CONTEXT The Association of Conservation Officers No 25 March 1990 Information technology for conservation officers
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CONTEXT No25 ISSN: 0958-2746 Editor March 1990 Jenny Pearce (London Borough of Richmond-on-Thames, telephone 01-891 7313 facsimile: 01-891 7702) 10King Edward's Grove, Teddington, Middx TWl 19LU, telephone 01-977 0913 Assistant Editor Bob Kindred (Ipswich Borough Council, telephone 0473 262934, facsimile 0473 230851) 4 All Saints Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IPl 4DG, telephone 0473-259441 Context is published quarterly and is distributed to all members of the Association of Conservation Officers. © Association of Conservation Officers 1990 Ll THE ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION OFFICERS Officers Chairman: Chris Smith (Stroud Valleys Project Officer, The Shambles, High Street, Stroud, Glos GL5 lAP, telephone 0453 753358) Sb Wallbridge, Stroud, Glos GL5 3JA, telephone 0453 757405 Secretary: Liz Marten (North Hens District Council, telephone 0462 686500 ext 2411, facsimile0462 480043) 25 Willington Road, Cople, Bedford, telephone 02303 616 Treasurer: Peter Richards (Essex County Council, telephone 0245 352232 ext 289) 139Lifstan Way, Thorpe Bay, Essex SSl 2XG, telephone 0702468252 Membership Secretary: James Ross (Essex County Council, telephone 0245 352232 ext 294) Three Bears, Laindon Common Road, Little Bumstead, Essex CM! 9TL Projects Officer: John Fidler (HBMC, telephone 01-973 3484 27A Barnsbury Street, Islington, London NI !PW Publicity Officer: Mary King (Preston Borough Council, telephone 0772 266808) 24 Beech Road, Aughton, Ormskirk, Lanes L39 6SJ, telephone 0695 424297 CONTEXT 25 Published for the Association of Conservation Officers by HallMcCartney Ltd, PO Box 21, Spirella House, Bridge Road, Letchworth, Herts SG6 4ET, telephone 0462675848, facsimile 0462 670346 Annual Subscription (inclusive of post & packing- UK only): £15.00 SingleCopy: £ 5.00 The views expressed in Context are not necessarily those held by ACO or the publishers. The publishers shall not be under any liability whatsoever in respect of contributed articles. The products and services advertised in this publication are not necessarily endorsed by the Association Branch Officers North: Keith Murray, Durham County Council, telephone 091-386 6111 ext 2237 North West: Mike King, Liverpool City Council, telephone 051-225 5635 Yorkshire: Robert Scriven, Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, telephone 0924 296590, facsimile 0924 367292 West Midlands: Brian Moore, Dudley Borough Council, telephone 0384 456000 ext 4188 East Midlands Graham Beaumont, Nottinghamshire County Council, telephone 0602 824277 South West Robert Ladd, Mendip District Council, telephone 0749 3399 ext 320 South: Katherine Blackwood, telephone 0962 846831 East Anglia John Preston, Cambridge City Council, telephone 0223 35®77 ext 2636 South East John Davey, Guildford Borough Council, telephone 0483 505050 ext 3633 London Rosemarie McQueen, City of Westminster, telephone 01-978 2519 Scotland no contact at present Wales John James, Clwyd County Council, telephone 0352 2121 Northern Ireland Colin Hatrick, DoE Northern Ireland, ~elephone 0232 653251 CONTENTS Editorial 4 News 5 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Buildings at risk Vanessa Brand 7 Records of buildings and monuments Nigel Clubb 9 Promoting a national record Simon Grant 11 The Greater London Sites and Monuments Record Hugh Jones 13 Sites and Monuments Records and historic buildings Neil Lang 14 The rewards of a year's hard slog David Haig 18 The Clwyd approachjohnjames 20 Avoiding the falling brick syndrome Bob Kindred 22 Seeing the wood for the trees Graham Steaggles 24 Conferences 25 Law & Practice Satellite dishes 27 Local Government & Housing Act 28 Revesby Abbey thieves prosecuted 28 News 28 ACO Business News 29 ACO Branch News 30 Books 34 Letters 34 FRONT COVER Sinai park, near Burron-on-Trenr, Grade II*. This 16rh century rimber framed wreck is now being repaired and converted inro four units. It has received S.3A grant as an Outstanding Building. The article on Buildings at Risk begins on page 7. ILLUSTRATIONS IN THIS ISSUE Fronr cover and Page 8: Vanessa Brand, English Heritage. Page 7: Joy Cuff. Page 12: Simon Grant, RCHME. Pages 15 and 16: Neil Lang, Solihull MBC. Page 18: Cambridgeshire CC. Page 21: John James, Clwyd CC. Page 23: Bob Scriven Page 24: Bob IGndred 3
4 EDITORIAL The everyday impact of Information Technology (IT) is inescapable especially for those of you with a car phone! Computers are becoming ever more powerful and for what they can do now they are remarkably cheap. IT is therefore something we should take seriously, but as a means rather than an end in itself. As a way of quickly sifting large amounts of information, extracting trends and finding answers to complex problems, it offers much promise. It is a technology that should not be seen as hostile even for those to whom "user friendliness" may have a hollow ring when faced with a computer keyboard for the first time. In this issue of Context we examine information technology applications in a wide variety of authorities: district and county councils, the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, and English Heritage, including the Greater London Sites & Monuments Record. The Buildings at Risk Register developed by English Heritage appears ro be one of the first schemes where computerised information on historic buildings gathered by local authorities can be co-ordinated and monitored at national level. There is of course a "downside" to the present wave of applications of IT. Government de-regulation across the board seems to go hand in hand with rapid developments in the electronic communications industry. Its greatest physical manifestation so far is the ubiquitous satellite dish. Soon "telepoints" for the use of the next generation of cheap cordless telephones will be making a similar impact. In a rush to provide us with the electronic marvels we never realised we could not do without, the impact on the quality of life and protection of historic areas has come a pretty poor second. Nevertheless The skill and experienceof the craftsmanremains at the very heart of the manufacturing process. there is growing disquiet among conservation professionals and the general public alike about the adverse visual effects of IT as exemplified by big white dish aerials. Will all this be reflected in a tightening of planning controls? I think it is unlikely as long as national technological advantage and job creation are at