The home of the conservation professional INSTITUTE OF HISTORIC BUILDING CONSERVATION YEARBOOK 2015
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1 THE INSTITUTE OF HISTORIC BUILDING CONSERVATION www.ihbc.org.uk Registered as a charity in England and Wales number 1061593 and in Scotland number SC041945 Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England number 3333780 Registered Office: 3 Stafford Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN2 4QZ OFFICERS IHBC officers are listed on page 5. Branch contacts are listed on page 6. BUSINESS OFFICE Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA Tel 01747 873133 Fax 01747 871718 Email admin@ihbc.org.uk DIRECTOR’S OFFICE Postal address: Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA Tel 0131 558 3671 Email director@ihbc.org.uk The institute cannot accept responsibility for the acts or omissions of any Member, Associate, Affiliate or HESPR company and accordingly the institute shall not be liable for any loss or damage or other matter arising from the employment or engagement of any member. IHBC YEARBOOK We gratefully acknowledge the support of firms whose advertisements appear throughout this publication. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this Yearbook is current and correct, neither the IHBC nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions which may occur. All rights reserved. The title of the IHBC Yearbook is and shall remain the absolute property of the institute. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recordings, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the institute. This 2015 edition has been prepared for the Communications & Outreach Committee by the IHBC National Office with the help of Cathedral Communications Limited. EDITOR David Boulting COVER ILLUSTRATIONS Front cover: The Briton’s Arms, Norwich (Grade II*), an early 15th-century former beguinage, where single women devoted themselves to a life of prayer and charitable work (Photo: David Edleston) Back cover, main illustration: One of a pair of bronze heraldic lions designed by Alfred Frank Hardiman (1891–1949) which flank the entrance to Norwich City Hall (Photo: David Edleston) The IHBC Yearbook is published and produced by Cathedral Communications Limited High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA Tel 01747 871717 Fax 01747 871718 Email ihbc@cathcomm.co.uk www.buildingconservation.com Copyright 2015 Cathedral Communications Limited ISBN 978 1 900915 75 5 For additional copies of the IHBC Yearbook please contact the IHBC Business Office, Tel 01747 873133. CONTENTS What is the IHBC? 2 Foreword 3 STRUCTURE AND MEMBERSHIP Structure of the IHBC 4 Elected and appointed officers 5 Branch contacts 6 Membership of the IHBC 8 REVIEW Chair’s review Mike Brown 13 Experimental evolution Seán O’Reilly 14 Conserving diversity Paul Butler 17 Preserving historic residential charater in Salt Lake City Carl Leith 21 Understanding place Jo Lintonbon 27 Skills diversity in Snowdonia Jonathan Taylor 30 Accessing our heritage Heather Jermy 35 Characterising and capturing the diversity of place James Webb 38 Cultural connections Alison McCandlish 43 DIRECTORY Directory of members 47 HESPR companies 82 USEFUL INFORMATION Courses and events 85 IHBC-recognised courses 89 National organisations 91 Local authority contacts 94 Products and services 98 ADVERTISERS INDEX 104
2 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 5 WHAT IS THE IHBC? The Institute of Historic Building Conservation is the principal body in the United Kingdom representing professionals and specialists involved in the conservation and preservation of the historic environment. Our members include architects, architectural historians and researchers, conservation officers in central and local government, planners, surveyors, structural engineers and other specialist consultants, including conservators, craftspeople and other practitioners. The benefits of membership include: • news updates (NewsBlogs) • Context, IHBC’s journal • IHBCYearbook • The Building Conservation Directory and other conservation publications from Cathedral Communications • events: reduced rates and priority access (as applicable) • job notices • technical support and guidance • national, regional and web-based advice and advisory panels • tax relief on subscriptions (incomerelated) • access to business support and listings including membership of IHBC’s Historic Environment Service Providers Recognition (HESPR) scheme (full members) • guidance on project development • career advice and support • training and CPD events, including IHBC Annual School • networking opportunities • participation and CPD opportunities in electronic panels • access to advocacy and lobbying • participation in supporting IHBC’s wider public services: - web-based resources - sector consultations service - volunteering opportunities - awards (IHBC Gus Astley Student Awards) - partnerships across built sector interests. The institute’s charitable purpose is to promote for the benefit of the public: • the conservation and enhancement of the historic environment in the United Kingdom • the highest standards of professional skills in this field • the education and training of professionals and specialists responsible for such work. The IHBC’s operations are planned in accordance with the three objects listed in its current Corporate Plan (see website for details): • helping people by promoting the conservation and management of historic places as a unique and evolving resource for people, both today and in the future • helping conservation by supporting specialists, specialisms and specialist interests in conservation, because effective conservation demands skilled care • helping conservation professionals by supporting, encouraging and challenging IHBC members and prospective members, because conservation professionals work most effectively with coordination, advice, inspiration and scrutiny provided by an informed professional body. Restoring the pineapple house at Hilton Hall, Wolverhampton (Photo: Jonathan Taylor, by courtesy of Treasure & Sons)
