Institute of Historic Building Conservation No 128 March 2013 The heritage of leisure Lord Berwick and John Nash at Attingham Crowsteps in Fife
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C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 1 Cover: The Newcastle Royal Theatre (Photo: Ian Grundy) See Mark Price’s article on conserving theatres (page 20). Editorial www.ihbc.org.uk 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: 3 Stafford Road,TunbridgeWells, Kent TN2 4QZ. 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Sometimes the building or place is special because it was made with thought and care by someone who may not have any idea that they were doing anything special at all. Sometimes it is special because of what happened there. The heritage of leisure is special because it relates to what we do in our free time. It expresses something about how we choose to enjoy other people’s company, and how we find fun and inspiration.The leisure heritage is especially vulnerable, though.Tastes change.Technology changes.Those who provide arts and entertainment find new ways to attract us. Breweries seek new ways of competing with alternatives to an evening in the pub. In Glasgow’s Lauriston Bar in the 1960s, formica-topped tables and bar counter, a curved suspended structure above the bar and the latest ceiling panelling seemed just the thing.Today, as Paul Ainsworth explains (page 16), the bar’s attraction is not that it has the latest design, but that it is perhaps the most intact 1960s pub still existing. It will survive if the customers and the brewery appreciate that. Theatres, too, have to compete with new forms of entertainment and leisure activity.The risk is that, even if a theatre building escapes destruction, it will become incapable of ever being returned to full working life. Mark Price (page 20) explains what needs to be done to make this possible and tells of some sleeping beauties that have been reawakened to exert their charms once more. Anya Chapman (page 24) describes a particularly strange and vulnerable type of leisure building: the seaside amusement arcade. Exhilaratingly tacky, they are a delightful manifestation of popular culture. But, Chapman writes, they have faced problems of a poor public image, with a reputation for antisocial behaviour and low-level criminality. ‘A number of studies within the UK portrayed seaside arcades as dangerous and unsafe, venues for immoral or illegal activities, and encouraging problem gambling behaviour among children and adolescents.’ Not surprisingly, this has deterred families from visiting seaside amusement arcades, depriving them of an important potential market. Many historic pubs and theatres are under threat, but the future of seaside amusement arcades seems even more precarious. No amusement arcade has listed status. Even the word ‘amusement’ seems to come from another era. If ever the last mechanical grab fails for a last time to pick up that pink fluffy bunny, and the last pile of pennies is saved at last from its imminent (but never-occurring) toppling into a chute, we will miss the arcades’ seedy, faded magic.
2 C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Fiona Newton 21 George Street, Louth, Lincolnshire LN11 9JU Tel 01507 602567 email editorial@ihbc.org.uk Editorial Board Fiona Newton (chair) Nigel Crowe (main features) Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Michael Taylor (main features) Rebecca Madgin Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2013 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Published for the Institute of Historic Building Conservation by Cathedral Communications Limited, High Street, Tisbury,Wiltshire, England SP3 6HA Tel 01747 871717 Fax 01747 871718 email context@cathcomm.co.uk www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions to Context Context is available to corporate bodies at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £60.00 Elsewhere £90.00 Subscription orders, together with remittances payable to Institute of Historic Building Conservation, should be sent to the IHBC Business Office at Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA. 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 Copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November. The copy deadlines in 2013 are: May, Issue 129 15 March July, Issue 130 17 May September, Issue 131 19 July November, Issue 132 13 September CONTEXT READER SURVEY Let us know what you think about Context. Please take a minute to fill in our survey. www.surveymonkey.com/s/contextsurvey Heritage of copper In the late 18th and early 19th centuries Amlwch, on the north coast of Anglesey, was the world’s leading exporter of copper. It provided a wide wharf with a road above it from which wagons tipped the copper ore down the rock face through timber chutes into copper storage bins on the quayside below. Over time, the supply of rich copper ore diminished and industrially active areas became derelict wasteland. The bin sheds decayed and became overgrown. The Grade II listed historic monument has now been incorporated into an Amlwch Port Visitor Centre by the rural development agency Menter Môn, the Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust and Isle of Anglesey County Council. Design and conservation were by Donald Insall Associates. Only one historic timber chute remained on the quayside, and it was in a ruinous condition. The chutes were an integral link to describe and illustrate the system of tipping the copper ore down the rock face, so all vertical circulation within the visitor centre is by a series of oversized replica timber chutes, one within each bin, as originally. The new building is a bespoke steel structure, anchored into the wet copperstained rock face. Kelmarsh recycled The dating of Kelmarsh Hall’s roof timbers has revealed that a quantity of the wood was re-used from the hall’s predecessor, a 17th century manor house building that was part of the Northamptonshire estate. The roof covering on the Grade I listed James Gibbs hall is currently being replaced. Dendrochronology showed that the present covering re-uses a substantial quantity of timber from the hall’s original roof, known to have been put in place when the building was completed in 1732. A smaller quantity of timber is shown to have been re-used from the predecessor to Kelmarsh Hall, a manor house known to have existed in 1618. The roof was completely remodelled in 1820 when the original roof was raised to provide a second floor suite of rooms. The timber re-used from the Amlwch PortVisitors Centre: copper ore was tipped down timber chutes. (Photo: Dewi Glyn Jones)