stake. Will the next generation of IT users be beamed down direct from an !CROM/ ICOMOS satellite the subliminal microelectronic teaching of tuck pointing while they sleep. FUTURE ISSUES As already announced, the next Context (Summer 1990, ro be published on 4th June) will look again, nearly a decade later, at the issues raised by the Montague report 'Britain's Historic Buildings: A Policy for their Re-use'. In particular I hope to examine how far its recommendations have been met in the last ten years. Since the Report was founded on the experiences of local authorities which responded to its invitation to provide material and opinions, it is especially appropriate for this issue for as many ACO members as possible to contribute. Examples of topics which might be looked at in your own area include: □ Have the categories of buildings at risk changed? □ Have any new uses proved to be unsuitable (or even disastrous)? □ What has been the effect on re-use of the remarkable property boom (and slump) of the later part of the 1980s? Naturally we also want to hear of good case studies of new uses, particularly those providing innovative solutions to problems of access, fire safety, and provision of services, or where particular success was achieved in retaining the character of the building despite conversion. The following issue of Context (Autumn 1990) was to have been devoted to examination of legislation and case studies related to Sections 101 and 115 of the 1971 Act. This has now been deferred and the Autumn 1990 issue will be concerned with the bibliography of conservation. What are the standard texts? How have they stood the test of time? What would you include in a basic library for a young Conservation Officer? What would be your personal eight favourite books to take on your desert island? The issue will of course include a review of new books. Copy dates are, for the Summer 1990 issue, 26th April; and for the Autumn 1990 issue, 20th July. NEWS NEW LIFE FOR OLD BUILDINGS - 1989 JOINT AWARD SCHEME Judges' Report on the 1989 Award Scheme Organised jointly by ACO and the RTPI Northern Branch, the award scheme this year received 42 entries. The judges were generally very impressed by the high standards achievedby many of the schemes -which covered all types of development, spread across much of the region. A full list of the award winning and commended entries is given below. Many of the other entries were also of great mterest; but some were marked down because they were incomplete, some MATHEMATICALTILES FROMBUTTERLEYBRICK Handmade to match closely the tiles produced by craftsmen of the past, Butterley Mathematical Tiles are available in seven standard colours in a choice of profiles and corner angle returns. Butterley Brick Limited Wellington Street. Ripley, Derby DES 3DZ. Tel: 0773 570570. Telex: 37119.Fax: 0773 570575 CONTEXT 25
because they were less than satisfactory in one or more detail, and some because they were felt to represent types of scheme of which other, better, examples exist in the region. The judging panel consisted of Colin Haylock, Chairman, Northern Branch, RTPI; Cyril Winskell, Architect; John Grundy, BBC Television's "Townscape" programme; Keith Murray, ACO Northern Branch; Steven Orange, Solicitor; and Chris Clarke, Northern Branch RTPI (non-voting secretary). AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT Bessie Surtees House, Sandhill, Newcastle The judges felt that this scheme was of international importance, showing marvellous restoration work and providing splendid accommodation for part of the national heritage body, relocating from London. Bessie Surtees House is a unique building, of major historical and architectural interest, and of inestimable value to the townscape of Newcastle's Quayside. The conversion scheme displays great technical expertise, both in devising structural solutions to the problems of a building which had been close to collapse, and in saving many original internal features, such as plasterwork and panelling, which might well have been lost. Parts of the building are regularly open to the public, others can be visited by arrangement. OTHER AWARD WINNING SCHEMES □ Belford Hall, Northumberland □ Zetland Mews, Saltburn □ Allenheads Heritage Centre, Allenheads □ 9 and 10 Trinity Chare, Newcastle □ Dunston Staiths, Gateshead □ Station House Visitor Centre, Castle Eden Walkway COMMENDATIONS □ Branton West Side, Powburn □ Trinity Hall, Darlington □ Design Works, Felling □ Zetland Hotel, Saltburn □ Webster's Ropery, Sunderland CONTEXT 25 NEWS ~~ _..;~-t '-.- ~. ·-· - • VICTORIA REGINA The Post Office is quietly reintroducing ornate six-sided Victorian letter boxes, to the original Penfold designs used between 1866 (when they were painted green) and 1879. They reproduce Queen Victoria's coat of arms and the letters VR in black (by special approval of the Lord Chamberlain's Office). Quantities are being ADVERTISEMENT The Conservation Portfolio In the March 1990 edition of the portfolio are: Butterley Brick Ltd - Handmade Mathematical Tiles Keymer - Traditional hand made clay peg and oast house tiles Marshalls Mono Ltd - Natural hard fine-sawn York stone pavmg Marston & Langinger - Designers and manufacturers of period doors, conservatories and 10111ery The Michelmersh Brick Co Ltd - Manufacturers of traditional hand made bricks North West Stone Merchants - Suppliers of new and reclaimed stone and granite throughout the UK Tudor Roof Tile Co Ltd - Traditional hand made clay tiles made available to District Head Postmasters and local authorities will be able to request tl1eir ;nstallation in conservation areas and where the setting of listed buildings might be affected. In deciding on suitable locations, the Post Office emphasises that because its storage capacity is quite small a Penfold box may not be appropriate where high volumes of mail are posted such as busy city centres, but the large oval double pillar-box with separate first and second class slots which first appeared in 1899 and which ceased production in the 1960s will also reappear. The designs are part of a policy of offering "a greater variety of designs to brighten up the street scene, particularly as the general public has become very interested 111 conservation and the environment". If you wish to follow this up, contact your District Head-Postmaster who should have a catalogue of all the designs available. SECRET FIGURES The lack of reliable national statistics has alwaysbeen a bugbear of conservation. We usually have to rely on those provided by Max Hanna's annual English Heritage Monitor (from the English Tourist Board) and from the Ancient Monuments Society for figures on the annual level of demolitions. The Commons Environment Committee was particularly unimpressed by this aspect of the performance of both DoE and English Heritage when they were examined by the Committee in 1987. In one respect it seems that the situation has not improved since. Recently in the House of Lords, Lord Kennett asked the Government how many buildings in the last five years the Secretary of State had refused to list in spite of English Heritage's recommendation. For the Government, Lord Hesketh announced that neither DoE or English Heritage keeps any record of the number of times the Secretary of State did not accept English Heritage's advice. Perhaps we should be told? Could English Heritage be encouraged to issue such statistics in future Annual Reports or pass them on to Max? 5
