The new issue of the IHBC’s members’ journal, Context, No. 180, as well as its themed articles – on heritage and nature – includes a wide range of topical features, with the spotlight here on John Preston’s ‘Take 2’ on a library battle that ‘shows what can happen when heritage comes low in local authority priorities, despite the best efforts of conservation officers.’
John Preston writes:
Part 1 of this article (‘The battle for Mill Road Free Library’, Context 179, March 2024) concluded with Cambridge City Council’s depot site development in progress, next to the former library, a listed building at risk ‘due to lack of maintenance’ by the county’s tenants, the Indian Cultural and Community Association (ICCA). The cost of carrying out full restoration works was estimated at around £200,000. The county engaged Donald Insall Associates, who submit- ted a listed building application for repairs, and internal removal of timber boxings and blown plaster to allow inspection and drying out.
The county had offered to undertake the repairs, with costs spread over a 25-year lease, but the ICCA declined this. The city conservation officers threatened formal repairs action. The county invited tenders for the consented works and the removal of various fittings installed by the ICCA. None of these removals had been mentioned in the listed building application. In March 2021 the county’s group asset manager told me that the repossessed former library was being considered for ‘delivering services in Cambridge’, but no provision was made for reinstating heating and services. Shell-and-core repairs started with the removal of everything inserted by the ICCA. The carved stones of the Hindu shrine were destined for the skip until an inspired intervention by local hairdresser Piero D’Angelico. Exemplary repairs to the former library proceeded under the direction of Insalls…
…
… When will Historic England include Grade II buildings in its heritage-at-risk purview? Surely local authorities should be required to act, in their own dealings, in accordance with statutory responsibilities for the heritage? The county says that it will consider whether offers for the old library deliver environmental and social benefits, but it does not mention cultural benefits. The county’s new Land and Property Strategy 2024–29 does not even mention the historic environment or listed buildings….
Feature articles include:
- Hardwick Old Hall, Derbyshire, Dorian Proudfoot and Tom Bromet
- Heritage, industry and slavery, Ian Wray
- Developing the UK world heritage tentative list
Chris Blandford - The battle for Cambridge’s Mill Road Free Library, part 2, John Preston
- Heritage building skills and live-site training , Sean Knight, Sophie Norton, Dorian Proudfoot and Joseph Tong
- Restoring Alexander Pope’s Grotto, Ayaka Takaki
Access the online archive and see the issue online
Reading Context helps IHBC members develop their skills across all of the IHBC’s Areas of Competence, and so is a critical baseline in addressing priorities in Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
See more IHBC background and guidance on IHBC CPD and on how you might use past, current and future issues of Context
See the formal guidance paper on IHBC CPD (scheduled for update)
See more on the IHBC Competences and Areas of Competence
