THE CONSERVATION STUDIO NEWSLETTER
April 2007

Rob Lloyd-Sweet joins TCS

In April, we welcomed Rob Lloyd-Sweet as our newest recruit.

Rob studied archaeology at York, where he also took a second degree in Early Mediaeval Studies. He is now working on a further masters degree in Environmental Management and Technology, and will soon be more qualified than most of us.

He joins us with a background in private practice advising individual and corporate clients on the potential impacts that new developments may have on archaeological interest. His particular skills lie in historical research, map regression, characterisation of historic landscapes and townscape, and in formal Environmental Impact Assessments and Strategic Environmental Assessments.

Rob has already made his mark at the practice with the appraisal of conservation areas in the Tunbridge Wells district and working with the communities of two villages in Cornwall to develop proposals for conservation area management.

In the coming months, we will be making use of Rob’s experience as we slightly soften our public sector focus to accept selected commissions with private clients. Meanwhile, Rob’s other target for the summer is the repair of his sailing boat.

Erewash Museum – Conservation Management Plan

A Conservation Management Plan is currently being undertaken by The Conservation Studio for Erewash Museum in Ilkeston. The museum is housed in an attractive grade II listed townhouse, surrounded by remnants of the former large garden. The building dates from the late 18th century, with extensions of circa 1860, and later phases of remodelling. The museum collections focus on local history and industry.

The Conservation Management Plan will evaluate the significance of the site, following a detailed historical analysis of the site, the building and the associated landscape. Management plans will be formulated to protect the identified significance of the site.

A key part of this project will be the extensive public consultation through all major stages of the development of the document. This will include a questionnaire for stakeholders, a public workshop, and the circulation of the first draft for comment.

The Conservation Studio‘s broad skill base within the historic environment, including architectural history, archaeology, area analysis, planning and commitment to public consultation, will be used on this project to produce a plan in accord with the English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund guidance.

Worcester Riverside Conservation Area

Flooding postponed survey work in Worcester’s Riverside Conservation Area after heavy rainfall in March. Swans ignored the double yellow lines and sat on the highway whilst the Worcestershire County Cricket Ground became a riverside lido.

The Riverside Conservation Area covers 396 hectares (nearly 1,000 acres) of the floodplain of the River Severn as it passes through the City of Worcester. The area includes two SSSIs and local nature reserves, Worcester Racecourse, a sewage works, a listed 19th century hydro-electricity works and the sites of English Civil War battles.

Survey work, now complete, required walking nearly 10 miles of the riverbank.

More on North Staffordshire!

The January Newsletter included a report on our characterisation of the North Staffordshire Conurbation. The study area of 18,000 hectares covered many different settlements and, therefore, their suburbs.

In March, English Heritage published its latest guidance in the HELM series on ‘Suburbs and the Historic Environment’. The guidance includes just three case studies, one of which is our work on North Staffordshire.

Click on the photo for more information.

Breaking New Ground: Working in Northern Ireland

The Conservation Studio is now a truly UK wide practice! Having worked with as many as 1 in 4 local authorities in England and Wales, undertaken work in Scotland and even Jersey, for the first time we have recently secured an engagement in Northern Ireland. With our recently expanded professional base, we are able to offer a full UK-wide historic environment service.

We are working with the Richhill Buildings Preservation Trust (www.richhillbptrust.org), Co. Armagh, to produce the Stage 2 submission for their £1.5million Townscape Heritage Initiative. The practice is looking forward to the challenge and working with the community closely to arrive at a realistic and deliverable programme of improvements to Richhill village, its historic buildings and the streetscape. Liveliness is guaranteed by a new arts and heritage festival.

We hope this will be the beginning of a continuing relationship with Northern Ireland for The Conservation Studio.

For further details please contact Nathan Blanchard.