6 .SOLOPARK THECOUNTRY'MS AJOR CENTREFORBUYING AND SELLING TRADITIONAL BUILDING MATERIALS AND PERIOD ARCHITECTURAL ITEMS THE OLDRAILWAYSTATION STATIONROAD NR PAMPISFORD CAMBRIDGECB24HB ~ (0223) 834663 Design by Tom Challis CONTEXT 25
ENGLISH HERITAGE BUILDINGS AT RISK Vanessa Brand discusses the Buildings at Risk survey package, and in particular the computer program which is being offered free as part of the package. The Buildings at Risk (BAR) survey package was sent to all Chief Planning Officers last November and should have been passed on to conservation officers. If anyone has not seen it, please contact BAR branch (01-973 3817). The aim is to promote a positive approach to conservation by highlighting those buildings which are at risk from neglect. The survey of the historic buildings stock is the starting point for action tO save the individual buildings which are identified but it will also allow an analysisof the problem of neglect. This article concentrates on the computer program which is being offered free as part of the package bur it also contains details of a new grant scheme for authorities doing the survey now. CONTEXT 25 Let me emphasise at once that I write this as a computer innocent interested only in what computers can do for us and with no knowledge of their internal workings. Anyone who has tried to handle survey forms, even for a few hundred buildings, is likely to be a convert. Computers enjoy sorting pieces of information in a variety of ways. They also do it very fast and, provided that you stick to the rules, very efficiently. Computers are strictly logical and almost always right. (Some of you will have spotted that Appendix D listing the building types in the survey booklet is confused. The original disk is correct and ungarbled copies are available. A small prize is offered to anyone who can explain how the computer managed ro print it in that form.) I inherited a programmewhichwasused to record and analyse the Kirklees pilot project. This proved how useful a program would be but reinforced my insistence that it had to be simple to use and written in English. Fortunately not only are computers more user friendly than they used to be, so are computer programmers. The BAR program has to serve the interests of some 400 authorities plus English Heritage and it has therefore been designed as a basic tool which can be used by anybody and "bolted on" to other systems which may be in use. It is complete in itself, needing no other software, and will work on any IBM-compatible PC with a hard disk: a common enough animal in most offices. For BAR, the real advantage will be the facility to receive information via a disk. There is no duplication of effort. This does create one limitation. The program has to be used in the approved form. If alterations are made to its structure the ability ro pass information from one machine to another will be compromised. If, however, you want to relate information about a building at risk with, for example, details about its planning history, this can easily be done using DBase, a common database program. If your authority already uses some other system it is usually possible for those with some computer skills to pass information from one system to another by converting it into "computer-speak". Optional features have been included following requests from a number of conservation officers. A strong lobby in favour of National Grid references has secured the inclusion of fields which will accept references at any level of detail up to eight figures. It is also possible to use the program to record unlisted buildings though English Heritage is only seeking information about listed buildings. If sufficient authorities show an interest it may be possible to form a users' group which could commission approved changes. The computer will, of course, list the names and addresses of those buildings which are at risk (or indeed, of those which are not at risk) but it also provides a quick means of analysing the information so that it can be presented to Council committees with the most impact. The standard table summary prints out the numbers and percentages of buildings by list grade, position in or out of a conservation area, ownership type and risk category, and plots condition and occupancy. This information can be produced in less than five minutes for all the buildings recorded or for any chosen group. A local authority may wish to compare different towns or villages within its area. For Kirklees figures are available for the numbers of buildings at risk in each of the eight statutory list volumes. These 7
8 Ashman's Hall, near Bccclcs, Suffolk. Grade II*. Photograph taken in April 1989. It is the eleventh hour for this building which has changed hands regularly over the past few years. show that whilst there is an overall percentage of 4.63% of listed buildings at risk in the district as a whole this varies from 0.51% in Kirkburton to 11.59% in Batley, Heckmondwike and Spenborough. Within volumes there is also a huge range. The Colne Valley has an overall figure of 5.96% but covers Slaithwaite-273 buildings 9.16% at risk and Golcar-217 buildings 2.76% at risk When the survey information has been computerised it will provide answers to such questions as: Where are the buildings at risk? Are they in conservation areas? In Kirklees the answer was a clear "no". About 75% of those in risk categories 1-3 were outside conservation areas. Are the more important buildings, grades I and II* also at risk? In Kirklees they were generally in better condition than the grade IIs. This seems also to be true in the Lower Lansdown area of Bath where results of a study area have been put on computer. A local authority should also be interested in its own local buildings