C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 3 hall’s original 18th century roof is shown by redundant mortises, peg holes and carpenters’ assembly marks. The timbers re-used from the earlier manor house – which was demolished to make way for the present hall – are different to the rest of the structure, being rougher and less well trimmed. The roof renovation work is funded by the Kelmarsh Trust. TheWestmoreland green slates are being replaced like for like, insulation and ventilation has been incorporated to reduce the risk of condensation, and the roof’s existing lead has been removed, recast and re-used. Work in progress The Orb displays five newly conserved stained glass panels fromYork Minster’s medieval Great East Window. It allows visitors to see the restored panels up close during the course of the project, displaying a newly restored panel in the central position each month, to complement the outer four panels. The Orb will remain in place until the window’s restoration is completed in 2016. The framework to support and display the stained glass was designed by IWF. IHBC award for Florrie A 10-year restoration project to bring one of the earliest surviving purposedesigned Lads Clubs in Britain back into use has won the IHBC North West Award for Conservation. Liverpool’s Grade II listed Florence Institute, known locally as the Florrie, was built in 1889 by Bernard Hall, a former mayor of the city, in memory of his daughter Florence. It comprised a hall, a gym, boxing facilities and offices. Closed for nearly 25 years, derelict and partly burnt-out, the building has been restored to provide flexible uses echoing its original incarnation. A striking feature of the restoration has been the reinstatement of the copper dome, based on design details recorded in a single photograph taken around the turn of the 20th century. Purcell was the consultant. Grenoside reading room The Reading Room at Grenoside near Sheffield, built in 1737, is being renovated with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. William Anelay is the contractor. Originally a school, the Grade II listed building became a reading room and library in 1893. It will be converted a hub for the local community, providing learning activities focused on heritage and conservation. Kelmarsh Hall: dendrochronological surprise Grenoside Reading Room will become a community hub.
4 C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 ‘THE BASIC design concept is that the building would look like a Victorian public house converted to residential use. This approach recognises the site’s history of pub use but it appears that the building itself would bear no resemblance to anything that had been on the site. Indeed, the design and access statement describes it as “fake history”. ‘While acknowledging that the design echoes certain local features and materials, the overall effect is bland and uninspiring. The proposal represents an opportunity lost to provide a building of quality and originality that would add to the variety characteristic of the area and make a positive contribution to the conservation area.’ A planning inspector’s decision letter dismissing an appeal for a site in Mitcham, south London ‘ENGLISH Heritage remains committed to the blue plaques scheme that has done so much to inspire Londoners and visitors with the history of the capital and its inhabitants.’ From English Heritage’s announcement that it is discontinuing the blue plaques scheme ‘LONDON-CENTRIC media reporting capital’s blue plaques scheme suspended by English Heritage as if it was national story.’ David Tittle (@dxMADE) on Twitter ‘THE ONLY building worth looking at for miles, and loved by anyone who can’t smell it.’ Ian Martin describing Preston bus station in the Architects’ Journal ‘BE CERTAIN that the Taliban in Afghanistan target the rock-cut Buddhas of Bamiyan with exactly the same sense of resentment against their perpetual peace, as certain thrusters in Glasgow seek to expel the statues from George Square. The thunderball pace with which the re-design of this already highly brutalised place is being pursued is being led by the central idea of having the statues taken away. ‘The statuary of George Square must remain present in the square. They ought not suffer eviction on account of some devious creative initiative pursued in servility to a sports festival on the one hand, and a superannuated idea of civicdesign progress on the other. ‘The revolting expression “fit for purpose” has constantly been voiced by the advocates of statue-felling in Glasgow, and by sounding this phrase they show that they embrace the functionalist ethic that destroys culture.’ Neoclassical sculptor Sandy Stoddart on Glasgow City Council’s proposal to remove historic statues from George Square ‘1. APOLLO lunar surface landing and roving hardware; 2. Unmanned lunar surface landing sites (eg Surveyor robotic landing sites) and impact sites, such as those of NASA’s Ranger spacecraft, as well as the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) that slammed into the moon in October 2009; 3. US government experiments left on the lunar surface, tools, equipment, miscellaneous moonwalking gear; and 4. Specific indicators of US human, human-robotic lunar presence, including footprints and rover tracks.’ NASA’s list of features and artefacts on the surface of the moon that should be preserved ‘THE MONUMENT I recall from my youth rose supreme over the Square Mile. London’s dignified streets radiated out from London Bridge towards Islington and Highgate to the north, the Tower and Tower Bridge to the east, the river warehouses to the south, and the Temple, Parliament andWestminster to the west. In the foreground St Paul’s rode over the rooftops like a magnificent galleon heading out of town. ‘Were this Paris, Rome, Madrid or Amsterdam, such an inheritance would be sufficiently valued to regulate the character of its development. Transient uses would be made to conform to the city’s scale, if not its actual fabric, rather than the other way round. To a large extent this approach has dictated the growth of the City of London’s sister,Westminster. It has boomed as a business centre, even where the City has faltered, and is now the richest place in Europe. It prospers almost entirely inside its 18th- and 19th-century skin.’ Simon Jenkins in the London Evening Standard ‘WE DID OBJECT to the proposed park-and-ride scheme initially because it would affect the setting of this significant scheduled monument. However, as it has already been moved three times in the past two centuries, we feel that it could be moved again to a nearby setting which would continue to preserve its character.’ English Heritage agreeing to the moving of the 6th-century Tristan Stone after Cornwall Council gave permission for an estate of 80 houses to be built on an adjacent site ‘WEWERE really taking the piss.We analysed the planning laws and realised that they cover everything about the surface of the ground, but nothing beneath it. There was nothing whatsoever that could stop us from drilling all the way down to the South Pole. ‘Of course, the council hated it. But we had a barrister, and the policy would not cover their reasons for refusal, so they had to grant permission – and it has triggered a whole avalanche of stuff ever since.’ Architect AdemirVolic speaking to Oliver Wainwright of the Guardian about a proposal to create a four-storey basement beneath a 19th-century schoolhouse in Knightsbridge for Canadian former TV mogul David Graham ‘IT’S GREAT to see more subtle appreciation of this type of estate, the listing of not just the most flamboyant and visually impressive part, but also of the background architecture, which provided a variety of well-designed housing types for a range of family groups.’ Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society, on the decision to list Erno Goldfinger’s Cheltenham Estate in west London at Grade II.The estate, surrounding Trellick Tower in north Kensington and dating from 1969–73, comprises terraced houses, flats and maisonettes.
C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 5 Obituaries Ralph Lawson Mills, former chief engineer of English Heritage Born near Chester Le Street, Ralph Lawson Mills (1928–2012) began his working life on the tools as a joiner. This stood him in good stead for becoming the very practical conservation engineer that he was for so many years. After becoming a chartered structural engineer, he spent eight years working at the Building Research Establishment, later became a college lecturer, then head of department. He did an MSc in building economics. I first worked for Mills in 1970 in the directorate of civil engineering development of the Department of the Environment, where he encouraged young engineers to stretch themselves into new areas of work. At that time he sat on British Standard committees and became, among many other things, involved in old aircraft hangars. In 1974 he was appointed chief engineer of what eventually became English Heritage. There he built up and enthused a team of engineers, myself among them, which still today carries his influence. By a sad coincidence, its current head of engineering, Mark Uggles, himself greatly influenced by Mills, died just a few days after him. When Mills left English Heritage in 1988 (I hesitate to use the word ‘retired’, as he never actually did that) he carried on conserving historic buildings with great gusto, and was always willing to advise and support colleagues. He practised as a consulting engineer for a wide range of clients including country house owners, parochial church councils, the National Trust and English Heritage. Mills played a significant role in the conservation of the Ribblehead Viaduct and the consequent saving of the Settleto-Carlisle line. He estimated the cost of the entire project and persuaded British Rail to carry out trial conservation works on one of its many piers. He was in my office when the final decision came through that the viaduct was to be saved and that the cost would be within just few per cent of his own estimate. I remember that he did a little jig around the room. I still have no idea how he managed to come up with such a good financial estimate. Not long ago Mills appeared briefly on a television programme poking a chimney with his stick and declaring that it had to be demolished. It seemed rather sad that this engineer, who had saved so many buildings against all odds, should be seen on his only TV appearance agreeing to demolition. The number of buildings and other structures with which he was involved, many of which he saved from demolition or heavily over-engineered solutions, is vast. They include the Palace of Westminster, various museums and galleries, Royal Parks, houses great and small, and numerous ancient monuments. His work with churches was extensive. Under his guidance and leadership the conservation engineering team at English Heritage was able to advise on structural repairs and save vast amounts of money. Mills was a kindly, enthusiastic and immensely knowledgeable engineer who was a great encourager to his staff and who was always more than willing to share his expertise. Countless buildings and a large number of people, both engineers and other professionals, owe a great debt to Ralph Lawson Mills. He will be sorely missed. Ian Hume Paul Calvocoressi, expert on historic buildings in London Paul Peter Calvocoressi (1939–2012) was for many years a member of the Greater London Council’s Historic Buildings Division and, until his retirement, of English Heritage’s London Region. Following his retirement he joined the London Borough of Southwark and for five years was a member of its heritage and urban design team. He had a great understanding and knowledge of the