3 FOREWORD In principle, and this is something politicians are acutely aware of, especially in an election year, one should be wary of making predictions. Those of you who recall my piece here last year will realise that indications of my departure were grossly exaggerated! Nevertheless, an additional year as your president has given me the gratification of seeing through the start of our new method of governance. I have dubbed this ‘experimental evolution’ because, having listened to your views, your fears and, most importantly, your aspirations for this institute, we on council felt that a gradual reworking of the way we operate provides an opportunity to better utilise the amazing breadth of experience and knowledge our membership possesses. If successful, this should fulfil the objectives you have expressed and see our position as the pre-eminent built heritage professional body in the UK continue to develop and expand. I am incredibly indebted to our director Seán O’Reilly for getting us to this stage. His insight, his perception and attention to detail they occupied – an essential extra dimension that more often than not supplies their raison d’être. Innovative approaches, such as characterisation, cross-disciplinary practices and the use of new technologies help plug these gaps. Perhaps more importantly they are also often capable of being employed by local residents and schoolchildren, allowing them to ‘see’ their sense of place and, by doing so, to foster an appreciation of the need to preserve knowingly, conserve knowledgeably and redevelop sympathetically. If this also encourages an appreciation of the need for conservation professionals like ourselves, that is a bonus we surely would applaud. My applause, of course, is for all of you and the sterling and amazingly diverse work you do. Please keep it up! Trefor Thorpe IHBC President have delivered the format we will be following for the coming year or so as we progress our way through this experiment. For my part I have merely crossed ‘t’s and dotted ‘i’s here and there and offered counsel derived, I like to think, from rather too many years of practice at the coalface. Whatever, I urge you all to embrace this important development. If you have any conviction that the cause of your chosen profession is just and worthwhile, then consider getting involved and taking part in ensuring that we maintain our voice, our position and our mandate. Ultimately, it will benefit you as much as the organisation. The IHBC’s exponential rise in influence and activity, and this at a time when we are facing critical contraction in one significant area of our field of influence – local government conservation services – is remarkable but not entirely unforeseen. We maintain the moral high ground on issues such as the Green Deal, where our arguments and the headlining of more and more horror stories about the pitfalls of cavity wall insulation at last seem to be hitting home. On VAT too, we have been an important voice of reason. Where else but the Treasury and the boardrooms of the major house builders is there any doubt about the justification for change there? Diversity is the theme for this edition of the Yearbook. There were numerous times during my career when I thought that the listing of buildings, the scheduling of ruins and even the delineation of conservation areas were a rather narrow prescription for that part of our built heritage worthy of protection and conservation. None of those measures, useful though they undoubtedly were in their time, properly took into account the broader social, historical and archaeological context of the places
4 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 5 STRUCTURE OF THE IHBC Yorkshire David Blackburn yorkshire@ihbc.org.uk Scotland Jane Jackson scotland@ihbc.org.uk South Julia Foster south@ihbc.org.uk South East Sean Rix southeast@ihbc.org.uk South West James Webb southwest@ihbc.org.uk Wales John Edwards wales@ihbc.org.uk West Midlands Charles Shapcott westmids@ihbc.org.uk FINANCE& RESOURCES COMMITTEE Treasurer and Committee Chair Richard Morrice resources@ihbc.org.uk Chair of Council Mike Brown chair@ihbc.org.uk PRESIDENT Trefor Thorpe president@ihbc.org.uk CHAIR Mike Brown chair@ihbc.org.uk B R A N C H C O U N C I L M E M B E R S B R A N C H C O U N C I L M E M B E R S SECRETARY Jo Evans ihbcsecretary@ihbc.org.uk Administrator Lydia Porter admin@ihbc.org.uk EDUCATIONTRAINING & STANDARDS COMMITTEE Education Secretary and Committee Chair David McDonald education@ihbc.org.uk COMMUNICATIONS & OUTREACH COMMITTEE Communications & Outreach Secretary and Committee Chair Charles Strang communications@ihbc.org.uk Editorial Board Chair Fiona Newton editorial@ihbc.org.uk MEMBERSHIP & ETHICS COMMITTEE Membership Secretary and Committee Chair Paul Butler membership@ihbc.org.uk NOTES Red text indicates voting posts of council. Other o cers can attend council as required. For further details of the regional branch contacts see map on page 6. For contact details of all others please refer to the directory of members on page 47. POLICY COMMITTEE Policy Secretary and Committee Chair David Kincaid policy@ihbc.org.uk Government Liaison Secretary Bob Kindred government@ihbc.org.uk East Midlands Roy Lewis eastmids@ihbc.org.uk London Sheila Stones london@ihbc.org.uk North Geo Underwood north@ihbc.org.uk Northern Ireland Jill Kerry northernireland@ihbc.org.uk North West Crispin Edwards northwest@ihbc.org.uk East Anglia David Andrews eastanglia@ihbc.org.uk Projects O cer Fiona Newton projects@ihbc.org.uk Learning, Education, Training&Standards O cer Kate Kendall lets@ihbc.org.uk Membership Services O cer Carmen Moran membershipservices@ihbc.org.uk DIRECTOR Seán O‘Reilly director@ihbc.org.uk IHBC NATIONAL OFFICE VICE CHAIR Emilia McDonald vchair@ihbc.org.uk COUNCIL
5 S T R U C T U R E A N D M E M B E R S H I P DAVID McDONALD, EDUCATION SECRETARY is an independent historic environment consultant specialising in providing heritage training for other built environment professionals. He formerly led the Conservation and Design Team at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. He represents the IHBC on the Historic Environment Forum and is a member of the Victorian Society’s Southern Buildings Committee. education@ihbc.org.uk DAVID KINCAID, POLICY SECRETARY was the conservation team leader at Canterbury until retirement in August 2013. He was responsible for a wide range of projects including conservation area management, listed building and area grant schemes, and world heritage site management. Prior to this he worked for 14 years in South Yorkshire on a range of regeneration and urban design projects. policy@ihbc.org.uk CHARLES STRANG, COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH SECRETARY is a chartered architect and planner. He studied architecture and urban and regional planning at Strathclyde University. He worked for 14 years in local government before joining National Trust for Scotland as the head of