and these too can be analysed once local authority ownership has been recorded. Use of the building type list and current use categories will allow the analysis to be broken down to show the condition profiles of different types of buildings. In Bath the profiles of buildings in domestic and commercial use seem to be strikingly different with commercial buildings evenly distributed between poor, fair and good condition whereas 50% of domestic buildings were grouped together as fair. As we begin to look at the figures we realise how much we have to learn about the condition of the historic building stock generally. The Kirklees data showed that the greatest number of buildings was in good condition with progressively fewer in fair, poor and very bad. This corresponds to the general profile of domestic buildings as categorised by the English House Condition Survey in 1986. In Bath, however, there are fewer buildings in good condition than in fair condition. Whilst relatively few of the buildings in the study area of Bath are categorised as at risk, 28%are in that vulnerable position of risk category 4, "buildings to be watched" on the English Heritage risk scale. The BAR surveys are part of a wider strategy of aiming advice and money where they are needed. It is obvious that even this preliminary information raises interesting questions for English Heritage KIRKLEES: COLNE VALLEY AREA PERCENTAGE OF BUILDINGS AT RISK JO 9 COLNE, VALLEY Slaithwaite Marsden Golcar Graph drawn in Lotus to illustrate variation in percentage of buildings at risk. SELECTED SUMMARY STATISTICS Printed on 31/01/90 Risk Category 1 0 0.0 lA 0 0.0 2 0 0.0 3 15 4.2 3A 0 0.0 4 96 26.8 4A 0 0.0 4A 0 0.0 5 187 52.2 5A 0 0.0 6 60 16.8 Total 358 100.0 Total Occupation and Condition Occupancy Condition V.BadPoor Fair GoodTotal Structure 0 0 0 0 0 Vacant 0 1 5 4 10 Partially Occupied 0 11 17 0 28 Occupied 3 74 183 60 320 Total 3 86 205 64 358 Percentage Occupancy and Condition Occupancy Condition V.BadPoor Fair GoodTotal Structure 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Vacant 0.0 0.3 1.4 1.1 2.8 Partially Occupied 0.0 3.1 4.7 0.0 7.8 Occupied 0.820.751.116.889.4 Total 0.8 24.0 57 .3 17 .9100.0 whose legally defined grant schemes relate to outstanding buildings (usually grades I or II*) and buildings in conservation areas. A decision has already been made to extend the new BAR Grant scheme to cover all those buildings in risk categories 1-3 provided that they fulfil the other criteria of being listed buildings which are either outstanding or in a conservation area. This will take effect from 1st April 1990. EH will be looking with interest at the general survey results as they become available. The results should also be of interest to all conservation officers and allow informed discussion of issues which have previously been discussed theoretically, such as where time and effort are best concentrated. If you are eager, as I hope, to get started but, as I fear, lack the resources to complete an immediate survey you will be interested in a new one-off grant scheme. DoE has allocated £200,000 to help EH to achieve a rapid sample survey which will provide an initial picture of the condition of the historic buildings stock and a general outline of the factors which contribute to neglect. EH is particularly keen to study the different building types. These results will be checked against the fuller results of the national survey as they become available. The money is to be used to give substantial grant aid to those authorities which fit the sample and fulfil the conditions. EH is currently working out the categories which need to be covered for a statistical sample. These will include geographical coverage of the different regions and relate to urban versus rural areas and economic factors. Each applicant authority will be categorised in relation to this framework and only two or three from each category can be funded. Any participating authority will have to provide information on an agreed number of complete "greenback" statutory list volumes on disc by 1st March 1991. The rate of grant will be at £500 per 100 rural buildings and £250 per 100 urban buildings plus £40 per 100 buildings entered on computer. These rates are calculated as over 70% of the estimated time and staff costs involved in supervising a survey by paid staff. The survey may be carried out by temporary staff but the authority will have to ensure the quality and consistency of information. The difference in grant rates takes account of the greater travel costs involved in surveying rural buildings. Each "greenback" statutory list volume will be given an overall status as either urban or rural. EH will approach first all those who have responded to its letter. Any other interested authorities should contact BAR Branch as soon as possible. VanessaBrand is Conservation Officer for Buildings at Risk with English Heritage. CONTEXT 25
ENGLISH HERITAGE RECORDS OF BUILDINGS AND MONUMENTS Nigel Clubb outlines information technology developments in the English Heritage Records Office. Information is a key resource in any organisation and English Heritage is no exception. To this end, English Heritage has an Information Technology Committee chaired by the Chief Executive which devises and monitors an information technology strategy. There is a range of requirements, from financial administration and grants to the English Heritage membership system. There is also a particular need to have rapid access to up-todate information on statutorily protected scheduled monuments and listed buildings. In 1986, a Records Office was established to curate the various English Heritage records of these items and information technology is being harnessed to provide staff with the management information they need to bring about the longterm conservation of the historic envuonment. Over the years many of the ex1stmg records of English Heritage (and its predecessors) such as those of scheduled monuments have literally been wearing out through use. This is not altogether surprising since some of the records of the scheduling of monuments go back as far as 1882.However, more recent records also suffer considerable wear and tear, including the maps showing the locations of buildings dating from the resurvey of the late 1960sand 1970s. Also, the volume and complexity of the data and the ways they are put to use often justify the introduction of information technology where there are clear benefits in terms of efficiency. The Records Office is not a public archive as such, but it is rather a store of data, many of which are created by English