OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE AND CURTILAGE HERITAGE MANAGEMENT PLAN 2008–2013

J. Condition of Values
Part D – Appendices
352 Old Parliament House and Curtilage Heritage Management Plan 2008–2013
Buildings at risk program and Commonwealth State of the Environment Reporting
It is also worth noting two important and relevant programs which deal with the condition
of heritage places. These are the English Heritage Buildings at Risk program, and, as part
of Commonwealth State of the Environment reporting, the methodology developed to assess
the condition of historic places in Australia. These are briefly discussed below.
The Buildings at Risk program is undertaken by English Heritage in the early 1990s as part of protection for
Britain’s heritage places. In its initial phase, this involved a survey of over 43,000 buildings, about 9 per cent
of the total number of Britain’s listed buildings, by assessing their external condition and identifying whether or
not the places were occupied/used. The initial study was undertaken with the assistance of 46 local government
authorities, who provided local recorders, most of whom were not professionally qualified. (English Heritage 1992)
The program now produces an annual register of heritage places which are deemed to be at risk through
neglect and decay, or vulnerable to becoming so (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.1424).
In the late 1990s the Commonwealth State of the Environment reporting program developed environmental
indicators to focus monitoring activities. For historic heritage places, a condition indicator was developed
drawing upon the Buildings at Risk model. In essence, the indicator involved a sample survey of historic
heritage places in Australia. Each of the approximately 1 200 places in the carefully designed and
representative sample is briefly visited to ascertain simple but key information about the physical condition
and integrity of the place, internally and externally, its use, if any, and a few other factors. Features of
the survey are the involvement of heritage experts undertaking the survey, and the reliance on information
about heritage values to guide the assessments. (Marshall & Pearson 1997; Pearson and others 1998)
This sample survey technique was used as part of the data gathering for the 2001 and 2006
Commonwealth SoE reports, and the intention is that the survey will be undertaken on a five year cycle
to assess trends in condition over time (Lennon and others 2001; Pearson & Marshall 2005).
The SoE surveys are focused on the physical condition of places but they are able to address intangible
aspects, such as a significant use, and they are generally guided by the values of the places. To this extent,
and realising the limitations of only a brief visit to each place, the surveys do address the condition of values.
Methodology for assessing the condition of Values
The basis for the proposed methodology is the concept that heritage values are embodied in aspects
of a place, and it is the condition and integrity of this embodiment, or in some cases just the
integrity, which are the useful qualities to assess as indicators of the condition of values.
The definition of cultural significance in the Burra Charter states,
1.2 Cultural significance means aesthetic, historic, scientific, social or spiritual value for past, present or
future generations.
Cultural significance is embodied in the place itself, its fabric, setting, use, associations,
meanings, records, related places and related objects. (Australia ICOMOS 2000)
Subsequently, the Charter focuses on the set of terms fabric, use, associations and meanings to encompass
the embodied significance (eg Articles 3.1, 15.4 and 27.2). However, meaning is a term of a different kind
to the other terms. It is a higher order concept. For example, fabric, use and associations can have meaning.
Meaning and significance appear to be synonyms, at least in a formal dictionary-definition sense, although
alternately significance can be viewed as being about the weighting of values or meanings. In any event this
really just leaves the three terms: fabric, use and associations to encompass the embodied significance. 1
The task is to assess these embodiments of significance as they are indicators of the condition
of values. As noted in the previous section, condition and integrity have traditionally been used
to assess fabric. However, the concept of the condition of a use or association is awkward.
Rather, it seems more sensible to refer to the integrity of a use or association. Accordingly, the
methodology proposed here addresses the condition of values in two ways, by assessing the:
1 This interpretation of meaning in the Burra Charter may be challenged by others working in the field. However, the Charter is not as clear as it might be on this question and the interpretation offered is one valid possibility.