planning, later becoming the director of buildings and gardens. He is now a sole practitioner specialising in conservation architecture and planning, and a trustee of the Sir Patrick Geddes Memorial Trust. communications@ihbc.org.uk PAUL BUTLER, MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY is the chairman of Paul Butler Associates, a planning and heritage consultancy based in Manchester. He worked for Newcastle and Gateshead local authorities and then Manchester, where he was the head of the city centre team. He is a trustee of Heritage Works (formerly Ancoats Buildings Preservation Trust) and of the Stroudwater Textile Trust. He was on the executive committee of the IHBC in the North West and has been an assessor of candidates for the IHBC. membership@ihbc.org.uk ELECTED and APPOINTED OFFICERS TREFOR THORPE, PRESIDENT is a retired former chief architect at Cadw where he was responsible for conservation and development projects at a wide range of monuments in state care and for advice relating to historic building grants and control casework. Previously a local government conservation architect in West Wales, he is currently a member of two Welsh DACs and a trustee of Civic Trust Cymru. president@ihbc.org.uk MIKE BROWN, CHAIR is a chartered building surveyor with some 25 years’ experience of the repair, refurbishment and successful change management of historic buildings and places, both as a practitioner and conservation officer. chair@ihbc.org.uk EMILIA McDONALD, VICE CHAIR is the conservation areas officer at Aylesbury Vale District Council and leads on heritage consultancy in the Built Environment Services Team, delivering specialist advice to other public bodies. She is chair of IHBC South branch and also advises affiliate members of the IHBC and recent conservation graduates on future career paths and progression within the institute. vchair@ihbc.org.uk RICHARD MORRICE, TREASURER is an architectural historian, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and chairman of Canterbury DAC. Formerly an inspector of historic buildings, he is senior heritage protection reform advisor with English Heritage. treasurer@ihbc.org.uk JO EVANS, SECRETARY is an associate director at CgMs Consulting and has held a number of conservation posts in local authorities in Surrey and Hampshire. She was chair of the IHBC from 2010 to 2013. Prior to that she was the membership secretary and the chair of the Membership & Ethics Committee, following on from holding posts on branch and other national committees. ihbcsecretary@ihbc.org.uk The post-holders shown are correct at the time of printing but are subject to change. For the latest information please see www.ihbc.org.uk/page63/index.html
6 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 5 FLINTSHIRE CONWY ISLE OF ANGLESEY GWYNEDD POWYS THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN NEATH PORT TALBOT SWANSEA CARDIFF RHONDDA, CYNON, TAFF MERTHYR TYDFIL NEWPORT BLAENAU GWENT CAERPHILLY TORFAEN MONMOUTHSHIRE NORTH SOMERSET BATH AND NE SOMERSET SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE CITY OF BRISTOL CALDERDALE KIRKLEES SHEFFIELD ROTHERHAM BRADFORD LEEDS YORK BARNSLEY WAKEFIELD DONCASTER NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE CITY OF KINGSTON UPON HULL EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE SOUTH AYRSHIRE EAST AYRSHIRE ARGYLL AND BUTE NA H-EILEANAN AN IAR H I G H L A N D MORAY ABERDEEN CITY ANGUS PERTH AND KINROSS STIRLING F I FE DUNDEE CITY EAST LOTHIAN MIDLOTHIAN SOUTH LANARKSHIRE CLACKMANNANSHIRE NORTH AYRSHIRE SCOTTISH BORDERS ISLE OF WIGHT SHETLAND ISLANDS CITY OF DERBY SWINDON CITY OF PORTSMOUTH CITY OF SOUTHAMPTON BOURNEMOUTH POOLE RUTLAND CITY OF LEICESTER MILTON KEYNES LUTON CITY OF BRIGHTON & HOVE CITY OF STOKE-ONTRENT CEREDIGION TORBAY CITY OF PLYMOUTH WEST BERKSHIRE READING WOKINGHAM BRACKNELL FOREST WINDSOR AND MAIDENHEAD SLOUGH THURROCK SOUTHEND-ON-SEA MEDWAY CITY OF PETERBOROUGH COUNTY OF HEREFORDSHIRE DENBIGHSHIRE WREXHAM TELFORD AND WREKIN BRIDGEND BEDFORDSHIRE CITY OF NOTTINGHAM BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN BLACKPOOL ORKNEY ISLANDS REDCAR AND CLEVELAND MIDDLESBROUGH NORTH TYNESIDE SOUTH TYNESIDE SUNDERLAND HARTLEPOOL GATESHEAD NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE STOCKTON-ON-TEES DARLINGTON London area (see inset) 1 2 3 4 WEST LOTHIAN FALKIRK NORTH LANARKSHIRE 5 EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE KNOWSLEY 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ST HELENS WIGAN 7 6 BURY 9 8 10 11 12 13 STOCKPORT WARRINGTON HALTON WIRRAL SEFTON Dashed lines are for clarification purposes only. CARMARTHENSHIRE PEMBROKESHIRE ISLES OF SCILLY CORNWALL DEVON SOMERSET DORSET WILTSHIRE HAMPSHIRE WEST SUSSEX SURREY EAST SUSSEX KENT ESSEX SUFFOLK NORFOLK CAMBRIDGESHIRE BUCKINGHAMSHIRE OXFORDSHIRE GLOUCESTERSHIRE SHROPSHIRE STAFFORDSHIRE CHESHIRE DERBYSHIRE WARWICKSHIRE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE LINCOLNSHIRE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE NORTH YORKSHIRE LANCASHIRE CUMBRIA DURHAM NORTHUMBERLAND LEICESTERSHIRE WORCESTERSHIRE ABERDEENSHI RE DUMFR I ES AND GAL LOWAY HERTFORDSHIRE 0 50 100 km Boundaries revised to April 2001 Crown copyright 2001 NORTHERN IRELAND REPUBLIC OF IRELAND BRANCH CONTACTS EAST ANGLIA (BEDFORDSHIRE, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ESSEX, HERTFORDSHIRE, NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK) Branch Council Member DAVID ANDREWS eastanglia@ihbc.org.uk EAST MIDLANDS (DERBYSHIRE, LEICESTERSHIRE, LINCOLNSHIRE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE AND NOTTINGHAMSHIRE) Branch Council Member ROY LEWIS eastmids@ihbc.org.uk LONDON (GREATER LONDON) Branch Council Member SHEILA STONES london@ihbc.org.uk NORTH (CLEVELAND, CUMBRIA, DURHAM, NORTHUMBERLAND AND TYNE AND WEAR) Branch Council Member GEOFF UNDERWOOD north@ihbc.org.uk NORTH WEST (CHESHIRE, GREATER MANCHESTER, ISLE OF MAN, LANCASHIRE AND MERSEYSIDE) Branch Council Member CRISPIN EDWARDS northwest@ihbc.org.uk
