The Building Conservation Directory 2021

6 T H E B U I L D I N G CO N S E R VAT I O N D I R E C TO R Y 2 0 2 1 C AT H E D R A L COMMU N I C AT I ON S Foreword H istoric buildings represent a huge, embedded resource in Britain’s towns and countryside. Their contribution to the character of our special places has long been recognised, and attention is also being increasingly drawn to the role of heritage in enhancing wellbeing. Historic buildings are a resource to be cherished, and essential to that is the training and sensitivity of those who carry out work upon them, whether restoration, adaptation for new use or the gentle care of annual maintenance. It is so important that those who own or are responsible for the maintenance of such buildings understand the need for specialist traditional craft skills, and even more important that those skills are supported and nurtured. The Landmark Trust was founded in 1965 as a buildings preservation charity of last resort, and has now grown into a heritage organisation of national importance. It has rescued and adapted more than 200 buildings at risk across Britain for new use as self-catering holiday lets offered to all, which pays for future maintenance. Landmark’s projects are often acclaimed, carried out to the most exacting standards. No two projects are alike, but certain common principles are applied to every one. Long before trowel is laid to mortar, or chisel to window frame, must come a full understanding of the building’s fabric and history. Once a building’s significance is fully grasped and defined, the project team agrees a philosophy of repair, to act as a lodestone for the many decisions (and inevitable new discoveries) once on site. This prior understanding also helps make sure that the final result is coherent. Wherever possible, Landmark uses its projects for training opportunities and other educational purposes. What Landmark does would not be possible without a pool of craftspeople and building professionals able to carry out the works in traditional materials in appropriate regional style, to standards that match our forebears. For private owner and building professional alike, The Building Conservation Directory is an essential resource for identifying those specialists who possess the knowledge and skills to steer and execute the conservation and repair of historic buildings. Such projects also help ensure the essential survival of traditional craft skills, long identified as under threat. Landmark is proud to be one of 445 heritage organisations sharing £103 million from Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, as one strand of the Cultural Recovery Fund in the face of disruption from Covid-19. This funding will help ensure maintenance does not fall behind on cherished heritage sites, and so support the craftspeople and specialists who carry out such work. Many of them appear in these pages. Lord Mendoza, Chairman, The Landmark Trust www.landmarktrust.org.uk Pondering the remains of a spere-truss at Llwyn Celyn, an early 15th-century hall house rescued by the Landmark Trust in 2019 Photo: John Cairns