6 C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 architectural history and industrial archaeology of London, and was instrumental in forming a conservationbased approach to the regeneration of London’s Docklands in particular. After leaving school, Calvocoressi did a first degree in history and geology at Keele University before going to Newcastle University to study architecture. There he developed a love of the Northumbrian countryside and of its music, and he became interested in historic buildings and industrial archaeology. It was while he was studying at Newcastle that he was recruited to the historic buildings division of the Greater London Council. The division was undergoing a period of expansion to include the making of building preservation orders and directing London borough councils in certain listed building consent cases. With the winding up of the Greater London Council by Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1986, the historic buildings division moved to English Heritage. There it formed the core of its London division. Calvocoressi remained there, dispensing his advice and wisdom in his characteristically understated but erudite way, until his retirement. The head of the urban design team at Southwark Council recognised that his knowledge of the London’s historic buildings and places in general, and those of the London Docklands area in particular, would be a great asset to the team and appointed him soon after he left English Heritage. He worked for Southwark for a further five years until he finally retired (again) aged 70. Calvocoressi was an early member of the Association for Studies in the Conservation of Historic Buildings, founded in 1968, and was editor of its newsletter. He was secretary of the Dockland History Survey Committee, which did much to raise the profile of the significant contribution that the docks had made to London’s history. He was an early member of the Greenwich Industrial History Society, for whom he produced an invaluable booklet, Conservation in Docklands, which was a useful adjunct to the volume Dockland: an illustrated historical survey of life and work in East London, that had been produced by the survey committee. Calvocoressi was a quiet, gentle man who shared his scholarship and wisdom willingly with all who came to know him. He engendered great respect and affection with everyone that he dealt with. His role as a mentor to younger colleagues was especially important. Ray Rogers and MalcolmWoods Nicholas Antram, building conservationist and author to conservation as a catalyst for regeneration to English Heritage as historic areas advisor for Kent and East Sussex. Antram’s was one of the voices which urged greater concentration of English Heritage area grants, to the extent that CAP scheme grants of up to £400,000 were distributed for some of the more deserving areas. He became assistant regional director for south London in the English Heritage London regional office in 2001. Here his common sense and ability to avoid the soft option came to the fore, both in his handling of the conservation case at the Shard inquiry (he was thanked by the inspector for the way he had conducted English Heritage’s case), and in his common sense in balancing the case for and against the retention of the orchestra canopy during the re-fit of the Festival Hall. Antram was not an obvious organisation man. He left English Heritage in 2005 to become an independent consultant and a part-time planning inspector, an activity which suited his questing mind. Very much to his taste was employment surveying the churches of various Roman Catholic dioceses and a return to work on the Buildings of England.We shared an area in the English Heritage south east team, so when he began to revise the Buildings of England volume for Sussex with East Sussex, it was natural that we should collaborate on a city guide for Brighton and Hove. His forensic mind was perfect for this sort of work, pushing at the boundaries of the architectures which the Buildings of England should cover and never taking established opinion for granted. He excelled in disentangling misunderstood areas of Brighton’s architectural history, such as the numbers of unstudied architectural firms of the later 19th and early 20th centuries which give central Brighton so much of its character, and which have been ignored in favour of its Regency glories. The main task was the hard grind of revision of the rest of East Sussex, one of the more eccentric of the early Pevsner volumes, which needed a complete rewrite. This he relished too as the romantic which he always remained, working on the architectural history of a county and country which he loved. He lived to see completion of the text. This volume, to be published this spring, will be his memorial, in architectural history at least. Richard Morrice Nick Antram (1957–2012) had one of the most varied careers in architectural history and conservation. It began in 1980 at the RIBA Heinz Drawing Collection. He had been recommended for the post by his tutor at the University of East Anglia, Stefan Muthesius. This job was a stop gap, which also saw him take on the revision of the Lincolnshire volume of the Buildings of England, work to which he would return much later. He turned more towards conservation by joining the Department of the Environment Accelerated Re-Survey of the lists of buildings of special architectural and historic interest. He became one of the re-survey fieldworkers in Derbyshire in 1982. When that was more or less complete, he went to work with the National Trust in Derbyshire at Clumber Park, working on the conservation and display of houses like Kedleston and Calke Abbey. His move into building conservation was complete when he took up the post of conservation officer at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 1989, where he became a qualified planner. In 1994 he took his approach
C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 7 Alan Bennett’s People and public perceptions of heritage There can be few professions with as wide and varied a popular appeal as heritage. Over a million people are members of English Heritage and 3.7 million of the National Trust, while Alan Bennett’s People is currently reaching the conclusion of a fivemonth, sell-out run at the National Theatre, despite mixed reviews. It is a play whose content, and the responses it has generated, tells us a great deal about the continuing appeal of heritage, and its contentious position in the national psyche. People takes as its subject the National Trust, and is set in the imagined, rotting ancestral home of the Stacpoole family (closely based onWentworth Woodhouse, a very real mouldering country pile near Rotherham). It sees Lady Dorothy, the last of the family line, and her archdeacon sister, quarrelling over the future of the house. Auction its contents and sell up, or donate to the trust? The National Trust is presented not as gallant saviour but, in Bennett’s words, as ‘entirely without inhibition, ready to exploit any aspect of the property’s recent history to draw in the public’. Everything, we are reminded, has a price, and we have the potential to lose just as much when a country house is turned into a museum as when yet another pub becomes