Fork handles? Four Candles?! No, but Four Canals

Completion of our four appraisals related to canals in Dudley in record time

With our increased professional capacity and specialist project manager, we are now delivering work to clients in record time to programme and to budget. We received an urgent call for assistance from Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council to assist them in achieving their BV219 targets for 2006/7. They needed appraisals for 25% of their Conservation Areas and they were four short. We were engaged to undertake four Conservation Area appraisals and management proposals of the Stourbridge Branch Canal (Canal Street), Stourbridge Branch Canal (Amblecote), Stourbridge Sixteen Locks & Delph ‘9’ Locks (Dudley Canal) Conservation Areas.

Engaged on the 22nd December by the Council, we undertook all our work including research, surveys, mapping and stakeholder engagement by the 31st January in preparation for a four-week public consultation exercise just in time for consideration and adoption by the Planning & Development Control Committee on the 19th March.

Working closely with the client and the coordination of known stakeholders and other Council officers were keys to the success. This meant we could optimise our joint resources to ensure the programme for adoption was met. Now, the Council has been able to fulfill its CPA target in time for the end of the financial year.

Please contact Nathan Blanchard to discuss our abilities to respond to client needs or Pete Boland at Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council for further details about our approach and the results of this work. Follow the link below to view the appraisals:

www.dudley.gov.uk/environment-planning/planning/historic
-environment/conservation-areas/canals-conservation-area-character
-appraisals

Hambledon Walkabout

On Saturday 17th March The Conservation Studio held a walkabout in Hambledon, Hampshire to engage the local community in the preparation of the conservation area appraisal for the village. The walkabout was attended by parish councillors, residents and representatives from local businesses. After an introduction to the process, we donned wellies for a walkabout in two groups, before returning to the village hall for a feedback session. As there was an emphasis on the setting of the village and the role this plays in creating its special character, we were particularly pleased that the large extensions to the conservation area were supported by the community.

The draft appraisal and management proposals will now be produced and put out to full public consultation, including a public exhibition.

Oxford Brookes trip to the Michelmersh and Burseldon Brickworks

On 27th March 2007 Gemma Wild and her fellow students from the Oxford Brookes Historic Conservation course made a visit to Hampshire to discover more about the manufacture and conservation of bricks. First stop was the brickworks at Michelmersh where we had a guided tour. Michelmersh Brick and Tile Ltd make 12 million bricks per year from their base near Romsey. The most exciting part of the day came when we got the chance to make our very own brick! We were all very impressed by the speed the workers were making handmade bricks but it wasn’t quite as easy as it looked!

After lunch we headed to Bursledon. The brickworks there were founded in 1897 and are now owned by The Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust who run the site as a conservation centre and industrial museum. Here we were greeted with tea and biscuits by Kevin Stubbs who then talked to us some more about the materials involved in brick construction and methods of repair.

Chichester Conservation Area Appraisals

In October 2006 The Conservation Studio was commissioned by Chichester District Council to carry out character appraisals with management proposals for six conservation areas for Westbourne, Prinsted, Fishbourne, Bosham, Runcton and Tangmere. This followed the successful completion of nine similar documents in 2005 and a major report on Chichester City in 2004. All of these can now be viewed on the council's website: www.chichester.gov.uk.

The reports were completed by December 2006 and to start the public consultation period in January, exhibitions were held in three separate locations with exhibition screens being provided by The Conservation Studio. The documents were amended and desk top published by the end of March. The following is an extract from one of the responses we received following the Prinsted exhibition:

I simply wish to express my admiration for all the research, careful analysis and study which has gone into the very comprehensive consultation document. I find it quite admirable and definitely on the side of the angels so far as appreciating that Prinsted has a special quality about it both aesthetically and historically to make it one of Sussex’s fine villages and well worth protecting it for the benefit of future generations. So thanks and congratulations to all concerned. They have shown a great deal of sensitivity.

James Kenroy, Prinsted Farm House

THE CONSERVATION STUDIO NEWSLETTERApril 2007