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6B - Update Memo June 3rd. 2009 TO: Landmarks Board FROM: James Hewat, Chris Meschuk SUBJECT: Update Memo Whittier and University Hill School Projects Staff has met with Boulder Valley School District staff and project architects. The school district has indicated they will submit for review by the Landmarks design review committee in the near future. Revisions to Enforcement Provisions in Historic Preservation Ordinance Update at meeting. Post WW-II Residential Subdivision Survey and Context Comments from the Board and staff on the draft intensive survey forms have been submitted to TEC. Work is underway completing the forms. The final draft of the context and survey will be presented to the Board at the August meeting. Valmont Mill Staff is working on a Colorado Historical Society condition assessment grant application. 2009 CLG Grant Application The grant to digitize the survey forms and photographs is underway. New and Pending Land Use Review Applications 900 2811, Street Site Review Planning Board Calendar See attached. Stay-of-Demolition Status Summary, June 3rd, 2009 Date of Datu Stay Date of Address Construction lm ose.d Lx "r:ration Current Status None. Landmark Applications: Second reading of Washington School Landmark Designation, July 81h, 2009. Sustainable Heritage: Challenges and Strategies for the Twenty-First Century MAY CASSAR This article, based on the College of Changes in Society passing generations. What remains is Fellows lecture given at APT's 2008 In his book The Clock of the Long culture, the product of society, having a longer annual conference in Montreal, looks Now: Time and Responsibility, Stewart span of life even than human « communities, while nature is the setting at the intersection of heritage Brand proposes an order of civiliza for all of human activity and is constant conservation and sustainability and tion," which consists of "six levels of through time. Each level is left to oper- pace and size in the working structure how these two disciplines will of a robust and adaptive civilization."' ate its own pace, safely sustained by together address the challenges of Starting with fashion and commerce, the slower levels below and itself kept followed by infrastructure and gover- invigorated by the livelier levels above. this century. The total effect of these layers is that Hance, and ending with culture and they provide feedback into the system, nature, these levels are ordered with to their rate of change. Fashion giving it stability and growth. In consid- respect and commerce, which together signify eying its place in the "order" of these the economy, have the fastest cycle of levels (economy, society, culture, and ange, with both trend and policy tom nature), heritage lies nearer to the bot- chexisting at different pace and size scales of the scale in terms of its slow from everything else. Infrastructure and pace of change. governance can be grouped together In thinking about the challenges and under society because they exhibit strategics that are emerging as the similar signs of societal organization twenty-fast century unfolds, it would and planning, changing slowly with the seem appropriate to set the scene for sustainable heritage conservation through the prism of the last 40 years by highlighting some key developments in society, in heritage conservation, and in our profession. I will illustrate what 'R these changes mean for heritage conser- vation using the example of the greatest challenge of our time - climate change .p'•'"" and how it might affect how we think and practice heritage conservation. OFFAL Changes to Our Approach to Heritage r 4•*~` _ Conservation ~ l r pkis za,~yb I - By way of context I will also reflect on how out profession is changing. One of ■ the most significant changes has been the growing strength of the evidence }f` ~e~ t base for our decision-making, ranging from improvements in our scientific ' Y understanding of material change to the ways in which we assess risk as part of the operational management of the heritage environment. Our evidence Fig 1. )he Low Energy Victorian House (LFVH), in Camden, north London, is the left halt of two semi- base has not only become deeper within detached properties. All photographs by Bob Lowe and Ian Ridley, Bartlett School of Graduate Stud our own fields of practice but broader ies, University College London. 3 4 APT BULLETIN: JOURNAL OF PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGY J 40:1, 2009 as we have looked beyond our own Change (IPCC) have been accepted by replacement or demolition of the hous- disciplines and integrated the work of the UK government as the standard ing stock in England. By contrast over scientists and practitioners from other work of reference for policy, based as 40 percent of Canadian buildings have disciplines. Now we can better quantify they are on predictions that are under- been built in the last two decades. The damage to historic materials, such as pinned by peer-reviewed and published average Canadian dwelling is 37 per- stone, metal, glass, wood, and paper, in scientific and technical data. The UK cent larger in terms of floor area than response to environmental change; we government funds a technical unit that the English dwelling. The fact that manage as well as conserve sites, build- supports the work of the IPCC Working Canadian houses are generally larger ings, and collections; we understand Group II on "Impacts, Adaptation and than those in the UK means that the better our impact on the environment Vulnerability" and the UK Climate heating and hot-water systems are quite (and the mitigation strategies we have Impacts Programme (UKCIP), which different and physically much bigger. to adopt to safeguard air, soil, and derives the UK Climate Change scenar water quality) and on cultural heritage ios'and coordinates research on the Climate. Degree-days is one way a (and the adaptation strategies that are impacts of climate change; UKCIP has comparing the severity of the climate needed to balance conservation and supported research on climate-change and its impact on the energy consump- access). impact on cultural heritage. The UK tion of buildings. For example, a build- We understand the need for a holistic government Climate Change Bill, which ing would use almost 50 percent more approach to the conservation of sites, has recently passed into law, makes