It's a problem faced by homeowners all over Britain. You spot a job that needs
doing and make a mental note to sort it - then remember that your house is
listed. And that's where life can start to get complicated.
Our own task seemed simple enough: replace the ugly 1970s window at the back
of our house with a set of french doors in keeping with the style of the
rest of the building. The house is a Grade II listed 1820s Regency Gothic
affair in Brighton and it had always bugged me that someone had installed a
cheap, featureless window in the kitchen. It's the sort of thing you would
expect on an old caravan, its rusty sills sealed with gaffer tape to stop
draughts.
I thought I was on solid ground. I had employed a very good architectural
services firm with experience of conservation work to do the drawings and
they had made several recommendations based on common practice throughout
the rest of the UK. Common practice in the rest of the country, however, is
not common practice when it comes to my house. Each listed house is assessed
on its merits which, in my case, means that the work has to be done to very
exacting standards indeed.
But surely anything had to be better than the existing eyesore, right? Wrong,
according to the conservation office of the planning department. It wants
perfection or nothing at all, it seems to me. I should say that the
conservation office has been very helpful, pointing out details that we had
missed and advising us on the exact shape of the windows. In other areas its
requirements stopped just short of asking me to wear a powdered wig and for
my wife, Claire Lachlan, to sit embroidering in the evenings by the light of
a tallow candle while exclaiming “Oh, Mr Barrowcliffe, they say a new
bachelor has moved to town”.
The real sticking point is double glazing. Our architects recommend
conservation-grade double-glazed panels for the door; the conservation
office wants single panes of exactly the sort that made Jane Austen shiver
with cold. The problem is that the double glazing will require very slightly
thicker glazing bars than were used in the Regency period and will be sealed
by beading instead of putty. But a glazing bar is a glazing bar, isn't it?
Can anyone spot the difference between a bar 1cm thick and another of
1.25cm? Apparently, yes.
Absolute authenticity is the prime consideration, never mind that the back of
the house will be bleeding heat at a rate injurious to both my wallet and
the ice caps. Single panes it is. The door manufacturers are flummoxed. They
have never come across anyone demanding single glazing before. We are a
special case, it appears, and get to pay special-case prices. Lucky us. The
doors will cost about £4,000 to make, if we have the secondary glazing. Only
one of the three manufacturers we approached is willing even to contemplate
building them in single panels. They say this will be more expensive than
£4,000, and promised us a quote. However, the last we heard from them was
more than three weeks ago. What happens if they decline to make the doors, I
asked the people who drew up our plans. “Er, let's cross that bridge when we
come to it,” they said.
Is there any way of fighting this and saving the planet, along with my bank
account? Well, I could go to the Government - in this case Hazel Blears,
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government - but frankly I
cannot be bothered. Or I could go back to the conservation officer and just
plead. Apparently it's been known to work if you can convince him or her
that your work cannot be done in any way other than the one you are
proposing.
I suppose, when it comes down to it, I know that the conservation office is
right. I might be proposing only tiny deviations from strict historical
accuracy, but if you allow those where does it end? And it is protecting the
value of the house. I acknowledge these things, albeit grudgingly. It's the
price you pay for living in an unusual home.
So it seems I am stuck with either the 1970s window or accepting single
glazing. Well, it's got to be warmer than gaffer tape - though I wonder
whether it's warmer than gaffer tape with a towel spread on top. Perhaps
that's how they did it in the 19th century.
LISTED BUILDINGS: WHAT TO DO, AND WHAT NOT TO DO
DO
Talk to organisations that specialise in your house's period, such as the
Georgian Group (georgiangroup.org.uk), Victorian Society
(victorian-society.org.uk) and the Society for the Protection of Ancient
Buildings (spab.org.uk).
Consult English Heritage, which has an excellent website and a series of
useful publications (english-heritage.org.uk). Get a professional to draw
the plans. You do not necessarily need an architect; some architectural
services firms can draw up plans for simple changes at low cost.
Ask the local conservation officer if what you are proposing is acceptable.
Find out how and why you are listed. The listings are Grade I, II* and II,
except in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where they are A, B and C. They all
mean the same thing - that the building is of historical importance - and
the rules are no more lax for Grade II buildings than for Grade I. Any work
that alters the character of the building must be approved, but there will
be a stated reason why the building has been listed: if your building has
been listed for its exterior you will have an easier time altering the
interior. You can see lists and obtain copies of individual entries at your
council planning department and most local reference libraries.
DON'T
Just do it. You can be sent to prison or face an unlimited fine if you alter
the building without consent. Councils can also take out an enforcement
notice to make you return the building to its original condition.
Rush if you have got a big project. It is likely that proposals to be
contained in the Heritage Protection Bill, which is due to be published this
year, would make the consent process easier and speedier.
Unfortunately such rigidity can often be essential in order to stop other people from bending the rules "ever so slightly" to get what they want. While there are many genuine folk who truly want to follow the proper guidelines, there are equally many more who will take a yard when given an inch. As for the single glazing, what's the problem? All you need to do is buy thick curtains!
R Derrick, Bristol, uk
I feel that if the government, or its duly appointed lick spittle, decides that a property must be listed then they (the government and lick spittle) should pay for it. Buy it for the nation, pay for its upkeep and leave the rest of us alone.
Mike, Epworth, UK
We were living in an unlisted lodge back in the 1990s. Then it got listed. We were unable to replace rotten 1904 windows, or a porch that was falling to pieces because of the cost of the regulations imposed.(No help there from anyone!) We had to sit with blankets around our shoulders because of the draughts. Eventually, weighing up the costs, we sold up instead. Guess what, the new owner (high up in a well known bank), has added a double garage with bedroom ensuite above, and greatly extended the house, all with permission from the same people who wouldn't let us change the windows.
Hardly in keeping of a gate keepers lodge, but if you know the right people I guess the rules are different.
sandra, alicante, spain
We came across the same insistence on single glazing when we lived in Bath 'double glazing alters the hue from outside' said the listed buildings chap at the council, and once I started looking I realised he was right.
Whether an 'altered hue' is to be preferred to keeping out of the draughts and burning less precious energy is debatable, but the ruling meant we had to keep the ugly and non-original Victorian windows on the front of our Georgian home, rather than return to something which would have been more in keeping with the original style, whether single or double glazed.
Anyway, no such worries for us now with our splendid double-glazed uPVC mock-Georgian windows in the distinctly un-listed place we now inhabit.
Mike, Corsham,
I live in a Grade II* 14th Century house. What infuriates me most is that at the county council level, the heritage adviser is often an enthusiast, but has no qualifications or formal training at all in her speciality. Their decison making is therefore whimsical and subjective. More damning - their judgement is seen as final and un-challengeable.
A friend widened a passage way which circumvented his kitchen and led to the scullery. It was rejected on the grounds that it was not wide enough; the adviser stated that her parameters were that in the 16th century a maid would not have been able to walk down the corridor with a baby under one arm and the laundry basket under the other! He had to widen it again at some considerable cost.
The decision was entirely arbitrary and probably based on watching too many costume dramas! My point; employ genuine certified folk to do this job. It is important as it should be about caring for our heritage, but acknowledging that we are in the C21
Tim, Oakham, Rutland
Planning offices need a dose of common sense. Aesthetics combined with practicality and economics need to be considered in passing judgements.
Planning offices also need more teeth to deal with those that destroy or vandalise features on listed buildings, or even whole buildings themselves.
Until then, listed status will remain an unfortunate burden on many property owners who genuinely enjoy and care for their properties
Sam, Shanghai, China