The Building Conservation Directory 2022

PROFESS IONAL SERVI CES 1 27 C AT H E D R A L C O MM U N I C AT I O N S T H E B U I L D I N G C O N S E R VAT I O N D I R E C T O R Y 2 0 2 2 CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE is defined in the Burra Charter (Australia ICOMOS 2013) as the aesthetic, historic, scientific or social value for past, present or future generations. The significance may be embodied in the place itself and its fabric, but it may also lie in its setting, use, associations, meanings, records, related places and related objects. This broad concept of what it is that we find significant in our heritage is widely adopted by the UK’s statutory bodies, although older legislation and statutory guidance may refer to specific values of historic buildings which are to be protected, such as their character and appearance. RESTORATION means alterations and repairs designed to return something to its earlier state, or its state as it was at a particular point in the past, by removing later accretions or by repairing the surviving fabric. Stonemasons tend to use the term to mean a repair which returns masonry to its complete state by repairing and renewing missing components, but others tend to avoid using the term to describe their work because of its association with the speculative restoration work in the Victorian period, in particular with the idealised reconstruction of medieval church architecture where there was no evidence of what was there before. Cadw, the Welsh statutory government body for conservation, advises that restoration can only be justified when ‘it does not diminish the value of the surviving fabric and leads to the enhancement and sustainability of that asset’ (Conservation Principles, Cadw 2011). CONSERVATION is defined by Cadw’s English equivalent, Historic England, as ‘the process of maintaining and managing change to a heritage asset in a way that sustains and where appropriate enhances its significance’. It is not an attempt to return an object to an earlier or original state, but repairs which ‘restore’ integrity to the fabric may be part of the conservation process where their purpose is to maintain the significance of the fabric. PRESERVATION is the process of maintaining something in its existing state and slowing or halting the rate of its deterioration. Today the term is most commonly used in connection with museum objects and below-ground archaeology and is only used for very specific measures where a building is still in use because it excludes change. Alterations are often necessary to allow a building to remain functional and in use, and for places to thrive. Interventions designed to improve a building’s performance or to enhance its completeness, appearance or significance are all excluded by the term. However, the term appears in primary legislation where the criteria for protecting a building is said to be ‘the desirability of preserving the building or its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interest’. In this respect ‘preserving’ has been defined in case law as ‘keeping safe from harm’. LISTED BUILDING GRADES AND CATEGORIES England Grade I (2.5%) Grade II* (5.5%) Grade II (92%) Wales Grade I (2%) Grade II* (6%) Grade II (92%) Scotland Category A (8%) Category B (50%) Category C (42%) Northern Ireland Grade A (2.5%) Grade B+ (6.5%) Grade B1/B2 (91%) Regency and early Victorian town houses in Bath: their cultural significance may lie in the individual buildings themselves and their architectural form and detail alone, but often buildings draw significance frommany sources and associations, both individually and collectively, and as components of the wider landscape and townscape. WHAT LISTING MEANS Lists of buildings of ‘special architectural or historic interest’ are maintained by each of the four home nations. These ‘listed’ buildings are graded according to a variety of factors such as rarity and completeness, with Grade I and category A being the most important, but all listed buildings are equally protected by the need for consent, whatever the grade/category, inside and out. It is a criminal offence to materially alter, extend or demolish one without listed building consent (LBC). Applications for listed building consent are made to the local planning authority who will then consult the national statutory body on applications for LBC involving demolition. Where alterations are proposed, Historic England and Cadw are only consulted on proposals to alter Grades I and II* listed buildings in England and Wales, and Historic Environment Scotland is only consulted on categories A and B in Scotland. In Northern Ireland the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities is consulted on all applications affecting listed buildings. PRIMARY LEGISLATION GOVERNMENT POLICY AND GUIDANCE England Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 The National Planning Policy Framework Wales Planning Policy Wales , Technical Advice Note 24: The Historic Environment and associated best practice guidance, Managing Change to Listed Buildings in Wales Scotland Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 Historic Environment Policy for Scotland and the guidance notes in the Managing Change in the Historic Environment series Northern Ireland The Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 The Planning (General Development Procedure) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015 The Planning (Listed Buildings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 Planning Policy Statement 6 (PPS6): Planning, Archaeology and the Built Heritage Criteria for the Scheduling of Historic Monuments and the Listing of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, with associated procedures Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS) 2015