Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Alison McCandlish, ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com Editorial Board Matthew Crook, Nigel Crowe, Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews), Deborah Mays, Duncan McCallum, Alison McCandlish (chair), John Pendlebury, Sheila Stones, Jonathan Taylor, Rebecca Whewell Cartoons and illustrations by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2026 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Cathedral Communications (part of Euromedia Associates Limited), Suite 24, Railway House, Railway Road, Chorley, Lancashire PR6 0HW. Tel: 01747 871717 context@cathcomm.co.uk www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions to Context Context is available to corporate bodies at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £65.00 Elsewhere £100.00 Context on-line archive Past issues of Context can be viewed on the IHBC website. The archive provides a searchable database and reference for key articles. See www.ihbc.org.uk/page55/context_archive. The views expressed in Context are not necessarily held by the IHBC or the publisher. Neither the publisher nor the IHBC shall be under any liability whatsoever in respect of contributed articles. 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 issue of Context is current and correct, neither the IHBC nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions which may occur. Context themes and copy deadlines Context is published four times a year in March, June, September and December. The next three themes and copy deadlines are: Non-themed issue, December, issue 190 (9 October) Regional: North Wales, March 2027, issue 191 (14 January) Local lists, June 2027, issue 192 (15 April) Please contact Alison McCandlish at ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com to discuss any editorial submissions or for information about the Context editorial board. 2 CONTEXT 189 : SEPTEMBER 2026 Briefing Cover: The National Trust drew on a wide range of traditional skills and materials in its recent major restoration of Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire. (Photo: Michael D Beckwith, Wikimedia) Working in Recclesia’s Manchester studio in gloves to avoid direct contact with lead cames (Photo: Recclesia) Proposals by the Health and Safety Executive to reduce maximum allowable lead levels in blood threaten the traditional use of lead in roofing and the repair of historic leadwork. Under the Control of Lead at Work (CLAW) Regulations 2002, workers handling lead are subject to regular blood tests to monitor the amount of lead in the bloodstream, with those exceeding existing thresholds suspended from work. The HSE proposes to reduce the limit from 60 micrograms per decilitre to 30 in October 2026, and to 15 in October 2028. The new limits would make legal compliance far more challenging for contractors, and might prevent experienced craftspeople from working. This could have a severe impact on the conservation of lead roofs, leaded-light windows and ornamental leadwork. The rich heritage of leadwork is already under threat from lead theft and skills shortages. Taking experienced craftspeople out of work would make existing skills shortages even more acute, and would deter people from taking up the craft. The HSE conducted an informal consultation in 2025, inviting industry stakeholders to share their views through an online survey that closed in June. The findings have yet to be published. The British Society of Master Glass Painters believes that in many cases reaching the new standard would be unachievable, even with best-practice health and safety measures in place. Experienced workers would be hit hard as it takes many years to reduce the detectable lead levels in blood. At a time when traditional stained glass window making for historic buildings is on the red list of endangered crafts due to lack of education and commission opportunities, ageing practitioners and rising costs of materials, the proposals could be catastrophic, the society says. SPAB has called for the regulations to protect but not unduly constrain leadworking practitioners working in building conservation. ‘A proportionate, risk-based framework would be far preferable than broad-brush controls,’ SPAB says. ‘This would encourage reasonable, practical changes to reduce lead exposure while allowing practitioners to make informed decisions…. It may not be possible to remove all risks from working with lead, but if less disruptive opportunities exist to create safer working environments,… these should be exhausted before resorting to more limiting controls.’ Award for Hebron rehabilitation John Pendlebury writes: The World Habitat Awards are annual global housing awards, running since 1985, that ‘recognise and highlight innovative, outstanding and sometimes revolutionary housing ideas, projects and programmes’, divided between the global north and global south. Awards can be made at bronze, silver or gold, with the usual practice to give two gold awards a year, one in the south and one in the north. Occasionally the nominated schemes that need to be assessed can also be considered as Alarm over HSE review’s potential impact on leadwork skills
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