the space-heating energy Toronto than it historic buildings, and interiors, viewing UK the first country in the world to would if it were located in in don. The all three as part of a wider cultural enshrine in law climate-change targets. climate and the big difference design landscape in our efforts to manage wear In October 2008 a new Department temperature - that is, the temperature and tear on all types of surfaces. We for Energy and Climate Change was that a system is designed to maintain have complex issues to grapple with, created in order to implement the UK inside or operate against outside under such as the growth of cultural tourism government's policy on climate change the most extreme conditions -hid the ! from the (still comparatively) affluent through a number of key initiatives, UK light in w hy C terms of anad a its has energy-efficiency tcy developed world, the enormity of the including: threat of climate change, and the extent the Climate Change Levy, which standards. Temperatures below 14°F to which the rapid advance of technol- manages the Climate Change Al- (-10'C) occurreasonably frequently in many parts of Canada yet incredibly ogy can help us manage natural and lowances Scheme infrequently in the UK, and so subzero it anthropogenic agc. Engaged d effects as ff we ects are e in a cultural line h of her- the Emissions Trading Scheme, which temperatures are not a design consider- work that is both challenging and enjoy manages carbon offsetting ation. Despite the higher levels of insu- able, and some might say even privi- • the Carbon Reduction Commitment lation, the average energy use of a leged, makes it all the more necessary to • the Low Carbon Building Programme Canadian dwelling (112.4 GJ per picture our work as part of the thoughts • the Renewables Obligation dwelling in 2001) is 40 percent greater than and actions that are shaping tomorrow's a dwelling in Great Britain (80.8 The Carbon Trust and the Energy GJ per dwelling). This difference is world. Saving Trust, which began as govern- clearly attributable to the difference in ment initiatives, now largely operate climate but also to the size of proper- Climate Change independently of government. The UK ties. One of the most profound decisions has a reputation for rebranding systems, with which we have yet to come to energy labels, and advice-giving, which Culture. Apart from the building stock means that experts and the public have and the climate, understanding changes in thtermse twenty-first fully andwwhich extent out problems keeping up with changes. It in behavior is a key factor in under- century will is be the played to which we should conserve heritage in could therefore be useful to compare the standing our response to climate chanb the face of environmental change. The building stock climate and cultural As external temperature and humidity factors in the UK and North America, change and as levels of insulation in- evidence we provide will influence the before looking in more detail at the crease and buildings are made more value that society places on different principles and purpose of these key UK airtight in order to save energy, internal types of heritage and could determine initiatives3 heat gains will change occupant behav- society's attitude to safeguarding our . for to limit the rise. The area between heritage. Building stock. There is some compara- behavior change and the deployment The United Kingdom's position on tive information between the UK and and use of technology, such as external climate change provides a clear sense of Canada on domestic housing, since it is shading systems, is still little understood. the direction of travel. In March 2006 one of the most ubiquitous building The U.S. is considered to be at the fore- the UK government published the UK types. One-third of English building front of much socio-scientific research,4 Climate Change program, which stated stock pre-dates World War 11 (1939- while in the UK there is an increasing that "the scientific evidence is now 1945), and less than one-third has been interest in post-occupancy reviews of overwhelming."' The periodic reports of built since thermal building regulations buildings and their engineering (Probe) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate came into force. There is very little largely stimulated by the results of these studies undertaken by The Usable Build- takes place where the cost of the rcdu~: ings Trust.' There could be interest in tion is lowest, thus reducing the overall the UK in the U.S. Green Building Coun- cost of combating climate change. An oil's Leadership in Energy and Environ- organization can either reduce emissions mental Design (LEER) Green Building on site or trade with other companies Rating, especially if existing buildings in that have excess allowances. The env' future are evaluated for their durability ronmental outcome is not affected be- an d if cult ural/social/conservation met- cause the amount of allowances is fixed. rics are added to the durability metric. By allowing participants the flexibility 10 On the down side LEED depends on an trade allowances, overall emissions American Society of Heating, Refrigerat- reductions can be achieved in the most `M. is J ing and Air-Conditioning Engineers cost-effective way. The Carbon Reduc- ,.;1SHRAF) calculation method that sets tion Commitment will apply mandatory Fig. 2. At the LEVH, the demand for energy is not absolute but relative energy targets. emissions-trading to cut carbon emis- reduced partly through a reduction in air infiltra- tion. In this case, air infiltration is decreased If one starts with an inherently poor sions from large commercial and public- through the installation of phenolic insulation design, whether it is a glass box or a sector oranizations, which could in- 0 panels, fixed on battens and sealed together medieval barn, then a building can claim elude cultural institutions. It is unlikely, with sealant foam to be energy efficient even if marginal however, that any cultural institution insulation is added. Furthermore, LEED will need to compensate for its emissions environmental conditions, and energy focuses on matters relating to environ- with an equivalent carbon dioxide sav- use. A group of conservators from mental sustainability to the exclusion of ing by carbon offsetting. across UK national museums and gal- social and economic sustainability; thus, The