C O N T E X T 9 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 6 solved. One of these is the issue of vacant accommodation over shops. Early in its existence English Heritage promoted the concept of living over the shop with an effective touring exhibition. But the most ardent and consistent advocate has been Ann Petherick who, as director of Living Over the Shop (based inYork), has run a not-for-profit consultancy, tirelessly chipping away at the issue with local authorities and government departments of varying enthusiasm for what must be approaching a quarter of a century. The emergence of strong resistance to the government’s Pathfinder demolition programme and affordable housebuilding in the south east has highlighted once again that there is space for 300,000 homes above existing vacant commercial premises, but the potential has been largely ignored by ministers.The persuasive arguments are clearly spelled out (yet again) in a helpful article. Statutory casework is at the core of what the society does, and it may often comment without the impact on the final outcome always being clear.This is partly because of the lead-in time for the implementation of alterations – assuming they are done at all. Recently the newsletter has been devoting more space to its casework responses. This is helpful even to readers unfamiliar with the specifics, as the approach becomes clearer. In this issue it has been taken further with the rare opportunity for SPAB to return to churches in order to evaluate the outcomes, several far from happy. (This is a practice the Ancient Monuments Society also does in its invaluable annual Transactions). For practitioners without the luxury of mature reflection and with another immediate case to process, the general lessons gained from such hindsight can be invaluable. If escape from the heat (or the flames) is a theme in this column, it is sad to read in the informative SAVE Newsletter (May 2006) a series of arson attacks on Severall’s Hospital, Colchester. A vigorous campaign had been fought to retain the best buildings of the complex, but the hall has already been lost to fire. SAVE considered the site security to have been too lax. The same issue also gives an update on the continuing high-profile campaigning against the Housing Market Renewal Initiative.The campaign had been so effectively advocated that the might of the ODPM felt obliged to issue a preemptive response before SAVE’s report had even reached them in the post.The sector can clearly bare its teeth to good effect. The Journal of Architectural Conservation (Vol 12, No 2, July 2006) has the luxury of some colour illustrations.This greatly enhances the understanding and appreciation of the technical content. In the previous issue (in relation to the establishment of conservation principles based on nonWestern cultural or social models), Dina D’Ayala and Hui Wang wrote about progress on developing conservation principles in China. In the current issue the same authors deal with Chinese timber. Unsurprisingly, current strategies are strongly influenced by the inherent use of timber in construction.The current official approach enshrined in Chinese law is: ‘the original state can not be changed during intervention’.While this statement highlights that ‘authenticity’ and ‘value’ are attributed to the original state of the building, the interpretation of ‘original state’ can be ambiguous. The paper describes the construction and deterioration problems, and explains the traditional and current practices of timber conservation in relation to accepted conservation philosophy. Examples of some completed projects informatively highlight the issues influencing the choice between replacement and retention in structural repair.The authors conclude that in general ‘conserve as found, as far as possible’ might be a more realistic objective for the preservation of these buildings. One of the crucial issues in conservation is the absolute need to understand original materials and techniques through extensive research and analysis, prior to any attempts to reconstruct a complex scheme, particularly a decorative one. Elizabeth Hirst, Karen Morrissey and Alison Thornton describe the architectural paint research and recreation ofWilliam Burges’ polychromy and design for the restoration of Cardiff Castle’s 1873 clock tower.The tower, an important city landmark, is ornamented with painted and gilded features including clocks, sundials, heraldic shields and life-size human statues representing the planets. The difficulties inherent in the restoration were increased by the original decorative scheme having been lost beneath layers of past re-paintings, each of which had introduced a subtle alteration to the colours and layout intended by the artist. Supported by archival documents and paint research, the original appearance of the statues on the clock tower was gradually revealed, allowing their repainting to be achieved in the unique style of their creator, William Burges. The city of Bath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987, and the Old and NewTowns of Edinburgh in 1995. During that period management plans were not required by UNESCO as part of the nomination process. Surprisingly, published management guidelines for world heritage sites offer no template for the holistic heritage-driven management of such complex urban sites on this scale. Management plans for both cities have now been published, and Dennis Rodwell describes these as a follow up to his article on exemplary management of complex world heritage sites in the Journal of Architectural Conservation in November 2002. Rodwell summarises the approach and key issues that have been addressed in the two published plans, including aspects of their implementation, expectations in relation to theWorld
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