SPAB and the Great British Conservation Movement

• According to Kevin McCloud, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings acts as a wellspring of intellectual energy and passion for the Great British conservation movement.
• The SPAB is over 140 years old and is admired around the world as a source of conservation thinking for built heritage.
• The SPAB remains involved in challenges facing old buildings.
• The Society's longevity is due to its founding philosophy that offers sustainable conservation ideas.
• William Morris's Manifesto has enlightened those caring for old buildings since the Society's founding.
• THE SPAB APPROACH re-presents and interprets the Manifesto for 21st-century audiences.
• It provides guidance for building owners and professionals on repairing old buildings.
• The Approach informs the Society's strategic direction, work, campaigning, training, and advice.
• The SPAB's goal is to reach a broad audience to promote a line of thought that protects ancient buildings and preserves them for future generations.
• THE SPAB APPROACH combines proven principles with practical repair techniques for building conservation.
• It has influenced building conservation worldwide and supports UK heritage legislation.
• The SPAB APPROACH began as a response against destructive work.
• The principles promote the value and care of old buildings.
• The SPAB takes a long-term view, urging consideration of the legacy for future generations.
• John Ruskin inspired the SPAB's ideas.
• In "Seven Lamps of Architecture" (1849), Ruskin opposed destructive work, like restoration, on old buildings.
• Restoration, according to Ruskin, seeks to erase the history of a building.
• William Morris and Philip Webb founded the SPAB and translated Ruskin's ideas into its Manifesto.
• The Manifesto is a concise expression of SPAB conservation principles relevant today.
• SPAB members have applied the Manifesto's ideas to the care of historic structures in the UK and beyond.
• The SPAB was nicknamed 'Antiscrape' for rejecting the 19th-century fashion of removing historic surfaces.
• Leaving the fabric of old buildings unaltered ensures history and character remain intact.
• THE SPAB APPROACH is based on protecting the 'fabric' from which a building is constructed.
• Building fabric is the primary source of knowledge and meaning.
• Materials and construction methods illustrate changes in ideas, tastes, skills, and locality.
• Fabric speaks of the passage of time and lives lived and wear and tear adds patination over time.
• Concern for a building's protection ensures its survival for future generations.
• THE SPAB APPROACH opposes Restorationist arguments and rejects arguments that original design is more important than surviving fabric.
• Protecting fabric allows meaning and significance to be drawn from it by individuals and groups.

The SPAB Approach

• The starting point for THE SPAB APPROACH is care and maintenance.
• Maintenance helps slow deterioration and reduces the need for larger work campaigns.
• Good maintenance involves checks and minor works like clearing gutters, fixing slates, or replacing putty.
• Maintenance protects a building's historic and monetary value.
• 'Stave off decay by daily care' is the most important message.
• All conservation work requires knowledge and understanding to be well-considered.
• The SPAB APPROACH calls for understanding history, design, and construction.
• Changes, and the relative importance of elements, need exploration and assessment.
• Understanding structural issues and monitoring them is vital.
• Thought and investigation should come before action.
• Old buildings have a strong connection with their locality.
• This connection results from materials, techniques, people, and community.
• Buildings age and weather according to site conditions.
• The Society does not support moving buildings to new locations or reducing them to facades.
• Repairs done in situ rather than in a workshop, ensure the maximum amount of existing fabric is retained.
• The 'oldness' of a historic building is a precious quality.
• The patina of age, those signs of age held in surfaces, deserve attention.
• Examples of 'age' may be the undulations of old plaster of dips in the roof.
• THE SPAB APPROACH encourages restraint.
• Respect for the signs of age helps retain the integrity of the old building.
• Thoughtful management and maintenance slow more harmful effects of decay.
• Where no problems exist, old buildings are best left alone.
• Problems need to be tackled with only essential work.
• Restricting work helps ensure maximum survival of historic fabric and reduces effort and cost.

Repairs

• Restoration seeks to turn back the clock and can be destructive.
• Restoration might leave a building without signs of age or evidence of interaction with people.
• Original design is not sufficient reason for erasing later change, especially if it has added to historic interest.
• Damaged elements of a building do not necessarily need replacement unless there is a functional need.
• Small-scale, localized reinstatement may be justified for well-considered reasons.
• Reinstatement for tidiness or to recreate historic design is at odds with THE SPAB APPROACH.
• THE SPAB APPROACH champions ‘conservative repair' not ‘restoration’.
• Conservative repair retains as much historic fabric as possible.
• It involves matching existing materials or using compatible alternatives.
• Conservative repair is based on investigation and understanding of the building.
• It requires careful planning and craft skills and a repairer to know when to intervene.
• THE SPAB APPROACH calls for new work to be fitted to the old.
• Modelling new work to fit the old is necessary to protect a building's fabric.
• Materials need careful choice.
• It is best for new materials to match the old and ensure compatibility.
• Alternative materials may be more fitting and help distinguish new work.
• Re-use of materials from other structures is generally not encouraged to avoid confusing history.
• Salvaged materials are a finite resource and may result in damage to a building.
• Traditional building materials help ensure continuing supply.
• Techniques used should be tried and tested.
• New techniques may become useful once proven but experimentation should not occur on old buildings.
• Much effort is spent undoing misguided works of the past.
• Skilful repair requires skilled people.
• Simple workmanship can lend charm to simple structures

New Designs

• The Society knows that old buildings may need alteration to remain useful.
• The SPAB Manifesto argues it may be better to construct a new building if adaptation would damage the existing old one.
• Sympathetic new works can allow continuing life for old buildings.
• Additions are best when they complement what exists.
• They should not compete with the old building in form or position, nor mimic the original.
• They should fulfill modern needs in a way that respects the old building's form and context and should not harm the structure.
• THE SPAB APPROACH involves a long term view of a building's care and needs.
• The Society has seen examples where repair for re-use was considered unviable at a certain point in time, only to become more attractive later.
• Many country houses were viewed as 'white elephants' but are now valuable.
• Temporary repairs can buy time for a building by halting decay.
• Consideration of the impact on treatment of old buildings on future generations is required.
• THE SPAB APPROACH is about understanding, care and conservative repair and is a message of sustainability.
• Protecting building fabric allows the stories and beauty embodied in old buildings to be enjoyed by generations.
• The Society's founders concerned themselves with conservation theory and practice.
• This interest has been carried out through the Society's members over many generations.
• Passing on and developing knowledge is a vital part of THE SPAB APPROACH.
• The Society seeks to help those entering conservation and all those who develop skills in old building care.
• Ruins that are roofless and without active use can be picturesque and beautiful and may result from an important event.
• The Society would not normally support reconstruction of ruins.

Society's Mission

• The Society is the longest established building conservation body in the UK.
• The Society is recognised for its knowledge base, training expertise, and promotion of the built historic environment's value.
• The Society's mission to supply expertise that keeps old buildings useful, beautiful and part of people's lives
• The Society is the most recognised organisation for building conservation knowledge and skills
• The Society connects with all people who appreciate old buildings or care for them.
• This is put into action through:
  • Campaigning for individual buildings and historic places through casework in the planning system.
  • Technical research and guidance, including the information service, advice line, publications, and appearances.
  • Training and courses for those involved professionally, and for owners and enthusiasts
  • Opportunities for involvement as a SPAB member through events, lectures, volunteering.