Low Carbon Buildings Pro- leries is now collaborating on a project 1.EED cannot be considered a holistic gramme provides grants for the installa- to develop international consensus on sustainability tool. tion of microgeneration technologies in the need for standards for the care of the public, private, and nonprofit sec- collections that are sustainable in the UK initiatives. Against this background, tors. The aim is to support a holistic long term. The group is developing it is worth considering how key UK approach to reducing carbon emissions initiatives will impact heritage conserva- plans to work with a wider group of from buildings by demonstrating combi- international conservators on a review tion. The Climate Change Levy is a tax nations of energy-efficiency measures of international standards for loans of on the use of energy in the public sector, and microgeneration in a single site. In artworks for consideration by interna as well industry and commerce; it is 2008 the program awarded a £55,000 tional art-museum directors in 2009. At combine ed with offsetting cuts in em- aranr US$94 000 to Dunster Castle in ployers' National Insurance contribu- 0 ( ) the same time, the UK Science and tions and additional support for energy- Somerset to install solar panels, thus Heritage Programme has announced efficiency schemes and renewable making it the first Grade I-listed build- funding for a year-long research net- sources of energy. Its intention is to ing to introduce renewable energy work to debate appropriate environ- sources ' The Carbon Trust provides advice on mental guidelines for cultural institu- encourage the efficient use of energy, so cutting carbon emissions and energy tions.g the levy will play a major role in helping bills and on developing low-carbon the UK meet its targets for reducing technologies, including efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Climate Climate Change and Heritage Change Allowances have been set up to carbon emissions in the existing building Conservation stock. The UK government's Depart- reduce the levy by up to 80 percent for ment of Culture, Media and Sport was Yet concern over climate change and energy-intensive industries provided they one of the first to be accredited under heritage conservation had already sur- meet predetermined energy- and carbon- the Carbon Trust's Energy Efficiency faced five years ago, when a scoping saving targets. With its emphasis on Accreditation Scheme, which recognized study entitled Climate Change and the promoting energy efficiency, encourag- its efforts and that of its sponsored Historic Environment ryas commix- ing employment opportunities, and departments, including the national sioned by English Heritage.9 The re- stimulating investment in new technolo museums and galleries, in reducing port's recommendations on safeguard- pies, the Climate Change Levy will affect energy ing authenticity and historic integrity in public-sector cultural institutions includ galleries and It is against this background that a the face of climate change encompassed ing national museums and gall historic ro erties owned b for exam- debate has been stimulated among UK not only physical adaptation and sym- p p y' national museum and gallery directors pathetic management, but also local the, English Heritage, the public body t on how to reduce the carbon footprint community involvement and good the UK government with a broad remit of their museums in an era of energy governance, with a strong recommenda- of managing the heritage environment of. constraint. A meeting of the Bizot tion that research needs to provide England. The rationale behind the Emissions Group of international art-museum quantitative evidence for changes in Trading Scheme is to ensure that the directors in May 2008 raised the issue of policy, as well as practice. Since then reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions how to solve the dichotomy between there have been two other scientific long-term collections care, expensive research projects, Engineering Historic 6 APT BULLL f IN: JOURNAL OF PRESLRVAI ION I ECHNOLOGY / 40:1, 2609 'temperature change poses the risk of Europe) directive, which has reduced the extreme events such as heat waves, concentration of the most damaging changes in freeze-thaw cycles, and an acidic pollutants - sulfur dioxide and r r increase in wet frost. Its impact is not nitrogen dioxide; in the longer term, only on materials, such as the damage ozone, a secondary photochemical f to facades due to thermal stress, but product, will also be effectively reduced. also on the "fitness for purpose" of This is a good example of how scientific some assemblies. Furthermore, sea- research has provided evidence for 1 1, sonal overheating within buildings informed regulation. But because gather- can drive tip the demand for install- ing scientific evidence takes time, using ing mechanical cooling systems that scientific evidence alone to influence are not only unsympathetic in a policy on the protection of cultural Fig. 3. Air infiltration was reduced at the LEVH historic building but also equally heritage from climate change is not through a complete rebuild of the roof: silicon damaging to the environment due to enough. It makes sense to advocate for sealant was used at the joints between insula- tion panels and roof joists. the increase in carbon emissions from the protection of the physical, social, burning fossil fuels. and cultural environment as an inte- Futures10 and the Furopean Union's Sea-level rises, which present the risk grated whole, not only because the Noah's Ark Project,71 which led to an of coastal flooding and sea-water weight of qualitative and quantitative invitation by the European Parliament incursion onto archaeological and evidence is greater but also because the Temporary Committee on Climate historic sites, illustrate most starkly effects are inseparable. Change (CLIM)12 to submit evidence that the impact of coastal erosion and and also led UNESCO to launch a loss is not just physical but social and Waste Not, Want Not project entitled Climate Change and cultural as well, from the intermittent One of the strongest sustainability World Heritage focusing on policy introduction of large masses of arguments for heritage conservation is changes and adaptation issues. "strange" water to a site, which may that material conservation is an inher- ently so much of our