a Tesco Express. Bennett has a longstanding interest in the commercialisation and touristication of heritage, and its position within the national psyche. Enjoy (1980) saw a back-to-back house in Leeds transported to a museum, while in The History Boys (2006), Hector notes his disgust at Auschwitz’s position on the tourist trail. Between the writing of these two pieces, the ‘heritage wars’ took place, with the industry’s image and purpose the subject of internal debate and public ridicule. These debates were embodied by Robert Hewison’s The Heritage Industry (1987) and later by Julian Barnes’ England, England (1998). Post-imperial guilt and post-industrial fear undoubtedly drove these works (Hewison’s book is subtitled ‘Britain in a climate of decline’, and its cover involves a rendering of Britain as a dodo). The debate has arguably moved on from whether Britain’s obsession with the past is reflective of its lack of industrial and economic dynamism. The debate, however, continues to rage. In the programme notes Bennett himself states that the play originated with ‘an itch’, a sense of unease at being required, when visiting a country house, to play the role of ‘reverential visitor’. Despite this, People also parodies new approaches. The ludicrous figure of Lumsden, the trust’s representative in People, notes that heritage today is ‘not aspic at all. Back in the day, yes, red ropes. “Do not touch”… Nowadays the scullery and the still room are as important as the drawing room. And we interact…’ Here Bennett is rather having his cake and eating it, something which has drawn the ire of Simon Jenkins, the trust’s chairman (‘Why Alan Bennett is wrong about the National Trust’, Daily Telegraph, 21 November 2012). Jenkins is firmly on Lumsden’s side, echoing his character’s claim that, ‘people are now encouraged to use the houses as might a guest’. It does reflect a genuine problem, however.While Bennett questions the ‘taste’ of preserving history’s more dubious aspects (represented in People by preserved chamber pots filled with celebrity wee), there remains the serious question of how historic buildings and objects should be presented to the public. Bennett does not want to see houses trooped through by ‘reverential visitors’, but nor does he feel it is entirely tasteful for visitors to revel in experiencing what it was like to live in Birmingham’s slums, or to hear, from the National Trust’s audio tour, about Soho’s salacious past. As Simon Jenkins himself asks, ‘what is to be done?’ There unarguably remains a sense of discomfort, within Bennett’s writing at least, about the democratisation of heritage (‘People,’ says one character, ‘spoil things’), but he is also clearly concerned about its purpose. Dorothy Stacpoole delivers People’s most haunting line when she asks a visitor on leaving her house, now under the trust’s ownership, ‘Did you find what you were looking for?’ To an extent, I share Bennett’s discomfort. The public appeal of heritage forces those involved in it to ask themselves awkward questions, like, ‘why?’What is the purpose of retaining elements of our past, and of making them accessible to the wider public? Are we storytelling? Educating? Entertaining? It is not my intention to provide any answers here, and I do not agree with Bennett that the democratisation of history, or the development of interaction at historic sites, is necessarily a bad thing. But however farcical People is, however unresolved its issues, the heritage sector can not simply ignore its popular appeal. The heritage wars are far from over, and we still need to ask, ‘have we found what we are looking for?’ Laurie Handcock, senior historic buildings consultant with CgMs Consulting A scene from People: centre stage Linda Bassett as Iris, Frances de la Tour as Dorothy Stacpoole, and Selina Cadell as June Stacpoole (Photo: Catherine Ashmore)
8 C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 Periodically Techniques and skills are constantly evolving. Keeping abreast of developments continues to be a challenge for those in a sector under severe resource pressures. The latest edition of the Journal of Architectural Conservation (Vol 18, No 3, November 2012) looks at a number of interesting issues, which may not be encountered in everyday practice but offer significant insights into policy and practice. For UK readers, the most immediately applicable experience might be the paper by Michael Chapman and Jack Hale, documenting the techniques of structural monitoring of a Sussex post-mill built in around 1814 and the instrumentation to measure fluctuating wind loads on the main structural timbers. The methodology and results are explained with clarity. A similar approach could be used productively on a wide range of conservation projects to take structural measurements that might otherwise seem difficult and could not have been contemplated by the original builders. Measurement, this time in relation to energy use, is taken up by a second paper by four Norwegian researchers: Eir Grytli, Lene Kværness, Lillian Sve Rosketh and Kristin Fines Ygre. This will be of particular interest to those involved with the potentially harmful impact of climate change mitigation on historic buildings. The paper acknowledges the complexity of the consequences of energysaving methods and the need for a holistic discussion of solutions. Consequently the authors have examined different short- and longterm impacts from various energyefficiency measures by combining lifecycle assessment, energy calculations and a self-developed heritage value assessment system. By combining the results, they have assessed the balance between environmental and heritage aspects which need to be evaluated. People in the UK wrestling with energy conservation generally and the forthcoming Green Deal in particular, might wish to meditate on them. The other three papers deal with international experience, but all are of interest. The investigation and restoration of decorative finishes on architectural metals, from copper to iron to nickel, is ably explained by Joseph Sembrat, Mark Rabinowitz and Jusine Bello. The authors emphasise the need for good investigative and forensic skills, combined with knowledge of the stylistic trends inherent in the original materials, and an awareness of what is possible in renovating any metal surface. They caution that a full understanding may not be possible at the investigation stage, as full disassembly