7 S T R U C T U R E A N D M E M B E R S H I P WEST MIDLANDS (HEREFORDSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE, SHROPSHIRE, STAFFORDSHIRE, WARWICKSHIRE AND WEST MIDLANDS) Branch Council Member CHARLES SHAPCOTT westmids@ihbc.org.uk YORKSHIRE (ALL YORKSHIRE COUNTIES) Branch Council Member DAVID BLACKBURN yorkshire@ihbc.org.uk OVERSEAS MEMBERS (ALL COUNTRIES) Membership Secretary PAUL BUTLER membership@ihbc.org.uk SOUTH EAST (EAST SUSSEX, KENT, SURREY AND WEST SUSSEX) Branch Council Member SEAN RIX southeast@ihbc.org.uk SOUTH WEST (CORNWALL, DEVON, DORSET, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, SCILLY ISLANDS, SOMERSET AND WILTSHIRE) Branch Council Member JAMES WEBB southwest@ihbc.org.uk WALES (ALL ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS) Branch Council Member JOHN EDWARDS wales@ihbc.org.uk NORTHERN IRELAND (ALL COUNTIES) Branch Council Member JILL KERRY northernireland@ihbc.org.uk SCOTLAND (ALL ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS AND ISLANDS) Branch Council Member JANE JACKSON scotland@ihbc.org.uk SOUTH (BERKSHIRE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, CHANNEL ISLANDS, HAMPSHIRE, ISLE OF WIGHT AND OXFORDSHIRE) Branch Council Member JULIA FOSTER south@ihbc.org.uk
8 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 5 MEMBERSHIP OF THE IHBC The institute aims to offer membership to all those who care for or about the built and historic environment, and our members are drawn from many disciplines. They include, among many other practitioners, architects, town planners, building surveyors, estate managers, structural engineers, landscape architects, archaeologists, architectural historians, local authority conservation officers, officers from national conservation organisations, academics and private practitioners. Membership of the institute is aimed at being inclusive rather than exclusive, but all categories of membership require the observance of our Code of Conduct (see page 10). There are three categories of membership available: Full membership of the institute is open to all whose principal skill, expertise, training and employment is in providing specialist advice in the conservation of the built and historic environment. Full members have demonstrated to the IHBC their skills, knowledge and experience as interdisciplinary conservation specialists able to offer advice in line with national and international standards and models in conservation and project management. As such, full members are normally expected to demonstrate skills and experience in line with and across the institute’s four areas of competence (see page 10) while significant skills in one or more areas may be seen to outweigh weaknesses in one of the other areas. Anybody who satisfies these requirements and has at least five years’ relevant experience would normally be considered eligible for full membership. For those who have gained a qualification from a conservation course that has full recognition from the institute (see page 89) the necessary period of relevant experience required is Structural engineer Patrick Stow addresses members of the South West branch at Montacute House, Somerset during a visit arranged in association with the National Trust in October 2014
9 S T R U C T U R E A N D M E M B E R S H I P IHBC MEMBERS BY PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION (including IHBC affiliates and associates) reduced from five years to two years. Associate membership is awarded to practitioners who have demonstrated to the IHBC their specialist skills, knowledge and experience in conservation in their primary discipline area of practice. Affiliate membership is available for those who have not yet demonstrated to council the criteria for full membership, but wish eventually to gain full membership. CONCESSIONS AND SUPPORT Membership is available at concessionary rates for those who are on low wages. Other members who make a case that they are suffering financial hardship due to low wage or part-time work or other relevant reasons may be eligible for further reductions. All forms of concessionary membership last only for the subscription year that they are agreed. Retired This form of membership allows a reduced subscription rate for existing members who retire but wish to remain in contact with the institute although they are no longer gainfully employed in conservation. Those wishing to apply for this form of membership should write to the membership services officer confirming that they are no longer gainfully employed in conservation or otherwise. Libraries This is a form of subscribing membership where an organisation, rather than an individual, may access our services and benefits. Those wishing to apply for this form of membership should contact the membership secretary who will advise them of the subscription rate applicable. All members have the right to receive notices, literature and Context. The Membership & Ethics Committee, subject to the approval of council, will decide on eligibility for and class of membership. All membership information is kept on a computer database and names and addresses can be used for mailing of appropriate information to members subject to stated preferences on the membership application form and careful control by officers. Professional affiliations: The institute remains the sole professional body for half its membership. One in four IHBC members is also a member of one of the architectural, surveying or engineering bodies, and one in five is a member of the RTPI. (Data compiled March 2015) Fields of employment: For the first time more IHBC members are employed in the private sector (45%) than in local and central government employment (42%). By comparison, in the same period of 2010 half of all IHBC members were employed in either local or central government (49%), with a smaller proportion in the private sector (38%). Then, as now, voluntary sector and non-government organisations accounted for the bulk of the remainder (7%). IHBC MEMBERS BY EMPLOYMENT 46 Archaeologists 57 Builders 38 Engineers 2% Education 1% Misc 4% Voluntary sector 10% Central government 3% NGOs 45% Private sector 3% Not known or unemployed 32% Local government None (IHBC affiliates and associates) 160 Surveyors IHBC only (full members) 361 Architects 447 Town planners To apply for membership please see www.ihbc.org.uk/join/index.html MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS 2015 Subscriptions are due annually on 1 April and can be paid by direct debit or by cheque (made payable to the Institute of Historic Building Conservation). Members, affiliates and associates £110 per annum Concessionary rate £55 per annum (available to those with an annual income below £17,500, subject to proof of income and renewed annually) Retired members £55 per annum Hardship support If you are having difficulty meeting the cost of our membership fees you can apply for hardship support (see www.ihbc.org.uk/join/Hardship/ index.html). Successful applicants typically have their fees reduced by 75 per cent of the full rate.