heritage disturb the meta-stable equilibrium waste-avoidance activity. This exists among eo le and communities between artifacts and soil, to perma- p P argument is entirely consistent with a and is bound up with social interactions Went submersion of low-lying areas common definition of sustainability as and cultural identity and cohesion, it is and coastal loss, to population migra- the reduction of environmental impact clear that climate-change impacts are tion, disruption of communities and by not consuming nonrenewable re- not only physical phenomena. The the breakdown of social networks. Y 1 sources. Our awareness of the fragility complex relationship between physical, There are other impacts, for example, of old materials mirrors society scon- social, and cultural impacts of climate from the effect of wind and from terns with the fragility of the air, land, change on heritage conservation has to desertification and also from the and water and with fossil fuels as a be considered when assessing threats by interactions between natural and finite resource. Championing the con- the most significant climate parame- antbropogenic factors, such as cli- tinued use of old buildings extends their ters," such as: mate and pollution acting together, productive life through new uses; it • Atmospheric moisture change poses causing surfaces of buildings and reduces material waste, conserves em- the risk of flooding, changes in rain- other structures to blacken. Other bodied energy, and preserves the human fall patterns, water-table levels, soil examples of impacts range from the skills and creativity that went into chemistry, groundwater, humidity biological effects of climate change, producing them. The benefits of reuse cycles, and increases in the wetness such as a reduction in native species are different from but complementary time of materials and salt chlorides. of wood for repair and maintenance to recycling: Not only are the impacts visible as of buildings, and changes in the • Reuse locks in more carbon, embod- damage to cultural heritage, such as appearance of landscapes and build- ied energy, hjstoric-design and engi- loss in stratigraphic integrity, but also ings through changes in vegetation neering value (90 percent of value is unstable subsoil affects people di- and lichen cover. often in the design), and craft skills. rectly. Ground heave and subsidence We are only now beginning to under- Historic buildings were designed and cause structural damage to buildings, stand the synergistic effects of two or constructed with lower impact on the and penetrating damp not only causes more climate parameters working to- environment. Surplus materials were physical changes to porous tradi- gether, such as wind-driven rain, because used for the remanufacturc of build- tional building materials and finishes: these are some of the more complex and ings, fixtures, fittings, etc. Today they make people's lives miserable difficult interactions to unravel. Adapta- heritage conservation is the engine for and their dwellings uninhabitable, tion to climate change must be based on the creation of real jobs and voca- and at worst they can pose a health understanding these effects; while our tional-training opportunities. risk from foul water and a threat to knowledge is still limited, mitigation has . Recycling uses significantly less en- life. been helped in Europe by effective legis- ergy than making a new product, and Jation such as the CAFE (Clean Air for SUSTAIHA'?LL-HP 9J AGE CHALLENGES AhD SIR,. _GI•_S 7 it generates significantly less waste in orgy, and their energy efficiency can i the extraction of original materials. It be improved in ways that are not reduces the volume of waste, landfill, damaging to historic buildings. How- and the production of landfill gases, ever, a distinction must be made be- e.g., methane, which is 22 times more tween historic buildings constructed powerful than carbon dioxide. with thick walls and traditionally Yet environmental double standards, sized windows and buildings of light especially those associated with the high weight modern construction, which ist use of fossil fuels, persist; as societies often the least energy efficient. prosper, the demand for greater comfort Although these arguments are incredi- I,:g at home, at work, and at leisure in- bly compelling, it would be wrong to creases. In the heritage sector we depend use them to resist change. The heritage Fig. n. The internal insulation panels are placed heavily on fossil fuels to heat and cool environment must engage fully with the through the floor/ceiling interface to form a museums and galleries, to drive our cars process of adaptation to climate change continuous, airtight barrier. to visit historic sites, and to transport that the whole of society is undergoing; international exhibitions around the otherwise the real risk that historic The Low Energy Victorian House globe. Therefore, we must exercise cau- buildings become redundant and the tion when we defend the protection of price of environmental obsolescence - A practical example reveals the tensions heritage materials by comparing them to demolition - in future will be high. In that can exist between our wider obliga- nonrenewable fossil fuels, which we still London, England, 50 percent of the tion to adapt the historic building stock consume in large quantities. building stock is historic nineteenth- and our responsibility for its conserva- English I Icritage describes the con- century Victorian buildings; there is an tion. A pilot project to future-proof tribution of the historic environment to acute shortage of affordable accommo- energy use in a nineteenth-century environmental sustainability in the dation in the southeast of England. We Victorian semi-detached dwelling - following terms: must engage with legislators in deci- one of only three intensively monitored + The historic environment is itself an sions on what can be done with the projects in the UK - was completed in environmental good that needs to be historic building stock. There is a prac- Camden in north London in summer sustained for the future. If we accept tical necessity to access the adaptive 2008. Known as the Low Energy Victo- that the natural environment is the potential and the adaptive capacity of rian House, it has been renovated and shell within which social and eco- the built heritage. This should happen fitted with energy-efficient