Policy Framework and the online Planning Practice Guidance. It draws on Urban Design London’s 11 years’ experience in training planners and placemakers. How would decision makers on listed building applications know which was which? It would be so easy to just say no, rather than risk a mistake. (I recall a conservation officer who could not differentiate between silica, silicon, silicone or siloxane, and thus assumed that they were all harmful to historic fabric.) Scepticism of science, like that of the climate-change-denier currently in theWhite House, is a challenge to our future. Not everyone can have a scientific understanding, but those who do not should get someone who does to advise them, not make (or avoid making) decisions on the basis of ignorance. Stephen Howard Gray Letter
C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 5 ‘LISTED at Grade A, Egyptian Halls is a work of imaginative genius by one of the greatest minds in Scottish architecture, and of great importance to the architectural and social history of Glasgow. But it is owned by a developer constrained by circumstances, while both Historic Scotland and Glasgow City Council seem incapable of positive collaborative action to save the building – although the latter is happy to give public money towards the restoration of both Mackintosh’s School of Art and his WillowTearooms. ‘The current scandalous state of Egyptian Halls is a standing reproach in its designer’s bicentenary year. Glasgow prides itself on once having been European Capital of Culture. The continuing neglect of the legacy of Alexander “Greek”Thomson suggests that its culture does not go very deep. Glasgow must not forget its greatest architect.’ Gavin Stamp writing in Apollo ‘IT SEEMS fair to say that Unesco’s voice has never been properly heard in the city, except perhaps in negative ways. Had Unesco come to speak to people in the intervening years then we might not have ended up with the debate being framed in an either/or binary position between economic development or heritage, civic growth or becoming a museum, progress or being held hostage to the past.’ Gerry Proctor, chair of Engage Liverpool ‘COLSTON in his own lifetime was regarded as a near saint. He’s probably one of the city’s greatest benefactors.We have streets named after him, almshouses named after him, a concert hall named after him, so the whole city bears the imprint of Colston.There are a number of schools that bear his name and a number of charitable bequests that the city has benefited from. ‘It is quite clearly a Colston window. Some of the symbols in there belong to Colston’s life and business interests. Removing the biggest window in the cathedral would be hugely difficult for me. If I can find a way of doing that, I would be perfectly prepared to have that conversation. There are some difficulties I think in us passing judgment about their values.While we still can be clear that slavery is completely wrong, so the business of eradicating Colston’s memory from the city is tricky. ‘[Colston] was involved in a trade that wasn’t considered evil at the time but we now know to be wicked. I think that’s a complicated conversation to have. If we are all going to be judged by the future, we are all going to be found guilty one way or another.’ David Hoyle, dean of Bristol Cathedral, speaking to the Guardian about the campaign to remove the cathedral’s largest biggest stained-glass window because of its close association with the slave trader Edward Colston ‘It’s not as good as the yellow car, but it’s lovely to drive. Hopefully I won’t have any trouble with it, although I never intended to cause a problem with the yellow one.’ Retired dentist Peter Maddox quoted in the Daily Telegraph after he had been accused of ruining the picture-postcard setting of Arlington Row in Bibury, Gloucestershire, which is featured inside UK passports, by parking his yellow car outside his house. ‘THE REQUEST of £30,000 towards the restoration of these bells is considered justified by officers who have cited the positive PR sponsorship may generate and the traditional role of the bells in national occasions.’ Nick Bodger, the City of London Corporation’s head of cultural and visitor development, explaining to the Evening Standard the decision to fund repairs needed to stop the bells of St Paul’s Cathedral falling silent ‘WHILE small bat populations can occupy parts of a church without disturbance, in other cases bats can pose severe financial and social problems for congregations. ‘At a time when churches are increasingly becoming community hubs with a diversity of events and uses, bat droppings can restrict activities, damage historic artefacts, cause hygiene issues and put strain on the volunteers who look after these beautiful buildings. In rare cases large bat roosts have even caused churches to close.’ Ros Kerslake, chief executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund, announcing funding for the five-year Bats in Churches project ‘WE’VE LOST some modern furniture and furnishings, but so far we’ve kept on top of it with historic textiles by utter scrupulous diligence. Our curators are constantly on the lookout, and we have weekly, monthly and major annual conservation cleaning programmes – six-monthly in some properties… ‘One possible source is chimneys. Most of us have open fireplaces, but we don’t light as many fires, so we don’t get them cleaned as regularly. Moths love dead birds – the larvae eat the feathers, the skin and even the flesh. It’s very important to identify the source of an outbreak and then deal with it.’ Amber Xavier-Rowe, head of collections conservation at English Heritage, on the threat from moths ‘BATH ABBEY is one of the best examples of Victorian church restoration by perhaps the era’s most prominent architect – Sir George Gilbert Scott. There is no doubt that removing these pews would harm this Grade I-listed church’s significance, and there is no need for such drastic changes in a thriving church when other options are available. ‘The last decade or so has seen Victorian church schemes ripped out all over the country and once they’re gone they’re gone for good.’ Christopher Costelloe, director of the Victorian Society on proposals to remove pews as part of Bath Abbey ‘Footprint’ plan ‘THE KIND of events we need – big concerts and banquets – are just not possible with fixed pews. Some of them may require no seating at all. ‘Unless we get this increased income we will go bankrupt and have to shut the doors – then no one can enjoy the Victorian or medieval heritage. ‘We are not just stripping out all the pews and throwing them away. All the beautifully carved pew ends will come back as moveable ones and be cherished.’ Canon Neal Barnes, vicar of Hull’s Grade I listed Holy Trinity Church, tells the Daily Mail why the historic pews in England’s largest parish church are being removed.