10 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 5 AREAS OF COMPETENCE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICAL Evaluation Management Intervention 1 Philosophy 3 History 5 Legislation and policy 7 Design and presentation 2 Practice 4 Research, recording and analysis 6 Finance and economics 8 Technology The eight IHBC competences AREAS OF COMPETENCE AND COMPETENCES FOR IHBC MEMBERS The ‘competences’ provide an outline of the skills, knowledge and experience required to fulfill the requirements of institute membership. Prospective members are advised to refer to the institute’s current guidance for applicants, Membership Standards, Criteria and Guidelines (2008) which is posted on our website’s membership pages – see www.ihbc.org.uk/join/ membership_downloads/index. html. The following provides a brief summary of the principal headings: AREA OF COMPETENCE Professional 1 Philosophy Appreciation of the social, cultural, political, aesthetic, economic and environmental values that underpin current conservation policy and practice 2 Practice Awareness of the wider context of conservation, including knowledge of and ability to interact effectively with all bodies and individuals who have a significant role to play in the field AREA OF COMPETENCE Practical: Evaluation 3 History Knowledge of the development of the historic environment including the remains of previous periods and cultures, historic buildings and settlements, works of engineering, parks, gardens and other elements of the historic landscape 4 Research/Recording/Analysis Ability to carry out or commission research, analysis and recording of the historic environment, and to maintain records accordingly AREA OF COMPETENCE Practical: Management 5 Legislation/Policy Knowledge of the legislative and policy framework for the conservation of the historic environment, its formulation locally and nationally, and awareness of other relevant legislation and policies 6 Finance/Economics Understanding of the process for the procuring of buildings and facilitating development, including finance, valuation, cost planning and contracts, with specific reference to historic buildings and areas AREA OF COMPETENCE Practical: Intervention 7 Design/Presentation Ability to analyse and evaluate quality of design, existing and proposed, of buildings and areas, and to present the results of such analysis in a way understandable to both professional and lay audiences 8 Technology Knowledge of building construction of all periods, the characteristics of structures, the nature and properties of building materials and appropriate methods of repair and alteration of historic fabric. IHBC CODE OF CONDUCT The object of the IHBC Code of Conduct is to promote those standards of conduct and selfdiscipline required of a member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation in the interests of the public and the protection of the built heritage. The main object of the institute is the promotion, for the benefit of the public, of the conservation of, and education and training in, the conservation and preservation of buildings, structures, areas, gardens and landscapes which are of architectural and historical interest and/or value in the United Kingdom. This heritage, which is part of society’s common heritage and which should be available to everyone, is, however, a limited and irreplaceable resource. It is therefore the duty of all members to act for and to promote its protection. Subscription to the IHBC’s Code of Conduct for individuals involved in the conservation and preservation of the built heritage assumes acceptance of these responsibilities. Those who subscribe to it and carry out its provisions will thereby be identified as persons professing specific standards of competence, responsibility and ethical behaviour in the pursuit of historic environment conservation work. This code indicates the general standard of conduct to which members of the institute are expected to adhere, failing which its governing body may judge them guilty of conduct unbecoming to a member of the institute and may reprimand, suspend or expel them. Full details of the Code of Conduct may be found on the IHBC website at ihbc.org.uk/resources/ A4-Code-of-Conduct.pdf.