measures nomic activities take place, our ac- for every individual historic property as that are projected to reduce its carbon tions will be restrained by limits that an integral part of conservation man- emissions by 82 percent (Fig. 1). These should ensure that our footprint on agement, emergency planning, and civil measures include: the environment is as small as possi- contingency planning. Adaptive poten- Reducing the demand for energy by ble. The historic built environment is tial is normally high when the political, improving the thermal insulation of a finite and nonrenewable resource, institutional, and technological policies the roof, walls, and floors; replacing and like other environmental re- and the support systems of a region, windows with traditional-style dou- sources it needs sustaining for the nation, or state are well developed. ble-glazed replacements; and reducing benefit of future generations. Substantial adaptive capacity exists air infiltration by making the building • Historic buildings are a reservoir of when there are well-developed econo- airtight (Figs. 2 through 5). embodied energy and carbon dioxide. mies and scientific and technical capa- Using energy more efficiently by Historic buildings represent embed- bilities. Major challenges will still arise setting targets for energy-use reduc- ied environmental capital in the form from high exposure to extreme events, tion and reducing the demand for of bricks, tiles, glass, timber, and and considerable constraints will still be electrical power by using low-energy metal. Some of these materials, such imposed on adaptation measures in very appliances. as tropical hardwoods from nonre- sensitive sites. While adaptive capacity + Generating renewable energy locally newable sources, arc also irreplace- is expected to increase with time, the by using solar water heating and able and often represent craft skills magnitude of this capacity may con- photovoltaic solar panels (Fig. 6). that are no longer available. Research tinue to be greater in the West than in by the Building Research Establish- the East, and in the North compared to • Using water sparingly and more meet in the UK in 2003 compared the the South. Nevertheless, early-stage efficiently by installing efficient appli- p„ avoidance of environmental impact is antes, including teenth-century English terraced prop- aerated hand-basin embodied energy a "typical" nine- often difficult for organizations to taps, now valves, low-bore supply erty with 15,000 litres of petrol, justify economically and politically. pipe work, and a low-water-con- enough for a Ford Fiesta 1.3 EFi car However, policy action in the UK is sumption toilet. to drive five times around the earth. now driving changes in behavior in a Harvesting rainwater for nondrinking way similar to the ways in which per- purposes. • Old buildings are not necessarily suasion, regulation, and enforcement Since first occupied by tenants in au- inefficient in their actual use of en- changed attitudes to health and safety. tumn 2008, the performance of the 8 APT RULLETIN: JOURNAL OF PHESERV/TION TECHNOLOGY 1 40:1, 2005 However, Chit Chong, the Camden must be addressed regionally, with Council project coordinator, is adamant responsibility for adaptation taken il, ? her-Y,w l about the need to improve traditional locally. This approach is recognized by 9+ buildings: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate We need to get to grips with issues of technical Change (IPCC), which states that: feasibility, of heritage and critically of the way Natural and social systems of different regions r we use buildings. What is important is that have varied characteristics, resources and institu- ;~'fY 1 accurate information is available and that it bons, and arc subject to varied pressures that flows between all parties - information on give rise to differences in sensitivity and adaptive erformance economic viabilih p. ty, process, supply capacity.11 4,' chains and conservation. Decisions about the design of wall insulation should not be. made by It is everyone's responsibility to develop heritage consultants without involvement from robust systems for monitoring change at those with expertise in building physics and the local level; it is the responsibility of Fm 5. D leil shovving the fixing of internal engin: ,,ring. Conversely nc, views of conserva . professional bodies to engage with the ins~lat~on -o tie s:~liri hicl; :;,;II, t~o~is'c shpu_c,r~ r ~c overlooked. - science and the policy of environmental change that are currently lacking. Cli- hoase has been robustly monitored Long Life-Loose Fit mate and heritage scientists and her- Under normal living conditions. Energy - performance professionals should performance data, along with inforrrta- The integration of conservation, design, gc pro agree on tion on how tenants use the house, wilt and operation is a radical approach to international monitoring protocols so add to an emerging evidence base for future-proofing historic buildings; it can that we can share data and cooperate design and construction professionals, succeed only if we accept a "long life- more easily at an international level on policy makers, energy experts, aca- loose fit" strategy to managing historic one of the greatest challenges to hu nan demics, heritage organizations, and buildings. While historic buildings - or society. sustainability campaigners. In order to at least their appearance in the land- achieve carbon reductions of 82 percent scape - continue to be valued, chang- Influencing Policy (with the UK government calling for ing work patterns and lifestyles, higher Engagement with policy makers is vital reductions of 80 percent by 2050 to occupancy densities, dwell times, and never easy, so we must comrni meet proposed EU targets), the team activities are leading to growing de- arid to prioritize energy efficiency over mands for increased comfort and conve- rasocteiaa lly vision y, environmentally lly that un at is si- a strict heritage-conservation approach, nience while at the same time we are socially between values, idcol- The heritage aspects of the house were exhorted to meet new environmental ble. The and beliefs tension on the one hand and assessed in the initial stages of the and energy-performance requirements. ogy, d the research that will hel sound scientific evidence on the other is ! project by English Heritage, which We nee p us