Heritage staff in the course of their work, such as listing and scheduling recommendations, or used by staff in answering enquiries as well as responding to development proposals. The Records Office also supplies data to county Sites and Monuments Records and to the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME); the latter maintains CONTEXT 25 the public archive on monuments and buildings and its computing activities are described elsewhere in this issue of Context by Simon Grant. The English Herriage Bui[dings at Risk software is also described in this issue by Vanessa Brand. COMPUTER MAPPING AND SCHEDULED MONUMENTS The first major development in the Records Office was the introduction of a computer-based mapping system in 1987 in connection with the English Heritage Monuments Protection Programme (MPP) - a review and evaluation of information on monuments so that those of national significance can be identified and recommended to the Secretary of State for scheduling. Two additional objectives of the new programme are to ensure that the records of scheduled monuments are compiled in ways which will help those engaged in casework at English Heritage, and to improve the information provided to owners and occupiers of scheduled monuments and all those concerned with consent procedures. The new mapping system holds complete national OS coverage of England at 1:10,000 scale, together with the outlines of each scheduled monument. The maps are held as "raster" or backcloth data with monuments held as "vector" overlay data. Raster technology was chosen because it provided the only method of providing complete coverage within reasonable time scales and cost. The system provides for up to 4.6 Gbytes of data to be stored on eight disk drives with two Sun file servers at the heart of the system. Currently, four Sun high-resolution graphics work-stations are connected to the system. An interesting feature of the software devised by Advent Sytems Ltd is the ability to generate map extracts which combine graphics with text identifying the monument. These used to be prepared by hand, scissors and paste which was a highly labour-intensive operation. In due course, map extracts of the new type will be supplied to owners, occupiers, local authorities and others who need to know the locations of scheduled monuments. The initial transfer of the existing map records to the new system has been largely completed and a checking exercise is now underway. New MPP schedulings will be notified using the computer-generated extracts. TEXT RECORDS OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS A major development is also in progress in the organisation of the textual information relating to scheduled monuments in order to deal with increased data arising from MPP. The new system will computerise scheduling procedures and permit the development of machine-based procedures for recording and monitoring what happens to monuments, including the reports of the Field Monument Wardens who visit monuments regularly to comment on condition and management needs. The software is being developed currently using the Oracle relational data-base and will run on a DECsystem 5400 minicomputer under the Ultrix operating system. THE CURRENT LIST REVIEW As mentioned above, the paper map record of listed buildings held by English Heritage has been deteriorating and is also becoming difficult to access. It is hoped that, as resources allow, the locations of buildings and, perhaps, conservation areas can be added to the computer-based mappmg system. Computerisation of the listed building data held in the statutory lists or "Greenbacks" has been under consideration for some time and English Heritage participates fully in the work of the joint Working Party with RCHME and the Department of the Environment, (see the article by Simon Grant). In anticipation of the establishment of a full national system in due course, English Heritage is in the process of developing 9
and implementing software for the compilation of the current review of lists intended to bring the older lists up to the standard of more recent survey work. About one-fifth to one-quarter of building records are due to be reviewed in this way by the end of the year. The programme is a Clipper compiled version of DBa.se and is in use by fieldworkers and inspectors at English Heritage headquarters. Clipper was chosen because of the requirement to input large amounts of descriptive text. "CORE" MINIMUM DATA The List Review software is an interim system designed to handle the flow of data from fieldworker to Fortress House and is currently only supplied for that specific purpose. The data include those required for the form of the statutory list, mainly location, status and building description, together with the minimum level of indexing of data compatible with the resources available for list review, ie building type, period, notable artists/architects ere and roof and wall material. Four-fifths oflisted building records will not be reviewed and the omissions and inconsistencies in some of the existing lists as they have changed over time are well known. For that reason, a "core" of data Over the years many of the existing records of English Heritage (and its predecessors) such as those of scheduled monuments have literally been wearing out through use. This is not altogether surprising required to identify a building has been incorporated at the heart of the list review system and is also included in the Clipper/ DBa.se system for buildings at risk described by Vanessa Brand. This core is likely to be similar to that adopted in any national system since many of the records inherited are not complete enough to deal with the full range of index fields often included in buildings recording system. DATA STANDARDS The consistency of data between the various record systems at local and national level dealing with monuments and buildings is important, particularly mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm m~ m relating to basic information on types of building or monument and period as well as addresses and National Grid references. This is an area where English Heritage intends to work closely with RCHME in support for its new role as the lead in liaison with county Sites and Monuments Records. Agreement has been reached between both of the national bodies and the Association of County Archaeological Officers on a data transfer standard for exchanges of monument data between them. More work needs to be carried out in the historic buildings arena, but English Heritage intends to collaborate with RCHME on a draft standard for consultation with local authorities and others and this is due to be issued during 1990. An additional area where standards are essential is vocabulary control. The joint RCHME/English Heritage thesaurus of architectural terms is one contribution towards discussion and it is hoped to follow it shortly with a companion thesaurus for archaeology. Consideration of national data standards is still at a very early stage and there is now a need for continuing discussion and con - sultation in the light of experience. Nigel Clubb is Head of the Records Office at English Heritage. m f:f~El 'II rn :ffi INVISIBLE FIRE ~ m 11 : 1 . m ~ llli·!