6 C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 IHBC green panel A shambles of little investment, market failure, and responsibility for retrofit delegated to the industry John Preston writes: The IHBC’s Green Panel has been set up to give the institute a voice, and involvement, in what will arguably be the key issues for the historic environment in the coming years. All older buildings are now potential targets for retrofit measures; historic buildings and the historic environment (and the people and organisations who promote their conservation) are too often seen as obstacles to climatechange adaptation; renewable energy measures have their own impacts on buildings and the wider historic environment; and historic buildings and places have much to offer in terms of sustainable and healthy living. The Green Panel’s activity to date has focused on retrofit but I hope that over time the panel’s membership and activities will be able to cover a broader spectrum. The Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat general election manifestos all reiterated commitments to the Climate Change Act and its targets (including 80 per cent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050), and all included commitments to retrofit. The SNP manifesto was not available at the time of writing, but Labour’s proposal for homeowners to be offered interest-free loans to improve their property replicated a trial scheme already introduced in Scotland with SNP government backing. The stated manifesto commitments were in stark contrast to the current shambles in which there has been little investment, and consequent market failure, since the last government scrapped the Green Deal in 2015 and delegated responsibility for retrofit to industry through the Bonfield Review. Each Home Counts is proceeding slowly towards implementation (or, as others see it, the long grass). Energy Company Obligation (ECO 3), set up to tackle fuel poverty, continues, with a commitment to 21,000 solid-wall insulation installations per year. Whether the headline is climate change or fuel poverty, the clear message is that the traditional building stock will be under ever-increasing pressure for retrofit. The Private Rented Sector Regulations come into full force in April 2018, with both government and the sector woefully unprepared, and as the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) notes: ‘New regulations coming into force in April 2018 are set to make it illegal to rent out properties that do not meet new energy efficiency standards.’ The CLA’s report The Retro Fitup1 is a succinct and devastating critique not only of the situation for private-rented sector properties, but also of SAP ratings and EPCs generally. This report was produced well before the general election was called, but clearly did not reach the writers of the party manifestos. The outcome is that the manifestos included major commitments to reach a standard (Band C), which is based on a flawed assessment and calculation process, and which is not appropriate to the often-rural traditional buildings which are going to be key targets of fuel-poverty initiatives. What to do? The National Trust convened a meeting attended by heritage-sector bodies at which we agreed to write jointly to, and seek an early meeting with the new secretary of state as soon as possible.We also agreed on the urgent need to build contacts with our ‘natural’ counterparts (such as theWorldWildlife Fund and CPRE) to build understanding of the need to press for appropriate (rather than just any) retrofits. The Sustainable Traditional Building Alliance intends to promote repairs and maintenance, and agreement on best practice in retrofit, to enable us to go to the secretary of state with solutions, not just problems. Further evidence of the problems is emerging gradually. At the Redress Project at Fishwick, Preston, for example, £4 million has had to be spent on redress work by E.ON on 62 out of nearly 400 properties. What can the IHBC and its Green Panel bring to the party? One suggestion made in the panel taster sessions at May’s Council+ meeting was that the IHBC could provide a succinct advice note to building owners on how to make older houses more energy efficient and comfortable. The institute and its members in both public and private sectors are well placed both to give advice and hear owners’ experiences, whether through direct professional contacts or through visiting Open Eco-Homes and similar events. Please send me (and through me, to the Green Panel) your ideas and examples, and let me know if you would like to get involved. John Preston, convenor, IHBC Green Panel, and heritage chair, Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance, jpreston@ phonecoop.coop Reference 1 www.cla.org.uk/retrofitup