the essence of contemporary politics in favored a scheme that could reduce understand how traditional buildings open democratic societies, and it will carbon emissions by up to 60 percent behave as environmental systems even j+ y p not disappear simply because we have while preserving many of the period as we take steps to improve their perfor- discovered evidence-based policy. To qualities of the house, including saving mance. If we are to lose original features make progress, we must accept and the original windows and shutters, in order to make historic buildings more more importantly understand the range arguing for secondary glazing and night energy efficient or to increase options of other influences on government and shutters instead. Yet English Heritage for reuse, we must quantify and com- policy-making apart from evidence, also acknowledged that there is cur- pare the performance of old and new including the experience, expertise, and rently little data on energy usage in measures, such as the effect of external judgment of policy officials, advisers older homes to inform effective strat- and internal insulation on different and Cabinet Ministers, values and egy; it has therefore launched the building assemblies in different climates. ideology, available resources, habits and Hearth and Home research project, Since the measures that we take will tradition, lobbyists, pressure groups and which aims to compare the predictions increasingly affect the integrity and the media, and the pragmatic contin- from models with the actual erfor- therefore the meaning of historic build- p gencies of everyday political life. While mance of traditionally constructed ings, we need evidence to justify the y research is important in its own right, it homes in order to test the assertion that inevitable changes in significance and is also vital because it conveys ct~lntral such buildings are inherently energy value to the public that major inter- heritage value to others and to policy. inefficient,14 The Hearth and Horne ventions to reduce and improve energy I project will monitor the energy usage of use entail. The Low Energy Victorian In the United Kingdom and in the European Parliament, there has beet,, l a group of occupied Victorian terraced House and the Hearth and Home pro- some progress in recognizing the threat homes to work out best practice in jests in England are beginning to con- l heritage. The environmental change to given cutheltura ~rol measuring energy efficiency, to evaluate tribute data for evidence-based decision- of the cost-effectiveness of energy-saving making. Al Gore, and we must wait to see options, and to provide guidance on While climate change has a global ether congressional views will change measures to reduce domestic fuel usage impact, the size, diversity, and variability whether congressional presidential and will t ngc and carbon emissions. of places means that these challenges views are going to be altered by the SUSTAINABLE-HERITAGE CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES 9 election of Barack Obama. Canada has easy to measure conservation success or given the world the Montreal Declara- damage resulting from access that causes tion, the Global Municipal Leaders irretrievable loss of significance and, Declaration on Climate Change signed aesthetic or evidential value. The Na- in December 2005." Building on these tional Trust has also developed the developments, we must all take con- Conservation Performance Indicator certed action to persuade the IPCC that (CPI) based on a methodology devel- its next report should make an explicit oped by the U.S. Biodivcrsity Support' reference to cultural heritage as an area Program in 1988-2001. All features that is vulnerable and threatened.18 It present in any single property whether has not done so thus far, so the best we built, natural, cultivated, or created and can do at the moment is to adopt refer- the objectives describing the desired ences to the human environment, habi- state of the features are covered by the Fig. 6. The LEVH has photovoltaic panels tats, or settlements as surrogates.19 CPI. Three criteria are used to prioritize installed on the roof for on-site generation of renewable electricity, as well as solar thermal the objectives: significance, the conse- panels for domestic hot water. Sustainable Solutions quences of not carrying out the work, and the urgency of the work; a numeri- While material change lies at the heart cal score is derived to describe how well Linking Values and Material Change of one of our concerns over environ- the entire property is doing. It is the Various agents change heritage; change mental change, socioeconomic pressures measure of the change in the annual affects valued elements of heritage; and demands on heritage demand that score that is significant, rather than valued elements affect how change is we locate contemporary stewardship absolute figures resulting from each CPI perceived; what is perceived as damage within a sustainability framework. This assessment. This exercise requires truly affects decisions about conservation position is the result of a growing real- integrated work across the range of interventions; conservation affects ization that it is impossible to control natural and cultural heritage and work- which valued elements are most likely everything and that standards, such as force development in order to deliver a to be preserved; preserved elements the way we manage risk, can be chal- balanced view of performance according influence how heritage is represented; lenged by methodologies and proce- to wider benefits: and new forms of representation will dures that are transparent and consis- . conservation benefits, in which stan- affect future conservation decisions. tent. Universal solutions are no longer dards are implicit These are familiar individual concepts. the answer because deterministic ap- It is what connects them that is im or- proaches and an eagerness for standard- social benefits, in which access is p tant, ization oversimplify the complex reality implicit one the another relationship with and onship how they each h one have con- we face today. Other challenges to • environmental benefits in which one sustainable heritage conservation in- reducing the environmental footprint tributes context to the ]text elude changing societal needs that is implicit, and So the way i f which as intervene is