·=••····-~~~ '. ■ DETECTION ~ A Service for ~ u!' i',- _ El lTI INSTALLATION ~ ~ When it comes to protecting your valued ~ m artefacts and residence against the ris~ of fire i:/2 m damage, you vvould naturally require the m m comfort of an early vvarning fire detection m m system, installed without upheaval to the m ~ property or irreparable disfigurement to the ~ ~ appearance of your home. m m WE HAVE THE SOLUTION FOR ALL m ~ HISTORIC HOUSES, CASTLES ~ m AND LISTED BUILDINGS m ~ We are a British Company vvhich has ~ ~ developed a radio based system specifically ~ m designed to be aesthetically pleasing and to m m complement your stately environment. The m m system transmits radio signals from detectors m m to controls and therefore eliminates installa- m m tion wiring, thus enabling systems to be ~ ~ designed to minimise disruption and damage to ~ m our cherished heritage. m m For further information of our unique system, m m please contact: m m m i:/2 ROUTE 1 MAINTENANCE Ltd., , ' PROTECTION HOUSE, , ' ~ 345 RIPPLE ROAD, BARKING, ~ m ESSEXIG119PN m m Tel: 01-591 3063 Fax: 01-594 4014 m mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 10 Conservation Photogrammetric Surveys * Rectified Photography * Site Surveys * ***** Terrestrial Surveys Ltd Millfield House 153a Hull Road York YOl 3JX Tel: York (0904) 411981 Fax: York (0904) 430159 CONTEXT 25
RCHME AND NBR PROMOTING A NATIONAL RECORD Simon Grant discusses IT initiatives by the Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England, including the National Buildings Record and recording the threatened buildings. The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) is the independent, national body of survey and record for the heritage. In brief, its role is to compile, manage and promote the national record of archaeological sites and historic buildings and to make such information available to a wide range of users. To fulfil these objectives, The Royal Commission is reliant upon the successful management of the processes whereby its stock of information is generated, curated and disseminated to its public. The problem is that there is a vast and rapidly expanding stock of information to be managed and far too few human resources to keep pace with the growth in volume of the material or the demand for it. It has become an organisational imperative that appropriate use is made of information technology (IT), to permit more efficient management of information and more effective use of a limited number of highly skilled and motivated professional staff. The Architectural Division ofRCHME encompasses several specialist areas of activity, including investigation/survey of buildings, archive management, Listed Building Consent (LBC) casework, graphics and provision of photographic services. Over 80 members of staff carry out this diverse range of functions, based in seven offices throughout England. Computer-based technologies have been employed increasingly to support the activities of architectural staff over the past five years, ranging from the use of electronic distance measuring equipment for building survey to the provision of database and word processing facilities for the cataloguing of archive materials and the preparation of texts. This rapid proliferation of information processing systems is the result of three major developments. First, the advent of the IBM personal computer standard has reduced both the cost of access to IT and the problems of transferring information and software from one machine to another. Secondly, the availability of powerful database products such as InforCONTEXT 25 mix and Oracle has largely eliminated the need for time consuming "conventional'" programming in computer control languages (Basic, Pascal etc) and facilitated the rapid development of "tailored" applications appropriate to the user's needs. Finally, the availability of the multiuser Unix operating system on PCs has enabled users to share common information, programs and peripherals on a single office-based machine, rather than each being equipped with their own computer at a higher unit cost. The combination of these factors has helped to provide user-friendly and low cost computing power to staff in a decade characterised by attrition of public spending and an increasing need for greater operational efficiency. The adherence to de facto market standards in hardware and software has provided RCHME with an upgrade path to larger, more powerful computers without the need to rewrite existing software or to reformat existing information. ARCHITECTURAL APPLICATIONS NATIONAL BUILDINGS RECORD (NBR) The NBR is the architectural archive of the Royal Commission. Its collections contain more than one million photographs, supplemented by many hundreds of thousands of measured drawings and reports. It is the public repository for RHCME architectural archives and new accessions number tens of thousands each year. For the past five years, computerisation has focused on the creation of the Buildings Index, a database containing a primary level of site information, detailing location, building period and type, together with details of the nature of the available archive in the NBR. Database utilities allow for interactive screen-based data entry with automatic validation and checking of terminology. Retrieval from the 100,000 or so records on the database may be carried out on screen or by choice of menu options to produce printed catalogues. Any recorded data field may be interrogated alone or in conjunction with other fields to produce the desired output. An on-line public enquiry utility is also available in the NBR library. A computer-based thesaurus of architectural terms has also been developed to assist data entry and retrieval. The thesaurus has been jointly published by the Royal Commission and English Heritage.t Linked to the Buildings Index is the computerised index to the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA), a joint project with