REVIEW Stromness, Orkney: as part of the IHBC Annual School 2014, Orkney Islands Council hosted a satellite school exploring the rewards and challenges of conservation practice on small islands. (Photo: Liz Blood)
SHAWS ARCHITECTURAL TERRACOTTA & FAIENCE CRAFTSMANSHIP AT ITS VERY FINEST SINCE 1897 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT JON WILSON TELEPHONE: +44 (0)7792 267483 OR EMAIL: JWILSON@SHAWSOFDARWEN.COM Shaws of Darwen, Waterside, Darwen, Lancashire. BB3 3NX. Tel: +44 (0)1254 775111 VISIT OUR NEW WEBSITE TO SEE ALL OUR LATEST PROJECTS WWW.SHAWS-TERRACOTTA.COM
R E V I E W 13 CHAIR’S REVIEW MIKE BROWN, IHBC CHAIR It is with some foreboding that I approach the writing of this annual review. Have we done what we said we’d do at the beginning of the year? Have our charitable aims been met? Have the reasonable expectations of our members, that we drive forward with the corporate plan and advocate the case for conservation, been satisfied? This is year two of my chairmanship and many of the things I set out to do and the strategies devised a year ago with other trustees and our director are coming into play. We have, through our sustained membership figures and income (despite the recession) and the prudent use of budgets, been able to significantly expand the capacity of the national office. This has had a number of key outcomes, including our enhanced website, capacity for the development of a series of research and guidance notes, better communications with members including twice weekly NewsBlogs, membership surveys, and the strengthening of links between council and branches through our new Learning, Education, Training and Standards (LETS) officer. Council, in response to calls from members for greater opportunities for engagement with the institute, has completed the latest phase of our governance review, IHBC+. On an experimental basis, we have doubled the number of participants branches can send to attend council and expanded our Finance & Resources Committee to encompass our full board of trustees. In order to ‘meet’ more regularly a number of these meetings are being held digitally (as ‘F&R+’). Early signs are very encouraging with more regular and briefer meetings enabling trustees to deliver more timely decisions, as our fast-moving world requires. Ordinary physical meetings will also be held, which we will use to test proposals and engage more fully with key issues. The first is scheduled for the Sunday after our 2015 Annual School (21 June). Work is progressing towards a new five-year corporate plan (CP20) that will be put to the 2015 AGM for approval. This will be an evolution of the previous plan with many new threads of work that have developed in recent years. Council has populated the five-year action plan which will frame the efforts of the trustees and set priorities for action of the national office. One major and very welcome development over the past year has been the institute’s response to the reorganisation and decentralisation of planning and heritage in Northern Ireland with a revival of our branch there. Supported by our national office, new and more established active members are coming forward as volunteers and we very much look forward to a revitalised branch with strong roots in local government and local practices. Another highly significant development is the change to our membership structure. In response to feedback from membership surveys, we have redesigned our processes to help affiliates attain full membership. Key skills can now be acknowledged and ‘banked’ for up to five years under our Stepping Stones programme. Associates (as they will be known) can then concentrate on developing those skills areas which they may be finding it difficult to attain through training or work experience. Once in place, they can submit evidence relating to these skills to demonstrate that they have satisfactory skills across all four areas of competence (see page 10) and the necessary professional and personal qualities required for full membership. If you have not already embarked on this journey, look out for the ‘Roadshow’ that will be visiting branches to explain it. At the time of writing the general election looms large and we look forward to perhaps a more proactive relationship with the next government. Clearly, heritage has slipped significantly on the government priority sheet and we must, as a sector, step forward in June and re-engage with a number of key issues including the grave decline of capacity within local planning authorities; increased pressure on owners with the removal of VAT relief for works with listed building consent; the government’s deaf ear to calls for a lifting of VAT on the labour content in building contracts; and the treasury’s refusal to even acknowledge the evidence in favour of tax credits on heritage works. So what’s to do? The taxpayer will no longer sustain the future of our heritage. We must forge our own agenda (or a future government will force it upon us). As chair, I have been working with others across the conservation and archaeology sectors, looking to see where the reforms may lie that will get the system working again. The Historic Environment Forum for England is already showing a lead. New legislation is in the pipeline in Wales. More reform is expected from Scotland as the core heritage structures consolidate there, while governance in Northern Ireland is already changing. These are huge challenges and opportunities for the IHBC. We have lifted our game in the past year and we must keep doing so over the coming one if we are to re-establish the vital importance that heritage plays in the lives of the people of Britain. Join us. Mike Brown, chair@ihbc.org.uk
14 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 5 EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION SEÁN O’REILLY, IHBC DIRECTOR The past year has been one of the most exciting and challenging since I came into the post. It began with Bob Kindred’s appointment as our Research Notes consultant and with Fiona Hyslop MSP, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Culture, agreeing to speak at our Edinburgh school. The pace barely slackened until year’s end, when we were at last able to promote our new associate category of membership as a stepping stone to help affiliates progress towards full membership. A business-minded approach has underpinned these developments, producing the resources and capacity that has allowed us to raise our game substantially. Supported by our trustees and key volunteers, we’ve progressed a balance of commercial and charitable imperatives that, with a little intelligent management, lets us distribute a little of the largesse from our better-paid colleagues to those members more in need. This small but significant redistribution also helps us to achieve our charitable and corporate ambitions. In our model, any surpluses that arise from business operations, projects or events help subsidise those who can demonstrate they can benefit most, or are most in need. For example, about 2½ per cent of a member’s full fee goes to subsidising other members on annual salaries under £17,500, who benefit from a 50 per cent reduction in fees under our concessionary rates. That relief is even more substantial – up to 100 per cent on occasion – for the still small number of members seeking hardship support, such as those on salaries of £12,500 or less. Generating surpluses means we can support those members most in need, but it also means that branches have