C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 7 Periodically My previous column dealt with the Victorian Society’s sixth volume of Studies inVictorian Architecture and Design, about the work of William Butterfield. Space did not permit inclusion of an invaluable resume in the accompanying TheVictorian (No 4, March 2017) of one of the thorniest problems of listed building reuse: the redundancy of Church of England churches and potential reuse by other denominations, particularly as mosques. Michael Hall’s arguments are worth summarising at some length. The conversion of chapels into mosques has been successful partly because many nonconformist denominations occupied buildings that did not appear too conventionally ecclesiastical and do not display prominent exterior symbols of Christian use, particularly human depictions. The same can not be said about the great majority of churches. The conversion of former churches for Muslim religious use has been a contentious issue, if anything now more than in the past. Hall argues that it appears to have become virtually impossible for redundant church buildings to be disposed of for religious use by other faiths. The Wakefield Diocese of the Church of England referred the principle of the use of redundant consecrated buildings by other faiths to the General Synod in 1972, after local Muslims had sought permission to convert the redundant and closed late-Victorian St Mary, Savile Town, Dewsbury, into a mosque. A working party set up by the British Council of Churches subsequently recommended that ‘buildings devoted to regular Christian worship should not be made available for the acts of worship of other faiths, while acknowledging possible exceptions should be considered on their merits.’ This recommendation was rejected, but more because of the wording than of the principle. In the case of St Mary’s, the objections to it becoming a mosque were so strong that the church was demolished. A mosque was then built on the site. Further contention arose in 1983 regarding the proposed conversion of the Grade II listed St Luke’s, Southampton, to a Sikh temple, strongly supported at the time by the Bishop of Winchester. The Church Commissioners, who have the final decision about the disposal of church property, sought guidance and proposed a motion to the General Synod that ‘church buildings which have been declared redundant may in appropriate circumstances be made available to those of nonChristian faiths for the purpose of their worship.’ This was carried in the House of Bishops and (narrowly) in the House of Clergy, but lost in the House of Laity, by a vote of 96 to 90. The resulting outcome was a set of guidelines prepared by the Church Commissioners in 1984 that has been adhered to ever since. In essence, when a ‘suitable use’ is sought for a redundant church building, ‘in the light of the unique revelation of God in Jesus Christ; use for worship by adherents of a nonChristian faith is not to be regarded as an evidently suitable use which a diocesan uses committee should seek or prefer to other types of use.’ In principle, such a use is not necessarily wholly excluded if, after wide consultation, the diocesan uses committee and the bishop support such a proposal. Michael Hall argues that the application of the guidelines has been astonishingly rigid. To this day the Church of England has not disposed of a single redundant church for religious use by another faith. Hall states that one reason is the feeling that church buildings still look exactly that, even if no longer in use for Christian worship, so nonChristian worship is a ‘preferred use’. St Mark’s, Coburg Road, Southwark, by Richard Norman Shaw, listed Grade II and converted into the New Peckham Mosque in 1980, seems unlikely to be repeated. Hall notes that the same issues hold true for the Roman Catholic Church. The article states that it is not the Victorian Society’s place to comment on the theological underpinnings of the Church’s arguments against the use of former churches as mosques, but in relation to inter-faith relations and urban renewal, as well as architectural conservation, it finds this deeply regrettable. Looking all the way to 1972 and the background to the Church Commissioners’ guidelines, it appears that the Church of England has been divided on this issue. Hall considers that the guidelines might be deemed to be discriminatory in law, but there seems to be no weakening of the Church’s policy that almost any use of a redundant church, whether as a gym, nightclub or bar, is preferable to a mosque. The latest issue of the Association of Preservation Technology Bulletin: the Journal of Preservation Technology (Vol XLVIII, No 1, 2017) is a special one, taking its inspiration from a conference entitled ‘Preserving
8 C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 Heritage with Tomorrow’s Technologies’, held in San Antonio, Texas, late last year. One of the themes of the conference related to concrete materials, including the various cements and aggregates used in its composition; the history of the material from the 17th through to the 20th centuries; the many forms of concrete, including monolithic structures and precast and concrete-masonry units; innovative construction techniques, including successes and failures; and concrete as a decorative material. These themes are reflected in the articles in the current issue. In the first paper, Thomas E Boothby and Sharyn Clough examine how the design of buildings in general, and building structures in particular, has changed over the past two centuries, proceeding from experiencebased (‘empirical’) design to predictive mathematics and physics-based (‘rational’) design. From a historical review of the design methods used for reinforced concrete, the authors conclude, first, that there are some weaknesses in the design approaches of exclusively rationalist models; second, that there is a ubiquitous role of empiricist elements in all design; and, third, that the ubiquity and inevitability of empiricist elements are necessary to correct idealised designs generated by rationalist design methods. Two good