Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance - English Heritage

ENGLISH HERITAGE CONSERVATION POLICIES AND GUIDANCE
134 The response to dramatic contemporary events which may ultimately come
to be seen as historically significant – to memorialise, rebuild or redevelop –
tends to be driven by public debate. If the place involved was not previously
considered significant, such debate may be regarded solely as part of the event.
Physical sustainability and changing values will, however, tend to influence the
medium- to long-term future of memorialised ruins of comparatively modern
buildings, or the scars of conflict.
135 By contrast, neglect and decay, abandonment, including the removal of roofs,
crude adaptation for transient uses, accidental fires and similar circumstances
are not normally historically-significant events, and subsequent restoration
of the damaged parts of the place, even after a long interval, will not fail this
test. Retaining gutted shells as monuments is not likely, in most cases, to be
an effective means of conserving surviving fabric, especially internal fabric
never intended to withstand weathering; nor is this approach likely to be
economically sustainable. In such cases, it is appropriate to restore to the
extent that the evidence allows, and thereafter to apply the policy for new
work (paragraph 138).
‘The work proposed respects previous forms of the place’
136 The more radical the restoration, the more likely it is to introduce an element
of incongruity. The reversal of relatively minor but harmful changes, to restore
a place to a form in which it recently existed as a complete entity, is unlikely
to contradict this criterion. By contrast, the restoration of isolated parts of
a place to an earlier form, except as legible elements of an otherwise new
design, would produce an apparently historic entity that had never previously
existed, which would lack integrity.
‘The maintenance implications of the proposed restoration are considered
to be sustainable’
137 It is essential to consider the long term implications of a proposed restoration
for viability and sustainability. If, for instance, a place or part of it was modified
primarily in order to reduce maintenance costs, restoration without considering
the increased resources needed for maintenance is likely to be counterproductive.
The reinstatement of elaborate parterres in historic gardens
is an obvious example, but others can have more serious consequences.
For example, reversing a ‘crown flat’ – a flat roof inserted between ridges
to eliminate a valley gutter in an historic roof – will lead to rapid decay if
the restored valley gutter is not readily accessible and adequately maintained.
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