Context 168 - June 2021

Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Michael Taylor, ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com Editorial Board Tom Copp Nigel Crowe Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Rebecca Madgin Andrew McClelland Fiona Newton Louise Priestman Gordon Sorensen Jonathan Taylor Michael Taylor (chair) Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2021 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 to Context 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 issues of Context can be viewed on the IHBC website. 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. Context themes and copy deadlines Context Context will be published four times in 2021, in March, June, September and December. The next two themes and copy deadlines are: Amenity Societies , September, issue 169 (9 July) River Severn , December, issue 170 (8 October) 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 6 8 : J U N E 2 0 2 1 Briefing IHBC guidance on alterations to listed buildings Guidance on Alterations to Listed Buildings was published by the IHBC in January 2021 as a digital document in the Toolbox on the IHBC website (https://ihbconline. co.uk/toolbox) The need for guidance relating to alterations to listed buildings became apparent when concerns surfaced a few years ago regarding a lack of consistency across the country on how different conservation advisors responded to a wide variety of proposed alterations to listed buildings. The pioneering work of the IHBC south west branch, which included regional seminars on consistency, highlighted the need. There was a feeling that such inconsistency was in part due to a lack of detailed authoritative advice following the withdrawal, over 10 years ago, of guidance such as Annex C of the government’s PPG15 and Appendix 1 of Historic Scotland’s Memorandum of Guidance. A considerable amount of guidance on built heritage conservation has been issued in the intervening years, but much of the content is relatively high-level advice. In relation to alterations, it does not drill down to many of the detailed issues faced day to day by professional heritage advisors. For example, published guidance invariably stresses the essential need to understand the heritage significance of a building before contemplating alterations, but none provides fine-grained good practice advice on such detailed matters as, for example, how to arrange pipework under a suspended timber floor when considering installation of service routes from, say, a new bathroom. The document is not a rigid set of rules. It is intended as good practice guidelines, at a level of detail that is not currently available elsewhere. It starts by setting out general principles, and further general principles are put forward with regard to specific types of alteration. The alterations covered relate to walls, openings, roofs, other external factors, interiors, shops and commercial buildings, and modern fixtures, fittings and services. As the IHBC is a UK-wide body, the guidance aims to provide advice that is common to all across the home nations. Key heritage organisations across the UK have been consulted. The initial draft, prepared by Bob Kindred, was developed by James Caird, Fiona Newton and her colleagues in the national office in the light of responses from consultees. The IHBC policy committee has kept a close eye on what has been a long process. Given the breadth of the subject matter, it is not surprising that there has been some disagreement along the way and compromises have had to be made. However, I think the advice in the finalised document will be supported by most people whose aim is to ensure that alterations to listed buildings are carried out with sensitivity and in an informed manner. Not everyone may agree with every piece of advice, and some may feel that certain issues are not be Donald Insall Associates was architect for the restoration of the Grade II listed bandstand at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.