examples are given. The first is at the 19th-century work of WJM Rankine in England and MA Howe in the USA, related to the rationalist methods of building concrete arches. The authors cite the thin concrete shell structures built in the early 1900s, designed by Auguste Perret before the development of a rationalist theory for these was developed. The historical review makes explicit that commitments to empiricism were commonplace, and that structures designed according to those principles performed as well as those contemporary structures conceived according to rationalism. While the design of reinforcedconcrete structures moved from an explicitly empiricist approach in the mid-1800s to a more rationalist approach by the 1900s, implicit appeals to empiricist methods often remain, and for good reason. Because idealised rationalist models can make use of false assumptions, empiricism is needed to correct such assumptions on particular schemes. Rapid advances in digital technology are facilitating cost-effective repairs of features on building facades. Replacing damaged historic architectural features is an involved and expensive process, especially for elaborate ornamentation. While maintaining authenticity is of the utmost importance, heritage professionals are often challenged by owners to seek high-quality repairs that are also cost-effective. The paper by Diego Romero and Alfredo Bustamante focuses on the replacement of 14 high-level ornamental cast-stone spandrel panels from the historic Lancaster Hotel, a 12-storey structure built in 1926 in Houston, Texas. They explain how a cost-effective mapping technique, structure-from-motion photogrammetry, enabled replication of the original panels in order to overcome budgetary and scheduling constraints, and to meeting the difficulty of access at the top of a tall building. The severely deteriorated panels were removed from the facade and replaced by replicas. The new spandrel panels were cast using a rubber mould generated from the photogrammetry model. Although the replicated panels have very slight differences from the originals, the process met the parameters of the project.Where in other instances precise replicas are necessary, photogrammetry remains a viable option provided detailed evaluation is done using professional scanning equipment. Structure-from-motion photogrammetry provided a lowcost option for the non- destructive fabrication of the moulded architectural ornamentation on what a difficult-toaccess location. It shortened the design and fabrication timetable compared to the traditional method of removing a sample, or hand-fabrication of a mould. The technique allowed control of the quality of the finished product by digitally repairing any defects found in the original sample panels, and it removed the risk associated with extracting a sample in good undamaged condition while making a mould. A paper by Jeffrey M Chusid examines the concrete experiments of Joseph Alan Stein in the USA and India. Stein moved from the San Francisco Bay area to India in the 1950s to avoid McCarthyism, giving him the opportunity to experiment and innovate with concrete. The result was buildings that are still widely celebrated for his adept way of building sophisticated modernist structures using small, simple, precast elements. Stein also developed novel ideas around the surfacing of concrete panels with stone chips and hand-rubbed concrete finishes. One of the most interesting papers is by Camilla Mileto and Fernando Vegas, who look at Article 5 of the 1931 Athens Charter for the Restoration of Historic Monuments. This was the first international charter to approve the use of modern technological resources in the preservation of monuments, stating that ‘Modern techniques and materials may be used in restoration work’. The conclusions of the Athens conference also stated in the fifth section that ‘The experts heard various communications concerning the use of modern materials for the consolidation of ancient monuments. They approved the judicious use of all the resources at the disposal of modern techniques and more especially of reinforced concrete’. The fourth section stated that ‘architects and curators of monuments should collaborate with specialists in the physical, chemical and natural sciences with a view to determining the methods to be adopted in specific cases’. Unsurprisingly, this approach was not without its problems. There are differences of view on the philosophy of repair on each side of the Channel. The authors provide an audit trail of the technological preservation resources originating from 19th-century England and France towards the Athens declaration. They also show that the evolving techniques and technologies have been present throughout history. They illustrate this with examples from the buttressing of
