TRAINING FOR BUILDING CONSERVATION

The promotion of traditional building craft training, especially to conserve the ambient built heritage.

Philosopher, Alain de Botton, “Buildings will strike us as offensive not because they violate a private and mysterious visual preference but because they conflict with our understanding of the rightful sense of existence”.

Heritage Loss by Urban Renewal

Urban renewal, with the inevitable replacement of the existing built environment, has always met with furious opposition from local people. This reaction bears witness to the value put on the architecture of the past. Local passion for preserving architecture is not about great historic buildings but old terraced housing, shops, schools, churches and pubs. Such buildings form the backbone of our ambient heritage and are the very expression of community life, its continuity and history. This is de Botton’s “rightful sense of existence”. English Heritage has recognised the value of such groups of buildings by encouraging local authorities to designate them as Conservation Areas.

Hands were wrung after the terrible programmes of urban renewal pursued in the 1960s, which ripped the hearts out of so many of the country’s towns and cities and replaced them in concrete. Yet even today, central and local government plan further mass destruction of vernacular architecture. Planning theory is a charter for developers, whose redevelopment schemes are justified by the state of the existing architecture. Fine terraces of houses and shops are approved for demolition because they have become run down and unrecognisable. 

Heritage Loss through the Replacement Market and Damaging Repair

Loss of recognition is usually attributable to an outbreak of Upvc windows and doors, brickwork smothered with cement, roofs sagging under the weight of concrete tiles and front gardens boasting battered skips brimming with sash windows, panel doors, skirting boards and wainscoting.

Never has there been greater ignorance about how traditionally built houses work, with the result that today’s repairs eliminate the architectural identity and shorten the life of any traditional building. What has become known as damaging repair is now an epidemic.

Heritage Loss through the Omission of Training in Traditional Skills

Towards the end of the 20th century, with the demise of the five-year apprenticeship system, those responsible for training in the construction industry were encouraged to codify training. Seeing Colleges of Further Education as the providers, the training authorities sought to develop college courses that made builders in two years. The authorities concluded that the key requirement of a tradesman was to be able to undertake a set of tasks common to his trade. The ability to undertake a task was dubbed a Competence and groups of competences were collected together into Units, the total of which comprised an Award in a National Vocational Qualification or NVQ.

The choice as to what to include as curriculum or Standard in the new courses was dictated by the conventional wisdom of the time. A student’s career was perceived as in the assembly of new buildings. Accordingly, in drawing up courses for 20th century builders, there was neither the time nor the teaching resource to consider the repair or maintenance of old buildings. The materials and building methodology of old structures have very little in common with the competences needed for new buildings. Ecclesiastical architecture, which is at the heart of the nation’s built heritage, requires special skills and was also ignored.

Heritage Loss through Technological Change

Those responsible for training failed to recognise that as building technology developed away from “the old ways”, so the new training would create a quite different kind of builder, the site operative. Today’s site operative is content with repeating the tasks in which he or she has been passed as competent and which are set down in the specifications for the work. The site operative does not seek responsibility for problem solving or on site manufacture. Accordingly, arming the modern builder with a set of certified competences has proved a satisfactory training methodology for the assembly tasks of modern new build.

For the student aspiring to repair and maintain old and historic buildings, competences for modern new build work could not be further from his needs. In response, the training authorities have sought to enhance modern construction NVQs with Optional Conservation Units. This approach is to misconstrue the world of building conservation, which is diverse and complex, requiring hand skills beyond the standards sought for modern construction. In addition, the NVQ conservation units are difficult for colleges to deliver because few instructors are trained in building conservation and the number of students electing for the conservation units is low, making the teaching uneconomic.

Modern Training Methodology not Applicable to Building Conservation

Whilst a National Vocational Qualification in building conservation might appear to be a solution, a study of the country’s built heritage shows that teaching by “competences” is not applicable to conservation practices. Whilst specifications for new build are precise, building conservation requires a sharing of knowledge and experience between the supervising professional and the craftsman. Should a list of competences be attempted, the list would be as endless as the methods and materials that have been used across a thousand years of building.

In building conservation, in order to respond to any repair or maintenance challenge, the building conservationist must be able to draw upon principles that he or she has learnt as part of an overall discipline. Such a discipline would allow the building conservationist to recognise the period, structural system, materials and tools relevant to the conservation task presented. The work itself would be seen in the light of conservation philosophy and law. It is inevitable that much conservation work is undertaken by small teams that must take on a wide range of issues that embrace archaeology, recording, materials analysis, planning, building control, health and safety statute, CDM regulation, contract law, insurance, and security.

In the Traditional Building Craft Skills Survey, commissioned in 2005 by the National Heritage Training Group, it was reported “ over three quarters of the survey (sic) said ….. If qualifications are to be valued, changing the NVQ system is needed to meet employer expectations”.

The Role of Craftsmanship in New Construction

The use of a traditional approach to architecture brings with it the need for natural materials and the knowledge of how to use them. Never before has there been a greater need to rediscover the old ways, the planet is threatened by the use of materials whose manufacture brings pollution and gases damaging to future generations. Governments are urged to reduce their reliance on oil and scarce resources and be economic in the use of energy. Modern construction, however, remains the villain of the piece pushing ahead in steel, aluminium, concrete and every form of oil-based product from Upvc to carpets.

Traditional craft skills have an important role to play in sustainable architecture that makes extensive use of natural materials. Those trained in the old crafts know the traditional materials, their selection, performance and how to work with them. In addition, they have the hand skills to ensure accuracy in the execution of construction work. These skills offer architects the opportunity for decoration denied them in the modernist movement and, therefore, the prospect to respond to a community’s preference for new buildings that compliment existing architecture rather than compete with it.

A New Way

The new foundation degrees promoted by Government represent an unusual opportunity, since a two-year degree course is an ideal educational tool in developing a building conservationist. The recognition that a degree can combine head and hand skills in a single course is paramount in education for building conservation. The graduate of such a degree course would be akin to the age-old craftsman whose skills went far beyond mere execution. A comprehensive knowledge of architectural history, conservation philosophy, law, structure and materials would permit the graduate to make an informed approach to the planning and execution of his or her work. Craft training would permit the graduate to achieve a standard beyond competence.

From the moment of graduation, the new craftsperson would be in a position to rescue the streetscape both from the impact of unnecessary replacement of architectural features and from repairs that are damaging to the fabric of the buildings. From replacing sash cords to overhauling a slate roof, the graduate would be contributing to the conservation of whole areas that might otherwise slide towards demolition in a programme of urban renewal. Importantly, the graduate would be able to advise his clients on a regime of maintenance and warn against the common incidences of damaging repair. Accordingly, the graduate not only makes accurate repairs but also becomes an informed advisor to owners who might otherwise fall prey to the aggressive marketing techniques of the replacement market.

With the benefit of post-graduate experience in building repair, the graduate would be eligible to join those entrusted with the nation’s major historic buildings and monuments. In addition, the graduate’s broad education would put him or her in a position to establish a business and pass on vital skills and knowledge to others.