changing for different reasons. In 1988 require us to explain conservation in • economic benefits, in which funding the late Bernard Feilden categorized terms of improved quality of life for and reputation are implicit. different types of intervention that affect citizens and communities; while her- A sustainability approach helps condition and value in different ways: itage conservation is typically valued for achieve a deeper understanding of the Prevention of deterioration is in-- its own sake by society, it is increasingly material/cultural interface, recognizing tended to reduce change, but certain required to sustain public interest and not only that heritage originates from kinds of value may be given priority, public good. For these reasons The resources that, once removed from their so values change at different rates. National Trust for Places of Historic natural environment, may be considered Interest or Natural Beauty, which oper to be "dead or nonrenewable but also Conservation of the existing state ates in England, Wales, and Northern that human skills and creativity imbue retains many values, but utility and Ireland, has developed a sustainability artifacts fashioned from nature with a possibly aesthetic and information framework at the heart of which is the cultural "life" embodied in attributions values slowly decrease. Triple Bottom Line approach, which of significance, meaning, and value. Consolidation of the fabric increases enables improved conservation and These cultural/social attributions trans- utility, but information decreases, environmental performance to be evalu- form materials into artifacts that are e.g., DNA information may he com- ated from three points of view - con- reinterpreted and renewed by each promised during conservation work. servation and social benefits arid finan- passing generation, thus maintaining the • Restoration may increase utility and cial costs - so one activity generates all-important relevance of cultural her- aesthetics, but information and mate- several objectives with sustainable itage to contemporary society. This rial authenticity may decrease. outcomes.20 symbiotic relationship begs s the question: It is relatively easy to measure access p g Rehabilitation increases contextual y y how are values affected by material value, but potential uses may de- in the form of visitor or membership change? crease. numbers and financial income. It is less i 10 APT BU[ LF] N, JOURNAL OF P GSFHVATIiFfd TFC HNOLOGY J 40:1, 2049 • Reconstruction decreases material and can respond to the changing re- must be maintained, if they are to retain authenticity, but information may , quirements of the sector. Entrepreneurs their future value. increase. need to be innovative and proactive. So the next step for heritage conser- • Reproduction is different, since the Reflective practitioners are able look at vation is an obvious one, to align the original object is not necessarily current practice and understand what principles and practice of conservation irreversibly affected by this interven- change is required in response to exter- in the twenty-first century fully with tion.21 nal drivers and what skill sets need to be sustainability principles. Subsequent Heritage survives in the form that it developed. Reflective practitioners might steps may be harder to gauge as we does due to its "best fit" with the quali- be risk takers, but they are not gam- endeavor to align heritage conservation ties that are valued at that period of blers. Learners in the twenty-first cen- more closely with delivering an accept- decision-making. The qualities that tury need to be adaptable in the face of able quality of life for the world's popu- ensure its survival or demise are those new pressures and new demands. Grad- lation, combining our work with eco- that are preserved and prioritized and uates of programs where reflective prac- nonuc growth of communities, and that guide its future material state. tice has been encouraged and where conserving heritage without depleting or Heritage must adapt to changes, physi- students have been involved in their own damaging the natural resources needed cal and intellectual, within its environ- learning will be the ones who are able to to sustain future generations. Realigning ment, and we must be aware of this recognize the need for this change and conservation with sound principles of evolution. then initiate and lead it most effectively. sustainability is an engaging if challeng- ing contemporary definition of sustain- Conclusion able heritage conservation. Educating Reflective Practitioners It is incumbent on all of us, in an age of These last two decades have been like MAY CASSAR is professor of. Sustainable the slow movement of tectonic plates. Heritage and director of the Centre for Sustain- uncertainty and change, to equip the able Heritage at University College London. next generation of heritage-conserva- The Athens Charter of 1931 and the She is also director of the UK Science and tion professionals with the knowledge Venice Charter of 1964, with their Heritage Programme. and skills needed to enable them to face focus on buildings, monuments, and the challenges and to develop sustain- sites, have been augmented by the APT Notes able strategies for heritage conservation New Orleans Charter for thc.Joint Conservation of Historic Structures and 1. Stewart Brand, The Clock of the Long Now in the twenty-first century. My own (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1999), 35. career and experience have taken me Artifacts of 1991, with its focus on interdisciplinarity, minimal interven- 2• HM Government, Climate Change, The UK into historical research, conservation Programme 2006, Prime Minister's Foreword tion, and material science, environmental The andamendthe maintenance i to the 13ntenanceu rra Charter continuity. (The Stationery Office, March 2006), iii. i - The design, and engineering, and I learnt in 1999 overtly recognized that heritage 3. Tad' Oreszcz n and Paul Ru ssvelt, "Report early to appreciate the challenges and on Carbon Vision Visit to Boston, Ottawa and benefits of interdisciplinary work. What value and significance may be embodied Vancouver" (report to the British High Com- I; has sustained me, and what I strive for in the uses, meanings, and associations mission, EPSRC and Carbon Trust, 2006). of a place, in addition to the physical I' in our Master's program