the British Academy to create an archive of information and photographs of medieval stained glass. The index is used to record details of subject matter and iconography as well as techniques of production, craftsmen etc. By using it in conjunction with the Buildings Index it is in theory possible to search for examples, say, of stained glass depicting Saint Michael in churches of the 14th century date in Kent, using built in database utilities to link separate but related files of information. Other applications in the NBR include a pilot photographic catalogue, designed to enable retrieval not only by photographer, date and photographic type, but also by such thematic categories as advertising, construction and demolition, machinery, people at work ere, providing users with a potentially wide range of criteria for retrieval. So far this system has been used for some discrete groups of photographs but staff and resource limitations make the development of a comprehensive catalogue something to be desired but not yet fully attainable. Although computers have provided greater flexibility in the management and retrieval of information within the NBR the problem of scale remains. The effec~ tive indexing of collections information requires considerable input of skilled staff time: it will be many years before comprehensiveness can be achieved. t RCHME/EH Revised Thesaurus of Architectural Terms, 1989. 11
12 THREATENED BUILDINGS RECORDING The Threatened Buildings Section m London, Swindon and York processes over 6000 notifications per year of applications for Listed Building Consent, which it receives in accordance with Section 55 of the 1971 Town & Country Planning Act After consideration of each case, decisions are made whether to make a record of the site in question and letters are despatched to the referring Local Authority, informing it if action has to be taken. A database has been developed to replace a labour-intensive manual system based on a register and card indexes. The system is built around the Buildings File, which links the site to the NBR buildings Index, and the Applications File, which holds data on notification and concomitant processes and decisions with which it is associated. This enables staff to make an instant check on the stage in the process which any application has reached: the date received, the work proposed, the action to be taken (survey, photography etc). Finally, letters are automatically produced by merging relevant District Councils addresses with standard text, so that notifying bodies may be kept informed of the Section's decisions. The system has drastically reduced the staff time spent on each notification but this has been counterbalanced by the annual increase in LBC applications referred to the Section. By using statistics generated from the system, it has been possible to plan the redistribution of Threatened Buildings staff to conform better to regional workloads. The Section also employs electronic distance measuring equipment to assist rapid site survey. Data recorded on site are processed to provide basic coordinates for the production of measured plans and elevations. Consideration is currently being given to the widespread use of Autocad, a computer-based draughting package, for further automation of the drawing process. PHOTOGRAPHIC SECTION Work is in progress on the development of a computer-based photographic ordering system. The photographic section receives over 3500 orders for about 80,000 photographic prints each year, in addition to the new photography it generates internally. Computerisation has already permitted the elimination of internal manual ordering, progress chasing and invoicing systems in the Section and it is planned to provide automatic links to other Sections in RCHME so that requests for services may be made automatically from any point in the organisation. ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS Word processing facilities have been provided for most architectural staff engaged in project work and a database has been developed for recording medieval buildings in Kent. Using the NBR Buildings Index structure as a basis, computer staff have helped to develop a specialist database for the requirements of detailed building analysis. This approach is to be used for a number of forthcoming projects to provide a basic level of data compatibility concerning the identification, location and designation of particular buildings but at the same time meeting the specialised recording and analytical needs of project staff. Architectural staff are also carrying out rapid survey and assessment of threatened and unlisted categories of buildings within Urban Development Corporation (UDC) areas. Data collected from this project are input to computer for the purposes of analysis, rapid collation of results and integration with the NBR Buildings Index. TECHNOLOGY All database applications within the Architectural Division are implemented using the Informix relational database management system (RDBMS), running on multi-user PCs using the Xenix (Unix derived) operating system. To call the current generation of machines personal computers is rather misleading: top range 386 and 486 chip based PCs are now challenging the mini-computer market as departmental computing resources. It is now possible to buy for less than ..(10,000 what would have cost ..(100,000 a few years ago. This trend will continue. RCHME has a long term commitment to the Oracle RDBMS for its corporate computing strategy. Currently used for archaeological applications, Oracle will form the basis of most shared computing and data resources within the next five years, where users need to access each other's data. English Heritage has made a similar commitment to Oracle for the computerisation of its records of Scheduled Monuments and Listed Buildings. The adoption of a single software standard will facilitate exchange of data and yield benefits through the sharing of expertise. THE FUTURE The past five years have been characterised by the use of IT within RCHME to develop information systems that permit greater degrees of operational efficiency as well as enhancing the levels of use and access to our public archives. The next decade will see a continuation of this programme, with increased information becoming available and much attention paid to the development of systems which streamline the process of generating architectural information and making it available for public use in a variety of forms. All activities which generate, manage and support distribution of information will be supported by computer systems and linked via inter-departmental or interoffice communications links. The feasibility of providing on-line computer access to external users in the public or private sectors will be examined. A pilot system, NAR Online, is already available for internal users of the Commission's National Archaeological Record, based in Southampton. CONTEXT 25