C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 9 the Basilica of Sergiopolis, Syria, in the 5th century, via the Pallazo della Ragione, built in the 15th century, and structurally consolidated and stylistically updated by Palladio in the 16th century, through to the use of concrete on the Parthenon and other buildings of the Acropolis of Athens in the 1920s and 1930s. Quentin Collette presents the analysis of the original finishes and complexities of repairing a significant listed, reinforced-concrete house by the Belgian architect Louis De Koninck. The three-storey house, built in 1932 in Uccle, a suburb of Brussels, exhibits an avant-garde cubist geometry. The author notes that today’s heritage practitioners, faced with both practical and theoretical unknowns when renovating early reinforcedconcrete structures, may well ask themselves the following.Why was the building designed that way? How was it built and reinforced? What are the building’s weaknesses? Answering those questions requires a sufficient understanding of the historical, architectural and technological context at the time of the construction of the building. But often this information is lacking, so preliminary investigations are essential in defining the significance of the building and its components. De Koninck had a strong interest in structural design and efficiency. His design philosophy consisted of using a sophisticated building technology to create refined buildings with a high spatial quality. Most of his work featured a careful balance between architectural and structural design. He followed a technical-training course on reinforced concrete at the École Industrielle de Bruxelles to understand the structural behaviour of the new material, and used his skills to design efficient and slender load-bearing elements.With a strong interest in new standardised structural systems for buildings, De Koninck standardised load-bearing masonry walls and substituted traditional masonry with reinforced concrete before focusing on the standardisation of formwork elements. He also invented standardised, prefabricated structural systems for lightweight wood structures and metal-stud walls. Collette shows how these ideas influenced the Dortremont House and explains that, while the architectural design was well documented, little was known about the structural system. Renovation was complicated by recently identified discrepancies in the original 1932 drawings and alterations made without the architect’s approval. The house suffered from squatters between 1966 and 1975, and one rejected restoration scheme in 2006–7. The renovation that new owners began in 2011 forms the basis of the paper. In the final paper, Ann Harrer and Jeffrey Caldwell explain the concrete repairs to the Pilgrimage Theatre in Los Angles. Designed in 1931, this open-air auditorium followed the successful opening of the Hollywood Bowl in 1922. It was intended to provoke an emotional response from patrons by suggesting the gates of Jerusalem. The authors explain the background behind the rather eclectic choice of styles before defining the nature of the recent repair strategy, the nature of the repair programme and the nature of the repairs carried out since 2014. For anyone concerned with the challenges of appropriate repair to historic concrete structures, the paper will be very informative about how the matching concrete repair mixes, design and colour were achieved, and how the form and surface texture of the repairs were arrived at. The latest issue of Construction History: the International Journal of the Construction History Society (Vol 32, No 1, 2017) is wide-ranging. The first article, by Gabri van Tussenbroek, is especially interesting for the valuable but often overlooked resources it highlights. It starts by quoting LF Salzman, well known to some readers for his insightful book Building in England Down to 1540: a documentary history. Salzman wrote in 1952 on the subject of building specifications and contracts: ‘The importance of this series of documents for the study of the organisation and economics of the building industry can hardly be exaggerated’. Nevertheless, building specifications have hardly been the subject of comprehensive studies, by comparison with the design and planning process. Scholarly literature on the whole leaves out the written agreements between client and contractor, but the information on specification and contracts can be invaluable for understanding past and present heritage projects, and understanding the planning and building process. Such documents contain information about form, materials, construction details and appearance of the building.The paper investigates more than 250 building specifications and contracts from the Low Countries, dating from before 1650. They were legal references when it came to quality control or settling conflicts, and virtually all types of clients made use of written agreements. SusanThreader contributes a fascinating account of a little-known episode in the life of the civil engineer Thomas Telford, dealing with responsibilities for Rochester Bridge in succession to John Rennie after Rennie’s death.The paper provides new insights into Telford’s efficiency, his attention to engineering details and specifications, and his personal day-to-day management of construction contracts and employees. Timothy Peters and Stephen Brown explain some of the work of the significant British civil engineer George Robert Jebb (1838–1927), a distinguished, long-lived railway and canal engineer. Jebb was a polymath who fitted his interests in botany, mountaineering and astronomy around a hectic working life. Federica Scibilia provides an analysis of technical and patent literature surrounding advances made in Italy in the field of earthquakeresistant construction systems. Luciano Cardellicchio describes the construction, continued use and development of the Solimene ceramic factory (1956) on the Amalfi coast. Designed by Frank LloydWright’s apprentice Paolo Soleri, this remarkable vertical factory features tree-like columns and exterior walls composed from ceramic vases and bowls produced by the factory. It is an exemplar of organic architecture. Bob Kindred MBE