the freedom to use their annual allocation, or any surpluses from income-generating events such as the annual school, for their local needs. This is a great way to spur innovation in localised heritage support. That some branches can then, in effect, return funds to the IHBC’s cycle of events by offering bursaries for the annual school is a small reflection of just how the spirit of the IHBC as a charity need not be compromised by commercial realities. At the same time, surpluses underpin our small but carefully targeted contributions to key sector issues, achieving a value and profile that belies the modest sums involved. Sponsorship of the excellent suite of annual conferences from COTAC (now the Council on Training in Architectural Conservation), brings our name to the fore in one of the most critical areas of conservation practice, architectural conservation and its allied interests. The examples are extensive, and the corporate benefits well demonstrated by the simple matter of our sponsoring refreshments at the third meeting of Place Alliance – its ‘Big Meet 3’. This sponsorship offered a critical platform to stake our ‘place’ at the table of place-making. The Place Alliance initiative follows on from the Farrell Review and its encouragement for the alignment of interests across the PLACE acronym: Planning, Landscape, Architecture, Conservation, Engineering. The review panel aligned themes with professional bodies, such as the RIBA and architecture, but unaccountably failed to specify a body for the conservation role. Extraordinary, perhaps, in a document setting out to promote integrated practice, but by sponsoring the ‘Big Meet’, and securing our logo on the invitations, we have specified just where we see ourselves in that PLACE process, even if others, as yet, do not. So it is our legacy of successful business management that has allowed the institute to grow both in operations and ambitions, peaking with the kind of hectic year the national office has just experienced. The biggest impact, however, has been on our internal organisation. After a long period of cautiously exploring ideas, we agreed to make the kind of commitment that would have been a pipe-dream only a few years ago, by adding a new post to our small, formal staff of two – the director and projects officer. The Learning, Education, Training & Standards (LETS) liaison officer post offers branches the assistance needed to generate even more benefits from their hard work: adding capacity, extending networking, diversifying outreach and even helping make connections across the branches. The economics of the post were cautiously mapped so that trustees could have confidence in its sustainable resourcing. Unsurprisingly, given our membership, we had an exceptionally strong and variously skilled range of candidates. Despite the relatively low salary, the opportunity the role offered to make a difference in the sector was clear to all, so with the chance to take on board an exceptionally skilled candidate, if on more limited hours, we agreed IHBC Director Seán O’Reilly with Fiona Hyslop MSP, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Culture, at the Edinburgh School
R E V I E W 15 a part-time role for Kate Kendall as our new LETS liaison officer. For all its apparent modesty, not least as a part-time post, this was the biggest staff commitment for the IHBC since the employment of projects officer Fiona Newton in the mid-noughties. That had been a leap of faith in our potential to generate projects, one more than justified since. In Kate’s case, we have the relative luxury of recognisable income streams to support the post, and reserves to underpin it. That LETS post, however, is only one of the major projects that occupied us through the year as we: • re-cast and launched our associate membership category to serve better as a step towards full membership • helped lead the ‘Cut the VAT’ campaign, alongside the Federation of Master Builders and others, with a parliamentary launch of co-funded research • revived the case for Historic Tax Credits, a theme members will hopefully hear much about this year as we have strong interest from the construction industry • pushed exploration of the benchmarking of local authority conservation services, in partnership with leads in archaeology • enrolled, alongside Bob Kindred, Alison McCandlish as our NewsBlog author and social media guru; many members will remember Alison’s introduction to inclusive event-reporting via Storify at the Edinburgh school • offered a UK-wide series of events supporting affiliates seeking IHBC accreditation and membership upgrades • held extensive surveys and discussions to shape the IHBC’s corporate plan for the period 2015–20 (CP20), which is currently under consultation. Across all these changes – and indeed because of them – our governance review has continued, shaped by discussion, survey and advice. This led us to council’s adoption of our ‘IHBC+’ programme in December 2014, beginning our journey of what our president calls ‘experimental evolution’. This programme responds to two key challenges arising from our more substantial operations: • rapid expansion of our charity and business operations require tighter and more regular oversight by trustees • members interested in volunteering their services at a national level were often apprehensive about the time commitment required so IHBC structures lacked adequate representation and diversity. In the absence of a single answer, IHBC+ was developed as a process enabling more appropriate structures of governance to be explored without the need for constitutional change. This has the great advantage of letting us learn lessons before formalising change, which has something very ‘IHBC’ about it. We have established an extended council, ‘Council+’, with two representatives from each of our branches – spreading UK-wide representation – but with fewer workday obligations; Council+ volunteers meet just twice a year. (As one meeting is held at the annual school, the total commitment is now one workday, not four). Trustees, however, will engage in more meetings, but they will be shorter. The net result is that national committees should enjoy a better spread of volunteer obligation and opportunity, including taking on the peripatetic role that council undertook previously. Our organisation will also have better access to volunteers nationally, helping us all grow in our capacity, representation and ambitions. IHBC+ is in its early days, but it would not have been necessary without our recent growth, nor possible without the resources that growth generated. And I sense already that 2015 promises to be an even more exciting year. Seán O’Reilly, director@ihbc.org.uk Kate Kendall, the IHBC’s new Learning, Education, Training & Standards Officer, representing the IHBC at Regen 2015 (Photo: John Shaw, ASHTAV)