-----------------------------------------------------------~ Research and development of imagebased retrieval systems (video disc and CDROM) for the curation and distribution of the Royal Commission's srock of photographs and graphics is also planned, hopefully adding to the range of information providing services currently available. The Royal Commission is also engaged in negotiations with English Heritage and the Department of the Environment Heritage Division over the computerisation of the statutory lists of Hisroric Buildings. The benefits of a national, comprehensive and statutorily authoritative record would be considerable. In addition to improving the quality of information held by RCHME and the management of the administrative procedures carried out by the other national bodies, the computerised record could provide the basis for Local Authority information systems, without them having to do the job themselves. It is, of course, acknowledged that some local authorities will find it necessary to develop their own systems for handling List information and related administrative procedures, before a nationally available record is produced. To this end, RHCME and EH are developing a core data standard for building information which will be published this year. It is hoped that this will enable the computerisation projects that are started in the intervening period tO be compatible in content and structure with the national record. As the national body of survey and record, the Royal Commission has a leading role to play. It sees the computerisation of the lists and its own records as fundamental not only to the efficient management of its activities but also to the development of the national heritage database, which in turn is essential for the professional management of the heritage. Until this database is made available tO its users in an efficient and timely manner, conservation of the built heritage will be a reactive process; aimed at preserving what is under threat rather than a predictive THE GREATER LONDON SITES AND MONUMENTS RECORD Hugh Jones discusses this record of information relating to historic buildings and archaeologicalsites. The Greater London Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) is a computerised record of information relating ro hisroric buildings and archaeological sites in London. It also includes a set of large scale (1:1250 or 1:2500) hard copy maps marked up to show the location of the items in the record. The SMR was started in 1984 by the GLC, and is now financed and managed by English Heritage, and operated in partnership with the Museum of London, the Passmore Edwards Museum and the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames. There is a Sites and Monuments Record in existence or in the process of being compiled for most counties or regions in Britain. All SMRs contain locational and descriptive information, dates, and bibliographic and other references for each of the sites and buildings recorded in them, and information should be retrievable on any reasonable combination of these attributes. Some SMRs are strongly biased towards archaeological information. SMRs are designed to serve a number of purposes. Perhaps the most important of these is the provision of accurate, easily accessibie data ro inform the planning process, and for this reason many such records are located in the Planning Departments of (usually county-level) CONTEXT 25 local authorities. SMRs are also used for academic and educational purposes, and may support a variety of research interests, both from the public and from commercial organisations. Some SMRs may charge for the provision of information ro commercial users. The emphasis so far within the Greater London SMR has been on intensive compilation. It is expected that when this phase ends in 1991 there will be of the order of 60,000 records on the system, making it by some margin the largest SMR in Britain. It will be possible ro provide information on all statutorily listed buildings in London, and all archaeological sites about which information has been available to SMR. The record was designed with potential users in mind, and EH seeks tO amplify the information contained in the staturory lists wherever possible. For instance, additional information such as architects' or builders' names is added, where these are known but not included in the list entry. References are also added tO other principal sources, such as the survey of London, VCH etc. As EH nears the end of intensive compilation, a stage is being reached where consideration can begin of how best to offer a service to users. The aim is to make the record as accessible as possible and, in particular, of value to the London planning authorities. Hugh Jones is with Englisl, Heritage. methodology, geared toward advance threat assessment and the development of forward looking and informed conservation policies. Simon Granr is Head of Computer Services, Royal Commission on the Historic Monumcnrs of England. COMPUTERJSATION OF LISTED BUILDINGS DATA: MARKETING CONSULTANCY Co-operative work carried out by The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and English Heritage has confirmed the view of the House of Commons Select Committee that a computerised copy of the statutory historic buildings lists should be established for the purposes of efficient heritage management. A further analysis is being carried out, examining the potential for marketing list information, since financial return on a major investment of this nature is highly desirable. The consultants Pannell Kerr Forster Associates have been commissioned by RCHME in partnership with EH and the Department of the Environment Heritage Division to canvass the views of actual and potential users of list information and to suggest appropriate marketing strategies. Questionnaires will shortly be circulated to all local authority and county council planning departments requesting basic information from list users on the nature of present usage and potential future needs for information. RCHME hopes for as full a response as possible to this survey as the information will help the development of strategies for a more efficient service in future. 13
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