Page 17 - The Building Conservation Directory 2013

t w e n t i e t h a n n i v e r s a r y e d i t i o n 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 1 3 1 7
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Professional services
though they are our most important national
monuments, it is perfectly legal simply to
leave them to fall down (although there
may be legal implications in terms of public
safety and insurance, for example under the
occupiers’ liability acts). Nor is there any
law that requires owners of other historic or
listed buildings to maintain them, and urgent
works notices and repair notices do not apply
to scheduled monuments. Not surprisingly
many are in poor condition. In addition to
employing inspectors and other staff, the
determining bodies employ small numbers
of officers5 (often known as field advisers or
monument wardens) to monitor the condition
of scheduled monuments and English Heritage
estimates that 17 per cent (3,337) in England
are currently ‘at risk’ (about five times the
percentage of I and II* listed buildings at risk),
while Historic Scotland estimates that over
38 per cent (3,116) in Scotland have ‘significant
localised problems’ or worse. There are no
tax concessions, VAT exemptions, or other
incentives for positive management.
Against this depressing picture, grants
of up to 100 per cent may be available for
repairs to some ‘at risk’ scheduled monuments
where a convincing financial case is made,
and can include project development
costs. There is also the possibility under
the act of a monument being directly
repaired by the state (Section 5), parts of
it being removed for preservation, or the
monument being compulsorily purchased
or taken into guardianship. However, the
stretched resources of government tend
to make these cases exceptional. Instead,
more co-operative approaches are being
explored, such as stakeholder heritage
partnerships which build on the provision
for management agreements in Section 17 of
the act. For example, owners might in future
be permitted to carry out certain agreed
maintenance tasks without the need to apply
for SMC each time. Until the law is changed,
however, these will still require SMC.
There are also other grounds for
optimism. Increased public mobility and
the exponential rise of heritage tourism over
the past century have made a few scheduled
monuments significant income generators.
There is also increasing recognition that ‘the
life of a building can be prolonged but not
indefinitely’ (Sir Charles Peers, Inspector of
Ancient Monuments, quoted in Thompson,
p64). Appropriate new sustainable uses may
therefore be considered acceptable in some
cases, where they preserve the heritage
significance of scheduled monuments for
the enjoyment and education of future
generations. Such solutions often involve
imaginative design interventions and even
some measure of restoration. Over 500
architects in Britain are now accredited in
building conservation, providing a pool of
expertise, and there are increasing numbers
of other specialists in the private sector with
the traditional building skills needed for the
repair of scheduled monuments.
A century since the 1913 act, the
requirement for consent for works to
scheduled monuments tends to be viewed
in a positive light by officials because of the
advice and grants that are available, but
negatively by some owners, who still see SMC
as costly bureaucratic interference. It is the
job of the conservation architect to find a path
between these extremes that preserves and
enhances scheduled monuments in a practical
and economic way that will bring long term
benefits to us all.
Recommended Reading
British Standards Institution, BS 7913:1998
A Guide to the Principles of the
Conservation of Historic Buildings,
London, 1998
DCLG, Planning Policy Statement 5: Planning
for the Historic Environment, TSO,
London, 2010
DCMS, Scheduled Monuments: Identifying,
protecting, conserving and investigating
nationally important archaeological
sites under the Ancient Monuments
and Archaeological Areas Act 1979,
London, 2010
English Heritage, Scheduled Monuments:
A Guide for Owners and Occupiers,
London, 1999
English Heritage, A Charter for English
Heritage Planning and Development
Advisory Services, London, 2009
English Heritage, Conservation Principles,
Policies and Guidance, London, 2008
J Fawcett (ed), The Future of the Past,
Thames and Hudson, London, 1976
Historic Scotland, Works on Scheduled
Ancient Monuments, 2011
Historic Scotland, Managing and Protecting
our Historic Environment: What is
Changing? The Historic Environment
(Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2011 Explained,
APS Group Scotland, Edinburgh, 2011
C Mynors, Listed Buildings, Conservation
Areas and Monuments, Sweet & Maxwell,
London, 2006
MThompson, Ruins Reused: Changing
Attitudes to Ruins Since the Late Eighteenth
Century, Heritage Marketing and
Publications, King’s Lynn, 2006
Acknowledgements
This article represents the personal views
of the author; it is not official guidance, or
a statement of the law. Each monument
is unique and will require individual
consideration and consultation with the
appropriate determining body.
The kind assistance of English Heritage,
Historic Scotland, Cadw and the Northern
Ireland Environment Agency is gratefully
acknowledged.
Robin Kent DiplArch(Oxf) MA RIBA
RIAS AABC IHBC RMaPS is a conservation
accredited chartered architect with
wide experience of works to scheduled
monuments for government and private
clients (see page 32).
Notes
1 The distribution of scheduled monuments
is: Scotland 8,201; England 19,748;
Wales 4,179; Northern Ireland 1,876 (figures
obtained from relevant bodies, 2012).
The distribution of nationally important
archaeological sites is: Scotland 300,000;
England 400,000; Wales 243,984;
Northern Ireland 35,000
2 I have borrowed the term ‘determining
body’ from Charles Mynors. They are
currently: Historic Scotland for Scottish
Ministers, English Heritage on behalf
of the DCMS, Cadw for the Welsh
Government and the Northern Ireland
Environment Agency on behalf of the
Department of the Environment Northern
Ireland (DOENI).
3 Scotland 245; England 1027; Northern
Ireland: 40
4 Historic Scotland 345; English Heritage
409; Cadw 127; DOENI 181
5 Historic Scotland 9; English Heritage 16;
Cadw 4; DOENI 40
A proposal for a new house attached to the ruined windmill (facing page), which is a scheduled monument.
The innovative new use will help to ensure that the structure is maintained for posterity. The work to the
monument has been granted SMC and planning permission has been granted for the house.