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C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 11 Editorial: Conservation and urbanism Been there, done that, forgotten it Is there any good idea about urbanism that Patrick Geddes had not already come up with by 1905? We will come back to that question later. Our previous issue of Context (May 2017) focused on green retrofit: making historic buildings more energy-efficient. In this issue we zoom out to look at how the conservation of historic buildings fits into a wider concern: successful urbanism. In writing about such matters it is usually a good discipline to avoid using the word ‘sustainable’. In the 1980s and 90s including that word in the title of a book or an article generally suggested some sort of concern with the uses of resources, and with thinking about the impact of development on people in other places and at future times, as well as here and now. The word communicated something. But after a while it became used as a placebo, free of any real content, merely intended to give a sense of comfort to the writer or the reader. That tendency was accelerated in the UK when in 2012 (in the National Planning Policy Framework) the government at last defined the term ‘sustainable development’. As the word ‘development’ already had a legal definition, the extremely long definition of ‘sustainable development’ in the NPPF constituted a definition of the word ‘sustainable’. The NPPF states that ‘the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development’ and that the policies in paragraphs 18 to 219 of the NPPF (a total of 43 pages, almost the whole of the document) ‘taken as a whole, constitute the government’s view of what sustainable development in England means in practice for the planning system’. That is clear, then: ‘sustainable’ means ‘acceptable’. Which means that the job of planning lawyers is no longer to define what ‘sustainable’ means, but to define what is acceptable in the terms of the NPPF. We offer that cautionary note on the meaning of ‘sustainable’ because discussions of urbanism, such as some of the articles in this issue of Context, still often grapple with that slippery term. Dave Chetwyn (page 12) argues that in the heritage sector sustainable development should be discussed not only in terms of efficient building performance, but also in the wider context of place and planning. ‘Urban design analysis,’ Chetwyn writes, ‘often shows that historic areas have superior characteristics in terms of layouts, mixed-use, concentrations of facilities, permeability and other characteristics. Good planning can build on these qualities.’ Sean McEntee (page 16) provides evidence for that by highlighting a development proposal for Norton Folgate in London. McEntee writes of the need ‘to broaden the perception of built heritage from a specialism concerned with architectural and historic interest to a more coordinated mainstream activity representative of social gains and inclusivity’. Linda Shetabi (page 23) takes us to Myanmar, where ‘liveability’ (meaning quality of life) is the abstract urbanistic word of the moment. (It is not a new term: Jane Austen used it inMansfield Park in 1814 and it has been in use in an urban context since the 1970s). The country needs to think about monuments and tourism, Shetabi writes, but more important is the intangible heritage and social fabric that local populations value. Colin Davis (page 15) focuses on an aspect of urbanism that is a national obsession: parking. Parked cars can be integrated into conservation areas reasonably effectively while conforming to current legislation and rules regarding cars parked on public land, Davis writes. He has some practical suggestions for how it can be done. James Caird (page 39) tell us that even Samuel Pepys had parking problems, and he recalls the insights into the process of urban change offered in the 1960s by Lewis Mumford, Jane Jacobs and Gordon Cullen. Which brings us to Patrick Geddes. Steven Robb (page 19) describes Geddes’ inspired approach to renewing the slums of Edinburgh at the end of the 19th century. What Geddes called ‘conservative surgery’ involved making a place better to live in without sacrificing its historic and architectural value, and without displacing the people who lived there, and those people became actively involved in the process. It took almost a century, and bitter experience of very different approaches (which went under names such as comprehensive redevelopment, urban renewal and urban regeneration), before we began to relearn what Geddes had taught. What is the relationship between conservation and urbanism? Historic buildings contribute to making the places we love. The quality of places we enjoy often lies not just in their historic buildings, but in their wider urban fabric. These days we find it hard to make successful places, when so much development is shaped by big organisations, machine-made buildings, motorised traffic and the supposed fundamental human right to park. Historic places – made by human beings for people on foot – offer us types of environment that we find almost impossible to create today. It would be crazy not to treasure them, and to learn from them how to plan and build today. C O N S E R V A T I O N A N D U R B A N I S M
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