and cleaning may reveal new information. Although the case examples used are from public buildings in the USA, the paper is an excellent primer for those who are unfamiliar with the subject but who might occasionally encounter it. Also in this issue, Jennifer Schork explains the history, development and physical characteristics of dolomitic (magnesian) limestones in the USA. The material has been used as a binder in masonry mortars for over 70 years. Maryam Rafiee Fanood outlines the general debate about protective shelters for ancient monuments. The decisions leading to the protective shelter and conservation measures intended to slow the deterioration of the Mausoleum of Cyrus the Great in the world heritage site of Pasargadae in southern Iran are most interesting. The latest issue of The Historic Environment: policy and practice (Vol 3, No 2, December 2012) is also wideranging in scope.While it has more of an archaeological than an architectural conservation bias, one paper is of particular note. Brigitte Buss extemporises on the article by Rachel Case in Context 122 (November 2011) about the (at the time) record fine levied for the demolition of an unlisted house in a conservation area (6 Trafalgar Road, Twickenham). That case was upstaged five months later by a substantially greater fine for a similar offence in Hammersmith and Fulham. The author seems a little unsure of her terminology, referring to the demolition as ‘unlicensed’ rather than unauthorised, and she seems unaware of the IHBC prosecutions database. But she makes some interesting points in relation to the application of the English Heritage Conservation Principles to the heritage value lost in the demolition, and to the intellectual and theoretical arguments.
C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 9 Among her conclusions is that the court proceedings and sentencing failed to address the social consequences of the defendant’s actions, and therefore failed to ‘redeem’ the defendant as a ‘good citizen’. Readers may well wish to consider if this should be the purpose of the enforcement aspects of heritage legislation. For those who might have taken advantage of the aggregates levy to fund heritage projects, its use to fund archaeological research in the lower Severn Valley is explained in a collaborative paper by seven authors. The project has used geomorphological mapping and specialist remote sensing techniques to investigate deeply buried archaeological sites. The methodology has particular value in river valleys where prospection is particularly difficult because of the deposition of alluvium. Of the two other papers, the first explains the lessons learnt from the development of renewable energy plants in Greece, focusing on the cultural and social aspects rather than the more usual technical, economic and legal ones. As several of the Greek examples relate to wind farms in the vicinity of heritage sites, this will interest anyone wrestling with such issues in the UK where the setting of historic buildings is affected. The second looks at the forces leading to the decline of rural settlements and the deleterious impact on the dilapidation and abandonment of vernacular buildings in an area about 90 kilometres from Ephesus in western Anatolia, Turkey. International perspectives dominate the latest issue of The Institution of Civil Engineers Proceedings on Engineering History and Heritage (Vol 165, issue EH4, November 2012). A paper by Gerhard Eisele and Josef Seiler on the reconstruction of the Neues Museum (1841–1859, sited on an island in the middle of the River Spree in Berlin) looks at the balance to be struck between historic structural designs and the requirements of modern use. Other papers look at extending the life of historic Swiss bridges; the impact of new tunnels on those from the industrial era in Spain; and the effectiveness of local railway networks in Baroda and Sachsen states in India. The paper particularly worth noting is that by Sir Neil Cossons. He asks the (rhetorical) question: Does the engineering heritage matter? His answer is unsurprisingly yes, but the heritage engineering community needs to recognise and assert that the engineering heritage is not a separate or alien part of our lives. Cossons states that it must also be cherished, requiring the support and especially the advocacy and expertise of engineers with the aim of generating a portfolio of outstanding heritage places, preserved and presented to exemplary international standards. Items plucked from the columns of recent issues of Natural Stone Specialist (November and December 2012) include the increasing number of towns using stone festivals as a way of attracting visitors (Gloucester, Ludlow, Bristol, Lincoln and Barnard Castle are five of the venues in 2012); an introduction to superheated water cleaning of stone (of which, the DOFF system may be the most familiar); and coverage of the Natural Stone Awards 2012, in which heritage projects featured strongly. The December issue also draws attention to a new EU Scholarship (worth €4,000–€24,000) under the Erasmus Mundus Programme, for those who would like to spend a year in Europe studying for the advanced masters in structural analysis of monuments and historical constructions. The course is in English, but no English institution appears presently to be involved. The closing date for 2013 has passed, but interested readers may care to make a note to check this scholarship out again this coming winter. TheVictorian (No 41, November 2012) has used the occasion of a major exhibition on the Pre-Raphaelites at Tate Britain to revisit the work of William Burges. J Mordant Crook returns to the subject of his 1981 biography of the architect (recently revised and reissued by Frances Lincoln). In addition to being an architect, Burges was ‘a wide-ranging scholar, an intrepid traveller, a pungent critic, a coruscating lecturer, a brilliant decorative designer and a hilarious companion. His range of friends runs the whole gamut of Pre-Raphaelite London. His list of patrons reads like a roster of vintage eccentrics’. The ideal dinner guest from history, perhaps? Burges is famous for his work on Cardiff Castle, which many IHBC members will have visited at the 1999 Annual School. MatthewWilliams, the castle’s curator, reprises the architect’s involvement there, and Rosemary Hannah discusses Burges’ collaboration with his patron, the Third Marquess of Bute.
