Owners of heritage buildings are facing a perfect storm as rising maintenance and material costs, a shortage of tradespeople and pressure of environmental requirements combine to make protecting them more difficult. Chris Bailey, associate at Vail Williams’ Reading office, specialises in historic buildings and previously looked after Windsor Castle. He provides his top tips to help landlords ensure that their historic assets thrive well into the future.
You often hear phrases ‘they don’t build them like they used to,’ and it’s true, but the way old buildings were designed brings challenges in today’s world.
Historic buildings were designed and built to be well ventilated because, traditionally, there was always an abundance of fossil fuels available to keep fires or central heating systems roaring.
This prevented the build-up of moisture and decay. However, in today’s more environmentally-conscious world, where the built environment contributes a quarter of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions, this is no longer the case.
In a bid to reduce energy bills and cut carbon emissions, we find that owners and occupiers of traditionally-constructed buildings no longer heat or ventilate their buildings as much as in the past.
Doors and windows are opened less frequently and buildings are heated less, leading to moisture accumulation within the structure, exposing it to potential decay.
Not only this, but regular maintenance and repairs are often delayed, owing to the cost of carrying them out or because of difficulties finding appropriately skilled people to do the job. Ultimately, this has a negative impact on the building and could cost owners and occupiers of historic buildings more in the long run.
Rainwater goods such as gutters and downpipes are a typical example. Historic buildings were designed with shallow rainwater goods, but in today’s climate these can struggle to drain water away from buildings unless they are maintained on a regular basis. This inevitably leads to issues such as moisture ingress.
So, what fundamental principles should landlords and occupiers of historic buildings consider to ensure that their premises remain fit for modern use?
Understand the building
Landlords and occupiers of historic buildings should understand that they are custodians of properties with historic value, and there is a level of responsibility that comes with this to ensure the buildings are well maintained for future generations to appreciate.
Take time to understand the significance of what’s important about the building you own or occupy as this will determine your approach to the maintenance and repair of it.
This understanding will also prove fundamental in determining what alterations are acceptable to ensure the significance and values associated with the building are not harmed.
Regular maintenance is key
It was William Morris himself, one of the founders of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), who spoke of the need to ‘stave off decay by daily care, to prop a perilous wall or mend a leaky roof’, and he wasn’t wrong.
There is some data to suggest that best practice in building maintenance and operations can actually reduce energy consumption by between 10-20 per cent.
If you neglect to carry out regular maintenance of your historic building, you could potentially end up being landed with wholescale replacement of certain elements. Not only does this have a negative impact on the significance of the building, but it will also bring with it financial implications, not to mention the impact of the embodied energy it would take to carry out the necessary works.
Whether you own a large portfolio of historic buildings, or just one, it is vital to ensure that maintenance does not fall by the wayside or else it will undoubtedly cost you more in the longer term.
Don’t compromise on skill
It is vital to ensure that you don’t compromise on skill when undertaking maintenance or improvement works on an historic building because it will come back to bite you.
Yes, there is a real shortage of good professionals and trade workers in the UK who have the skills required to carry out a lot of the work needed to historic buildings – from stonemasonry to thatching and lime plastering. However, using the wrong materials on an old building can bring with it dire consequences.
I have seen lead roofs patched up with modern bitumen coatings and modern cementitious renders applied to buildings that were designed to breathe through a lime-based render, resulting in significant damp problems. So, it really does pay to use skilled professionals and craftspeople, even if it does mean more initial capital outlay.
Accept that it will cost and plan for it
Maintaining historic buildings is always going to be more costly than their modern counterparts and the shortage of skilled traditional craftspeople does make that worse.
Cost data for works on traditional buildings is also not as readily available, particularly as labour and material costs are so volatile, and this can result in challenges with preparing budgets.
Jonathan Williams, a stonemason at Fortis Masonry, said: “One problem we often come across when quoting for a job, is rising material costs and supply chain uncertainty. Not only this, increased business overheads from insurance premiums, due to the cost of fuel for transportation, has a significant impact on the cost of a job, which unfortunately has to be pushed back onto the client.”
To avoid cost uncertainty, landlords and occupiers should ensure that there is a healthy maintenance budget in place to avoid any unwanted surprises.
Energy efficiency improvements and EPC compliance
One particular hot topic for historic buildings is how to improve their energy efficiency.
A lot of people assume that listed buildings are exempt from EPC requirements under the MEES Regulations. Yes, in some cases this can be true where there is an exemption in place.
To apply for an exemption, you would need to submit an application through your local authority and a conservation officer has to grant consent for this, in order for you to avoid EPC requirements, and you have to demonstrate that any proposed changes would have a negative impact on a listed building or a building within a designated conservation area.
Ultimately, it is best to prioritise maintaining and conserving the existing building fabric and structure ahead of considering proposed energy efficiency alterations. However, it is possible to implement alterations to listed buildings to improve energy efficiency levels.
If you go down this route, it is vitally important to appoint the right professionals and tradespeople that understand traditionally constructed buildings, as alterations could have a negative impact on the significance of the building if not properly considered.
Proposed alterations to listed buildings or buildings within designated conservation areas also require planning and listed building consent.
As ever, it is advisable to get professional advice from specialists in historic buildings, to ensure that you are able to maintain your assets and ensure they thrive well into the future.
Image: Diliff, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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