Aimée L Felton 2012

35 fabric and best practice principle of minimum intervention. Similarly identified was the frequency of such inspections and the conclusion concurred with the guidance in BS7913 Guide to the principles of the conservation of historic buildings ‘twice in a decade rhythm is a natural one to adopt’ (1998). Identification of the need to repair was the most commonly identified requirement for undertaking a condition survey (Dann, N and Worthing, D. 2005:p95), however there is little evidence. The provision of effective and accurate condition surveys, interconnected with corporate aims and objectives to accompany buildings and their life cycle of operational use could go some way to help bridge the problem of lack of knowledge. It is also possible to conclude that although an initial expense, condition surveys could help to reduce the overall financial burden of maintenance.If recommendations of work and prioritisation are included, any work undertaken will be known in advance, with added benefit to accurately budget for and prevent the negative impact of replacing culturally significant and vulnerable fabric without absolute need. The predominant weakness is the obvious inhibiting factor - that there is no point obtaining such information if it cannot be assimilated, prioritised and made available for analysis at a later date. Throughout the focused, and at times varied, investigations into the treatment of maintenance to historic buildings from non-heritage organisations, the most definite conclusion to be drawn is the apparent lack of homogenous thinking occurring. MoH (2004. as cited in Forster, A and Kayan, B. 2009:p211) state that the response from organisations tends to be sporadic responsive and low THREE Chapter Three - Literature Review Three•Eight Gaps in knowledge Aimee Felton