10 C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 Burges designed 1,260 individual sculptures for the exterior of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork. This prompts Moss Jenkins, senior technical officer at Historic Scotland, to outline the best current techniques for the repair of statuary. The latest issue of C20, the magazine of the Twentieth Century Society (No 3, 2012) contains much of interest. The opening article, by Judy Ovens, Suzanna Prizeman and Lucy Lavers, describes a community arts project built around the remarkable bus garage at Stockwell, south London, listed Grade II* in 1987. The project demonstrated what imaginative local community engagement with heritage can achieve. The architect Geoffrey Salmon reflects on his career with the AustinSmith practice, including a body of work for Slough Estates in the 1970s and 80s, which has not been treated with much sympathy by the designation system. Alan Powers highlights notable (and varied) facades in London’s Piccadilly, following on from the author’s autumn Royal Academy exhibition Eros to the Ritz. David Hills and Tim Murphy cast some light on Wallis, Gilbert and Partners, architects of the Firestone factory of 1928 (infamously demolished) and the Hoover building of 1932–5 (now a Tesco), and other art deco gems in west London. Half a century on, Joshua Mardell reviews the architecture of the York University campus, one of the seven new or ‘plate-glass’ universities of the 1960s. (The others were East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Lancaster, Sussex and Warwick – most of them visited by ACO/IHBC annual schools over the years.) Your reviewer had secretly hoped that, with the demise of the masthead Cornerstone, the SPAB might revert to SPAB News, first used in January 1980 (I still have every copy). But prosaically SPAB Magazine is now what it is. In addition to the usual items on statutory casework and so on, the Winter 2012 issue carries an article by the director, Matthew Slocombe, on the history of the society’s headquarters, to help kickstart its 2013 fund-raising campaign for essential repairs. Also worth reading are Timothy Easton’s article on archaic symbolic markings of ancient buildings against fire, something the author has been investigating and recording for over 20 years; and Roger Turner’s on a remarkable Grade I listed Shell Grotto in Margate, dating from before 1835, the repair of which facilitated its removal from the English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register. It is also worth drawing attention to Alan Chandler’s description of the application of SPAB’s philosophy of repair and incorporation of undisguised new work, in the rebuilding of the derelict Astley Castle to create a dwelling for the Landmark Trust. Readers will find the illustrations instructive. The project was approached on the basis that a conventional repair strategy was unworkable. It was necessary to reconcile two potentially antithetical positions: conservation and inhabitation. The ruin’s stabilisation was achieved in brick and concrete, but the alterations to permit inhabitation were completed through an infill of carpentry and joinery. The work has been carried out with extraordinary care and attention to detail. Junctions between old and new work, and the particularity of each junction of new brick with ancient stone, required more than 100 drawings for the brickwork alone. Your reviewer customarily but intermittently reports from the Newsletter of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art (issue 35, December 2012) about research awards likely to lead to publications of interest to conservation professionals. Awards recently made to authors include those to Anne Bordeleau for Charles Robert Cockerell: architect in time – ornaments in the age of historicism and to Astrid Swenson for The Rise of Heritage: preserving the past in France, Germany and England 1789–1914. Awards to publishers include those to Ashgate (Robert Proctor) for Church in Concrete: Roman Catholic church architecture in Britain 1955–1975; Bard Graduate Centre, NewYork (Susan Weber, [editor]) for William Kent, 1686–1748: designing Georgian Britain; English Heritage Publishing (Elizabeth McKeller and Julian Holder) for Re-Appraising the Neo-Georgian, 1880–1970; the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (Darcy White, Elizabeth Norman and David Ball) for The Public Sculpture of Sheffield and SouthYorkshire; Spire Books (Michael Hill) for East Dorset Country Houses; the Twentieth Century Society (Alan Powers and Elain Harwood) for Oxford and Cambridge: 20th-century architecture; and finally to Yale University Press (David WWalker and Matthew Woodworth) for The Buildings of Scotland: Aberdeenshire and Moray. Bob Kindred MBE WINTER 2012 THE SOCIETY FORTHE PROTECTION OFANCIENT BUILDINGS SOMETHING APPEALING The SPAB’s HQ in Spital Square needs your help. Inside, the Society’s Director Matthew Slocombe unlocks our own ‘ancient’ buildng’s past MAGAZINE
