Page 19 - 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 9
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Professional services Extending Listed
Buildings
Principles and practice
Richard MacCullagh
The historic environment has
evolved and will continue to evolve
over time through natural processes
and human interventions. As a society we
have come to collectively value and protect
elements of this inheritance and these are
now described in the most recent United
Kingdom national planning policies as
‘heritage assets’. These assets include historic
buildings, monuments, sites, places and
landscapes of significance that merit special
consideration in planning decisions because
of their heritage interest. Heritage assets
include those that are designated, such as
listed buildings, scheduled monuments
and conservation areas; and undesignated
assets, such as local lists of buildings
of local interest. This article considers
the principles and practice of extending
buildings which have been designated as
heritage assets by being listed for their
special architectural or historic interest.
Most historic buildings reflect the
cumulative changes of different ownership and
uses and these in themselves can add to the
special interest of a listed building, reflecting
social and individual values and needs.
Unlike today, such decisions were historically
made without the constraints of planning
authorities but may have been controlled by
other factors. While listing introduces a much
greater degree of control, it does not mean
a historic building should be frozen in time
but calls for well-informed and intelligent
management of changes so the listed building
can sustain its heritage value. This applies as
much to the decision-making body as to the
owner, architect or heritage consultant who
develops any proposed scheme.
Any works of alteration, extension or
demolition will require listed building consent
(LBC) if they affect its character and in
determining this the local planning authority
or secretary of state ‘shall have special regard
to the desirability of preserving the building
or its setting or any features of special
architectural or historic interest it possesses’1.
If the listed building is in a conservation area
then there is also a duty to ensure that ‘special
attention shall be paid to the desirability of
preserving or enhancing the character or
appearance of the conservation area’.2
Most extensions will also require
planning permission and statutory
government guidance will apply. In England
the current guidance is contained in the new
National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)
which provides a presumption in favour of
sustainable development.3 It states that one of
the 12 core principles that underpin both plan-
making and decision-taking is that planning
should conserve heritage assets in a manner
appropriate to their significance, so that they
can be enjoyed for their contribution to the
quality of life of this and future generations.
It also says that account should always be
taken of: the desirability of sustaining and
enhancing the significance of heritage assets
and putting them to viable uses consistent
with their conservation; their potential to
contribute to sustainable communities;
and the desirability of new development
making a positive contribution to the
historic environment’s local distinctiveness.
Significance, as defined by the NPPF glossary
‘includes archaeological, architectural, artistic
or historic interest. Significance derives not
only from a heritage asset’s physical presence,
but also from its setting’.
North of the border, Scottish Historic
Environment Policy (SHEP, 2010) contains
similar policies to England’s NPPF.
Significance, for example, is a major theme
in both SHEP and the NPPF, but the concept
does not appear in the Welsh equivalent,
Planning Policy Wales. This refers to the
‘character’ of listed buildings and the need
to ‘safeguard’ their ‘special architectural or
historic interest’. Nevertheless, differences are
generally in emphasis rather than substance.
As well as national planning policy, every
planning authority has a local plan and the
policies in this will be a material consideration
in determining a planning application. The
local plan will have relevant policies on design
and the historic environment and may have
some more detailed design guidance in the
form of supplementary planning documents.
Ulster Museum, Stranmillis, Belfast – Frances Pym 1962–4 A brutalist cantilevered masterpiece added
to the front facade of James Cumming Wynne’s 1929 building. Some extensions break all the rules and still
work. The part Heritage Lottery Fund funded 2006–9 refurbishment and remodelling has been criticised for
dramatically altering the internal character of the 1960s museum.