in Sustainable 4. Two of the world-leading quantitative Heritage at University College London, fabric. These paradigm shifts in conser- sociologists researching domestic energy use is reflective practice, the process of vation thinking have been occurring since the 1970s are Loren Lutzenhiser, at I while sustainability principles have been Portland State University, in Oregon, and Paul developing knowledge and skills developing. Stern' study director of the Committee on the through identifying the present Situa- Human Dimensions of Global Change, U.S. tion, asking how the situation can be Yet the world will change much National Research Council. faster and in radically different ways changed or improved, implementing 5. Classic Probe post-occupancy studies and and monitoring the change, and evalu- compared to the last four decades. Probe strategic-review papers can be found at II Instead of driving technological change, http:/hvww.usablebuildings.co.uk/ (accessed ating the evidence. Many students Dec. 8, 2008). embarking on the program are profes- we will have to adapt to uncontrolled sionals for whom reflective practice is change. Constrained resources could 6. Details of the USGBC's Green Building I lead to the development of completely Rating can be found at http://www.usgbc.org/ unfamiliar: their organizational culture different Displaypage.aspx?category1D=19 (accessed might not embrace reflection; they sociopolitical systems. The end of cheap energy will be just the tip of the Dec. 8, 2008). r might be too busy to think; there might iceberg. It will result in massive societal 7. Details of the Dunster Castle project can be be a fear of analyzing their practice. shifts that place major pressures on found at http://wwrv.iiationaltrust.org.uk/ It is therefore our responsibility to maiJ>/w-globaUw-localtoyou/w-wcssex/ develop reflective practitioners who are existing infrastructures; we will have to w-wessex-news/w-wessex-news-dunster_solar_ able to respond to the changing de- adapt in ways which we have yet to fully panels.htm (accessed Dec. 8, 2008). mands of their profession and to initiate understand. Like inherited natural re- 8. Details of the Science and Heritage Pro- change. We need reflective practitioners sources, cultural assets will need to be gramme can be found at www.heritagesciertce because heritage conservation needs used more sparingly, because we have ac.uk (accessed Dec. 22, 2008). entrepreneurs who arc able to take risks borrowed them from future generations. 9. May Cassar, Climate Change and the His- Cultural as well as natural resources toric Environment can be downloaded at SUS TA.'JAB_F-I LI i I!AGL= i; NA-_ELNG-S A~,JFJ ST~A-EGIL-, 11 littli://cprints.ticl..tc.vik/archive/00002082/01/ LJK Government," http://whc,unesco.org/ and World Heritage" (paper given at 7th Euro- Published-Climate-Change_Report_05.pdf. documents/publi-wh_papers_22_en.pdf (ac- pean Conference "SAUVEUR" Safeguarded cessed Oct. 4, 2008). Cultural Heritage: Understanding & Viability 10. Engineering Historic Futures Stakeholders for the Enlarged Europe, Prague, Czech Repub- Dissemination and Scienti fic Research Report 14. Details of English Heritage's Hearth and lic, May 31-June 3, 2006). The presentation can be downloaded at http://www.uct.ac.tild Home project can be found at http://www can be found at: http://www.arccliip.cz/ sustainableberitage/ehf-report--,veb.pdf. Clitnatechangeancyourhome.org.tik/livelcon cc-conference/presentations/Session%20V/ 11. Cristina Sabbioni, et al.; "Global Climate landing-page.aspx (accessed Dec. 8, 2008). 0955-1005%20Cassar.ppt#256 (accessed 20 Change Impact on Built Heritage and Cultural 15. UrbanBuzz autumn update, Project Pro- February 2009). Landscape. The Noah's Ark Project. Atlas and files: Low Energy Victorian House (LEVH), 20- National Trust and L. Drewe, Triple Bot- Guidelines" (in press, 2009). University College London, 2008, 36. tom Line Tool, in Katy Lithgow, et al., "Priori- 12. To follow developments of the European 16. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate tizing Access in the Conservation of National Parliament Temporary Committee on Climate Change, Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Trust Collections," in Conservation and Access: Change (CLIM), go to http://www.europarl Adaptation and Vulnerability, Working Group Contributions to the 2008 IIC Congress, 15-29 .europa.eu/comparl/tempcom/clim/default_en IT Technical Summary, Third Assessment September 2008, ed. David Saunders, Joyce 11. .him (accessed Oct. 1, 2008), Note that the Report, 2001, 44. Townsend, and Sally Woodcock, London, I1C, thematic session on September 10, 2007, 2008, 184. included a presentation on climate-change 17. The Montreal Declaration can be found at l Taylor and May Cassar, "Representa- impact on cultural heritage. http://openpohties.ca/Montreal+Declaration 2tion 1 21. . Joel Intervention: The Symbiotic Relation (accessed Oct. 4, 2008) . 13. World Heritage Reports 22, "Climate ship of Conservation and Value," in Conserva- Change and World Heritage Report on Predict- 18. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate tion and Access, 7-11. in and Managing the Impacts of Climate Change, WGH Report, "Impacts, Adaptation b 22. Bernard M. Feilden, "A Short Introduction Change on World Heritage and Strategy to and Vulnerability." To read the Summary for Assist States Parties to Implement Appropriate Policy Makers and the technical report, go to to the Conservation of Cultural Property to Management Responses, Following a Meeting http`//vi ww.iPcc.ch/ipccrePorts/ar4-wg2.htm Europe," in Air Pollution and Conservation: Safeguarding our Architectural Heritage, ed. J. of Broad Working Group of Experts, UNESCO (accessed Oct. 4, 2008). Rosval and S. Aleby (Amsterdam: Elsevier, headquarters, 16-17 March 2006, UNESCO 19. May Cassar, "Towards Evidence For Policy 1988), 55-76. World IIcritage Centre, in cooperation w'.th the Develor.mer.r ir. the Area of Climate Change - F r F T\~111~ A r c h ~tectu ra I Arts T` [F LIAR , P U!;1;!lI I,! 10;.iill,1,i; €rli! s, illalll l r I;' :ICI: 0, W i J ✓ ii 1~..w• ~ ~ ~ ~ - ''r ;!i~l.~ !~i(alll!1?~t~l)I+ Illn',.!,•1'Illi,l~.'t;1114'll~,~:jta±ii(-~:±N - Y' Conditions assessment Flat and ornamental plaster Scope and budgets Decorative finishes y 7 Specifications New and historic murals Visit our new website Drawings and renderings Stone, metal and wood www.evergreene.(am c 7~.