C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 11 Managing change in the historic environment Heritage, visual impact and townscape assessment Contact: Roger Mascall E: rmascall@turleyassociates.co.uk DD: 020 7851 4045 TCS_IHBC Advert_23-06-11 [outlined].indd 1 23/06/2011 5:49:02 contact John Ruddy CEng MICE MIStructE Engineer Accredited in Conservation 01298 83151 www.capstone-uk.com Home Farm Hollinsclough Buxton Derbyshire SK17 0RH Structural Appraisal, Grade I Museum Introduction of New Roofs, Kirkstall Abbey Friendly practice offering professional ‘Conservation Engineering’ approach with surveys, repairs, alterations and additions to historic buildings across the Midlands, the North of England and Wales. High Level Repairs, Grade I, Bangor Recent work includes assisting Local Authorities with: Grade I, II* and II Listed Buildings Ecclesiastical Buildings Larger Projects and Domestic Work Historic Garden Structures
12 C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 JOHN BARNES VAT changes on property alteration work Following the March 2012 budget, measures were introduced that will directly impact on charities and building owners involved in repairs and alterations to listed buildings. The zero rating of ‘approved alterations’ to listed charity buildings and dwellings has been a source of significant VAT savings ever since the tax was introduced in 1973. However, it gave rise to many queries and disputes with HMRC. In particular it was often difficult to decide which aspects of the work were alterations, and which were repair and maintenance of the fabric. This was significant as standard rateVAT applied to any works of repair and maintenance, and zero rateVAT only applied to ‘alterations’. For example, if a listed building had a concrete-tiled roof, due to an unsympathetic restoration in the past, and it was now planned to replace the roof in more traditional materials, would that be a work of maintenance or an alteration? HMRC would argue that it was maintenance of the building and not an alteration, especially if the pitch of the roof was not altered, as it was just the installation of new materials to directly replace old material. The disputes about the borderline between alterations and repair and maintenance gave rise to a number of VAT tribunal and court cases over the years. As a result of these the general guidance from the courts was that if the old fabric was not ‘in need of repair’ (that is, if the roof that was being replaced was still serviceable), the replacement could count as an alteration (and so be zero rated forVAT purposes), andwould not have to be viewed as ‘maintenance’ that would be subject toVAT. However, HMRC continued to challenge many projects involving listed buildings on the grounds that the zero rating was being incorrectly applied to works that it considered were works of maintenance rather than alterations. As a result of the uncertainty surrounding the borderline between alterations, repairs and maintenance, the 2012 budget withdrew this zero ratingwith effect from1 October 2012. This meant that any new building alterations undertaken on listed buildings became subject to 20 per cent VAT after that date. HMRC sought to justify this change by stating that it had been a major source of confusion and taxpayer error, and that the changes would remove the need to try to distinguish between alteration and repair and maintenance. It would also remove the VAT-saving incentive to alter, rather than repair, listed buildings. In order to avoid taxpayers suffering unexpected additional VAT on projects that were already under way, transitional measures were introduced tomaintain the zero rating on works that were in progress, or which had been approved to commence, before the date of the budget. Any approved alteration work which was under way at the time of the budget (21 March 2012) can benefit from these transitional measures, which will maintain the zero rating until 30 September 2015. In order to benefit from these transitional measures, the work must have been subject to a written contract that had been entered into prior to 21 March, or listed building consent must have been applied for prior to that date. This change inVAT liability causedmuch consternation at the time of the budget. As a result of pressure from the church community, the chancellor has increased the grants available to fund the additionalVAT burden that will apply on buildingwork undertaken after 1 October 2012 to listed churches, if the transitional reliefs do not apply.TheseVAT refund grants are administered by the Listed Places of Worship Refund Scheme (www.lpwscheme.org.uk).These grants relate only to listed churches, so owners of other types of listed buildings will suffer an additional burden of 20 per centVAT on alteration work carried out after 1 October if the transitional reliefs do not apply. There are no proposals to change the zero rating that applies to the construction of new residential and charitable buildings, or the construction of new ‘selfcontained annexes’ for charities.There is also a zero rating for the ‘substantial reconstruction’ of a listed building (for charitable or residential use), but this applies only where the only parts remaining prior to the reconstruction are the external walls. Charities or owners who are planning new building work are advised to seekVAT advice in advance to see if anyVAT reliefs are applicable. John H Barnes isVAT director of Baker Tilly Tax and Accounting (johnh.barnes@ bakertilly.co.uk). While every effort has been made to ensure the article’s accuracy, the information contained may not be comprehensive and recipients should not act upon it without seeking professional advice.
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