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R E V I E W 17 CONSERVING DIVERSITY PAUL BUTLER The IHBC has two major dates in its intellectual calendar: the June annual school and, preceding it, the publication of the IHBC Yearbook. As well as providing essential information for members and others, this yearbook sets the scene for the annual school by introducing its theme through a series of linked articles. As they engage with this year’s theme, ‘Cultural Connections: Conserving the Diversity of Place’, the following articles give a sense of the complex and varied ways in which diversity is integral to the historic environment and its conservation. The theme is brought into focus in an array of conservation contexts, from a specific and highly distinctive place – the model town of Saltaire, in Yorkshire – via the concept of characterisation of large urban areas, to a consideration of the diverse skills required by modern conservation, and an evaluation of what accessibility means in the context of the historic environment. An international perspective is provided by a discussion of the character of a historic neighbourhood in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the complex challenge of preserving it. While diversity can therefore cover a wide variety of issues, in a key area – the built environment – there is no doubt the modern world is becoming increasingly homogeneous. Ian Nairn’s 1955 book Outrage famously showed ‘the end of Southampton’ and the ‘beginning of Carlisle’ and challenged you to work out which was which. These photographs form the frontispiece and endpiece of Gillian Darley’s and David McKie’s new book on Nairn, Ian Nairn: Words in Place (2013), so the concerns remain the same over half a century later. And if it is thought that choosing two newish (at the time) suburbs of middle-sized cities such as Carlisle and Southampton was a little unfair, then today you could probably pick typical high streets in most parts of Britain which are practically clones of one another. The use of the word clone in this context comes from the 2005 New Economics Foundation (NEF) report, ‘Clone Town Britain’. The NEF reported on the ‘deep sense of unease about the increasing uniformity of our high streets, and the wider impacts that this is having on our local economies and communities’. It hoped that appropriate action could be taken that ‘will lead to thriving, diverse, resilient local economies across the UK’. The annual school and the themed articles in this yearbook are part of this debate. What stops towns (centres and suburbs) from being homogeneous is an understanding of what they are, in other words: how they have developed and what makes them distinctive. Central to this is an appreciation of the historic environment and how people understand and react to it. The conservation world has long recognised the importance of the historic environment in its wider context. Our philosophical roots grew out of concern for the treatment of individual buildings, so powerfully expressed in the well-known polemics of Ruskin and Morris against the conjectural restorations of churches and cathedrals. The subsequent development of conservation, however, has spread from what the SPAB still (rightly) calls the concern for fabric to a more all-embracing philosophy which covers extensive areas (the myriad of designations, from AONBs to conservation areas) and which assigns significance to values which are (using Historic England’s language) evidential, historical, aesthetic and communal – and not purely architectural. Unusually for an activity which is carried out within national legislative frameworks, conservation has roots which are also international. Alongside the conventions of the Council of Europe (Granada, Valletta, Florence and others) are the charters and documents of ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites) and documents produced by UNESCO for its world heritage sites. The Athens and Venice charters emphasised the settings of historic Bungalows in the historic Yalecrest neighbourhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. Efforts to preserve Yalecrest are discussed in Carl Leith’s article on page 21.
18 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 5 monuments. In Australia, the Burra Charter carried this forward with an emphasis on the ‘cultural significance of place’. If you were to name which US city was voted in 2012 ‘LGBT City of the Year’, it probably wouldn’t be Salt Lake City. But while Utah is dominated by the Mormons, Salt Lake City isn’t. It has a far more diverse cultural, ethnic and religious constitution than Utah as a whole. The challenge there, familiar to anyone who operates in the UK or European context, is to understand and protect its diverse heritage against development pressures which seek to maximise returns on sites in historic areas. Jo Lintonbon looks at Saltaire, a world heritage site which is guarded by a world heritage steering group tasked with protecting and conserving its ‘Outstanding Universal Value’. The principal aim is to make sure that this heritage is sustainable – as the Venice Charter recognised, places need to be economically viable to be successful. A new management plan, with Jo on the steering group as the ICOMOS representative, is due to be published at much the same time as this article (Spring 2015). Diversity in a wider context is tackled by James Webb, who looks at characterisation as a way of capturing the diversity of place. While conservation area appraisals are necessarily limited to areas that have been formally designated, characterisation covers areas which are not necessarily ‘special’ but still evoke a sense of place and community. Arguably, this is paralleled by the current emphasis being given to ‘non-designated heritage assets’ in some notable planning decisions, including a recent one on the Welsh Streets in Liverpool. The houses in question were neither listed nor in a conservation area but the planning decision recognised that they still had an important social and cultural identity which was worth preserving. As Jonathan Taylor points out, many of the traditional agricultural buildings in Snowdonia National Park are likewise unlisted but integral to the identity of the wider area. Their protection, however, is further complicated by redundancy and the difficulty of finding sustainable new uses for structures that are typically small, isolated and were constructed using local skills that may have largely disappeared. The challenge of saving these vulnerable buildings is being addressed by mobilising the diverse skills that characterise conservation today, drawing on the energy and expertise of archaeologists, conservation officers, craftspeople, owners and others. Diversity, then, is a question of people as well as places and for our heritage to have a secure future, we need to ensure that the widest possible demographic is given the opportunity to appreciate and interact with it. Heather Jermy points out that while the battle for physical accessibility has largely been won, the battle for intellectual and other forms of access continues. Sometimes, too, it has to be accepted that physical access can’t be provided for everyone. At La Ronde near Exmouth, Devon, a 360-degree virtual tour of the delicate shell-encrusted gallery overcomes the problems of the site’s physical inaccessibility and sensitivity. Because the tour can be viewed online it provides a window on this unique treasure that is available around the world. Conservation does not have a narrow focus. While it can be a laser beam on an appropriate mortar mix for a brick wall, it is also a floodlight on an entire area where, in order to gain a long-term and sustainable future, its history, development and character need to be properly understood. We need culturally and physically diverse places to flourish and grow. Nairn might even have been pleased at the way things are going. Paul Butler, membership@ihbc.org.uk Craft skills training run by Snowdonia National Park Authority as part of a townscape heritage initiative (Photo: Stone Roof Association)
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