14
BCD Special Report on
Historic Churches
17th annual edition
Makingthemost
ofQuinquennials
T
he Church
of England’s Inspection
of Churches Measure 1955, which frst set
out the requirement for the quinquennial
inspection (QI) of churches, has now been in
force for over half a century. Its origins had a lot
to do with the early grant-making bodies, such
as the Pilgrim Trust, which were struggling to
cope with urgent requests for funds as parishes
tried to address fabric deterioration caused
by the long years of wartime and post-war
shortages of materials and labour. Tere was
a feeling that fabric crises were popping up
out of a bottomless pit and what was needed
was advance warning and prioritisation.
At frst, the new requirement that each
consecrated church must be inspected every fve
years by an approved architect was greeted by
parishes as yet another burden, administrative
as well as fnancial, but it has come to be
seen by many, both outside and inside the
Church of England, as a vital discipline which
has paid great dividends over the years.
Te purpose of this article is to examine
how parishes can make the most of the
inspection process and its follow up. Te
QI, after all, is something that every parish
has to do, and to pay for. It makes sense
therefore to get the best out of the system
and from the services of the ‘QI consultant’.
(Although the term ‘church architect’ is still
commonly used, for many years chartered
surveyors with conservation skills have been
eligible for inclusion on the list of approved
practitioners. To avoid tedious repetition
of ‘church architect or surveyor’, the term
QI consultant is used here instead.)
It is often said by those who work in
Church of England dioceses that there are 43
ways of doing everything. Te Inspection of
Churches Measure laid down a general principle,
but it is up to each of the 43 dioceses to make
its own scheme under the Measure setting
out precisely what is expected. Similarly, each
diocese has its own method of appointing
of QI consultants, the setting of fees and the
instruction process for the inspection itself.
For instance, in the Gloucester diocese, once
someone is appointed to the approved list,
he or she may be used by any parish to do its
inspections without further reference to the
diocese, although in practice the DAC secretary
is often consulted when changes are made.
By contrast, there are some dioceses
where the individual appointment needs to be
Heavy rain is good for a fabric inspection: Toby Falconer at work at Cold Aston, Gloucestershire
approved and/or where there are sub-groups
within the approved list such that only certain
practitioners are approved to deal with say
Grade I buildings. Regarding the inspection
fees, a wide range of methods exists. Probably
the most common scheme is to categorise
churches as ‘small’, ‘medium’ or ‘large’ (not an
easy process in itself ) and to have standard
fees relating to these groups. Some dioceses
have no recommended fees at all and leave it
to the parish to negotiate with the architect.
One could argue that greater
standardisation would be helpful, especially
to the hard-pressed practitioners, most of
whom have complained for many years that
church inspection work is not remunerative
Jonathan MacKechnie-Jarvis