Ownership Responsibilities

Owning a listed building (or other old property) should be seen as a great privilege. It should also be seen as an important responsibility. It is up to the owner to maintain the history of the building and to pass it on to future generations. This page contains a list of what we feel are the responsibilities of owners of listed and other period properties:

To keep the property in a good state of maintenance
To preserve the character of the property as much as possible
To preserve the history of the property for future generations
If changes are absolutely necessary then they should be undertaken with minimum disruption to the fabric and character of the property
To keep the original fabric, fittings and fixtures in as an original state as possible
To be prepared to compromise or change their plans to best suit the property rather than themselves
To use skilled crafts people and traditional materials and methods

It is also important to make a distinction between building conservation and restoration:

Building Conservation

This is the process of maintaining and repairing a building in the most sympathetic way possible. People involved in building conservation accept that they must often change their plans to meet the needs of the building. They accept that it not always possible to do the things that they want without damaging the building. They always use skilled craftspeople, traditional materials and methods. They also try to use new materials made in the traditional ways rather than reclaimed materials, as reclamation encourages the stripping of old buildings which should be saved rather than demolished. Most importantly people doing building conservation work take their time to plan and undertake work rather than rushing headlong into the unknown.

Restoration

This is the process of trying to make a building match some imaginary ideal of what it might have looked like sometime in the past without regard for the damage caused during this process. People doing building restoration tend to be characterised by their use of modern materials, which are quicker and more efficient. They want everything to be perfect and are not prepared to accept the imperfections that exist in the building. They correct anything that does not match their ideal. They tend to use non-specialist builders who don’t understand the needs of old buildings and who specify entirely reclaimed materials. They also tend to be taken in by advertisements in magazines for chemical damp proofing, wood treatments and spray-on roof foams many of which are completely inappropriate for old buildings. More importantly these people tend to want to start quickly and get everything finished in the shortest possible time span.

Obviously building conservation is infinitely preferable to restoration. Owners of old properties must beware of companies who claim to be able to get their project done in a few weeks. These companies will be doing restoration. Owners must take the time to read up on building conservation using publications by organisations such as the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). They must learn all they can about conservation and only then begin their projects.