Page 20 - The Building Conservation Directory 2013

2 0 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 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
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Professional services
Key issues
Given the great variety of historic building
types and their individual characteristics,
design advice shouldn’t be too prescriptive
as what might work for one site may not
necessarily work for another. Some listed
buildings will be much more sensitive to
change than others, so each case should be
considered on its individual merits. A good
starting point, however, is to develop a
thorough understanding of the significance
of the listed building and its setting. Only by
going through this process will one be able to
make value judgements about what survives
and its capacity for change. The NPPF requires
an applicant to describe the significance of
any heritage assets affected, including any
contribution made by their setting. It states
that: ‘the level of detail should be proportionate
to the assets’ importance and no more than is
sufficient to understand the potential impact
of the proposal on their significance’.4 This will
normally involve both desktop and historic
building analysis and in some cases careful
opening up of building fabric may be required
(with the agreement of the planning authority).
It is essential to use appropriate heritage
expertise in this assessment.
It is as important to understand the
historic plan form of a listed building as
its external envelope, so that any addition
can be added without compromising the
special interest of a historic interior. A value
judgement must be made regarding the
significance of what is opened up or covered
over by the extension. An appreciation of the
building’s setting and context is also essential
as in many cases the extension will be visible
in the public realm and may also impact on
other historic buildings.
Listed buildings are often the product of
more than one period. In some cases it may
be relatively easy to add a further addition
provided it is sensitive to the scale and detail
of the existing fabric. Others may already have
been extended to such a degree that a further
extension would harm their character, or the
site might be too tightly constrained by its
boundary. In some cases it might be desirable
to remove recent additions of low quality
and replace them with a better-designed
extension. However, later additions can be
difficult to evaluate. For example, alterations
made to a Georgian building in the Victorian
period are more likely to be considered part of
the building’s history than those made in the
1960s, but there are exceptions in both cases
and many grey areas between.
Some listed buildings present bigger
challenges for adding extensions than others
because of their sensitivity to change. For
example, in the case of a church built in
one single-phase or one that enjoys a degree
of architectural completeness, it might be
preferable to place facilities inside as part
of an internal re-ordering or provide a
freestanding building (both solutions will
present challenges). It is also possible that
archaeological resources survive within
or beneath the listed building’s curtilage
and decisions will be required regarding
preservation in situ or recording. Others
such as gate lodges and tollhouses present
challenges of scale due to their diminutive size
but may need an extension to keep them in
viable use.
Pre-application consultation with the
planning authority’s conservation and
planning officers is important. The statutory
heritage body should be consulted where the
building concerned is listed at the highest
grade (eg English Heritage for Grade I and
II* buildings5) as they will be commenting
on the planning and LBC applications. In
more challenging schemes or ones that
are likely to be contentious, it is worth
considering wider public consultation or
contacting relevant national or local amenity
societies. The quality of response can vary
but consultations are useful if all parties
are prepared to engage constructively.
Planning decisions should not ‘stifle
innovation, originality or initiative’ (NPPF
para 60), and planners are required to
be objective in their deliberations. Many
conservation officers are not themselves
from a design background and benefit from
seeking the views of design professionals. In
some local authorities they have access to a
panel of architects and designers, and this can
prove beneficial particularly on larger or more
challenging schemes.
Acknowledging the above caveats,
most listed buildings can be altered or
extended sympathetically to some degree to
accommodate continuing or new uses. Some
will present the opportunity to promote a
design intervention that would not have been
possible without the listed building to inspire
it. Such high quality work can delight and add
to the historic building’s interest.
There are various definitions of good
design, but the criterion set by Vitruvius over
2,000 years ago, that architecture should
be functional, durable and attractive6, has
stood the test of time and can be applied
equally to any building, object or designed
space, at any scale. Architectural style is
less important than how the extension
relates to the existing building and its
context in terms of scale, mass, form,
siting, proportions, details and materials.
West Down Conference Centre
University of Winchester –
Feilden Clegg, 2001
This Grade II listed building
was on the Buildings at Risk
Register with a very uncertain
future when it was acquired by
Winchester University. Feilden
Clegg was commissioned to turn
it into a conference centre with
student accommodation and
studio space for the university’s
performing arts school. A fairly
nondescript wing was removed
to make way for a glazed foyer,
staircase and lift linking the
original 1880 Thomas Stopher
preparatory school to the 1905
Arts and Crafts hall and chapel
by John Simpson. New flat-roofed
dormers were added to the front
elevation of the main building.
This is a successful contemporary
interventionist approach that
still conserves much of the
building’s original character
and gives it a new lease on life.