litation” projects where the historic and/or architectural interest of the buildings is in the skip and not on the walls! What is going on?

I remember John Yates (now English Heritage Historic Buildings Di

vision officer, Western Branch) telling me of this chap (a surveyor) who asked for advice on what was worth preserving in a Georgian interior. John trotted round rattling off the features, eg skirtings, chair rails, door architraves

etc, and the man followed duly writing notes. At the end of the meeting the chap stated that his client was applying for consent to remove and destroy all the features he’d catalogued but they would be faithfully replicated anew — to guarantee that the building was free from dry rot and decay and would last 30 years! Clearly there’s still a cultural gap to be filled here!

Just to remind ourselves: Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 says that works which demolish or alter a listed building in any manner which affects its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest need consent. DOE Circular 8/87 advises that works which materially and detrimentally affect the special interest should be refused consent for the long term objective of preservation. But often historic components and finishes are removed from listed buildings during refurbishment schemes because the architects, surveyors, engineers and builders believe that they cannot be repaired or easily redecorated: they end up on the skip and new copies are made at vast expense. The originals end up in the salvage yard and are reused elsewhere and the listed buildings are left looking spick and span but with their special interest sadly diminished. Conservation officers therefore need to be vigilant in protecting listed buildings from excessive and unnecessary repair and restoration: a process which would reduce potential salvage and retain more viable, original fabric in situ.

Where consent and demolition is unfortunately inevitable (553 applications in 1988 but only 185 consents) remember that S.55(2)(b) of the 1971 Act requires the applicant for listed building consent to notify the Royal Commissions on Historical Monuments and to provide them with access for the purposes of recording detail for posterity in photographs and drawings. Nothing prevents material being recorded, if it is of interest to the RCHMs, even if it is to be salvaged as part of a formal listed building consent condition imposed by S.56(4)(a) “the preservation of particular features of the building either as part of it or after severance therefrom”. Your conditions can of course specify the end location of such salvage, not necessarily leaving it to the local antique shop or London saleroom.

But here’s a word of warning. Although there are plenty of historical precedents for the salvage and reuse of building materials and features, there is a valid argument which runs counter

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