Building on the Past: understanding contested heritage futures through a study of renovation and retrofit of historic buildings
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Anthropology
Abstract
Buildings change in response to various social processes and emerge through the different practices and understandings of people who use, inhabit and work on them. Over time structures acquire a range of meanings as authentic embodiments of the past, including values attached to original fabric, period features, and the patina of worn and weathered materials. Such understandings are associated with cultural, social and economic values that lend support to the importance of conserving and caring for old buildings. However these ideas have the potential to conflict with an increasing emphasis on energy-efficient renovation, entailing a radical transformation of the built environment in response to fears about climate change. Concretely, a range of measures including the installation of micro-generation technologies, insulation, new windows and the adoption of 'smart' technologies, all have the potential to improve the energy performance of older buildings, but also to compromise the historic value of existing structures.
This project examines how ideas about heritage conservation, a set of beliefs about the value of continuity and tradition, exist in relation to ideas about the need for environmentally motivated changes to a range of historic buildings. The project aims to understand the cultural meanings and social dynamics through which heritage and energy futures are constructed, through a study of the attitudes, values and beliefs of a range of building professionals and clients involved in renovation and retrofit. The project uses a mixture of methods, including interviewing and sustained detailed observation in relation to case-study buildings, combined with analysis of the broader discourses and cultural understandings that inform the positions of the professionals and clients involved. The findings will help understand how perceived conflicts between historic value and energy efficiency can be managed and will be used to shape policy and practice in an important but under-researched area.
This project examines how ideas about heritage conservation, a set of beliefs about the value of continuity and tradition, exist in relation to ideas about the need for environmentally motivated changes to a range of historic buildings. The project aims to understand the cultural meanings and social dynamics through which heritage and energy futures are constructed, through a study of the attitudes, values and beliefs of a range of building professionals and clients involved in renovation and retrofit. The project uses a mixture of methods, including interviewing and sustained detailed observation in relation to case-study buildings, combined with analysis of the broader discourses and cultural understandings that inform the positions of the professionals and clients involved. The findings will help understand how perceived conflicts between historic value and energy efficiency can be managed and will be used to shape policy and practice in an important but under-researched area.
Planned Impact
The aim of societal impact is integral to the project. Dialogue and dissemination activities with non-academic partnerships will leverage wider impact, including through targeted publications (see Pathways to Impact and Case for Support). Non-academic project partners, including representatives of leading public and private sector organisations in the areas of building conservation and energy, have pledged £21,150 as in-kind contributions to the project (this figure excludes non-quantified contributions). This gives an indication of the wider potential of the societal and economic benefit of this research.
The main project beneficiaries will be:
1) Conservation policy makers at national and international levels, who will be able to use the research to fill an important and pressing need for evidence-based policy in relation to sustainable heritage issues (see HS supporting statement). This will feed into ongoing policy reviews at Historic Scotland. Longer term wider impact will be achieved through activities identified via dialogue with stakeholders at the final project seminar.
2) Conservation professionals who will benefit from improved understanding of the perspectives of building professionals and clients on heritage and energy (see supporting statements by Historic Scotland, Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance and the Institute for Historic Building Conservation). Project partners will benefit from knowledge gained via ongoing dialogue integral to the project, while wider benefits will be achieved through dissemination activities they have promised as in-kind contributions.
3) Building professionals dealing with building renovation, including architects (see supporting statement by Institute for Historic Building Conservation, Millar Howard Workshop and the Scottish Civic Trust) and planners, who will benefit from improved understanding of attitudes to heritage and energy conservation among clients and the wider nexus of people involved in modifications to historic buildings.
4) Local Authorities who have to manage policies and programmes with conflicting aims and objectives in relation to heritage and energy conservation will benefit from improved evidence to use in decision making. Durham County Council, a project partner, have identified an absence of research on which to base their own policy and practice and have pointed to wider issues relating to the management of historic buildings by Local Authorities. Durham County Council will benefit directly through improved understanding as a result of dialogue and dissemination of research findings. Other Local Authorities, both nationally and internationally, will benefit from dissemination via Durham County Council and other project publications.
5) Academic researchers in a range of disciplines will benefit from improved understanding of an area of important and emergent area of interest (see Academic Beneficiaries).
6) The PI will benefit from research and career development to consolidate existing interests as a research leader in this field. This will enable him to benefit other researchers in the future through contributions to research, mentoring, teaching and support of other academics and students.
7) The broader public will benefit in the longer-term via interventions to the built environment that effectively manage the tensions between heritage and energy conservation on the basis of improved understandings.
The main project beneficiaries will be:
1) Conservation policy makers at national and international levels, who will be able to use the research to fill an important and pressing need for evidence-based policy in relation to sustainable heritage issues (see HS supporting statement). This will feed into ongoing policy reviews at Historic Scotland. Longer term wider impact will be achieved through activities identified via dialogue with stakeholders at the final project seminar.
2) Conservation professionals who will benefit from improved understanding of the perspectives of building professionals and clients on heritage and energy (see supporting statements by Historic Scotland, Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance and the Institute for Historic Building Conservation). Project partners will benefit from knowledge gained via ongoing dialogue integral to the project, while wider benefits will be achieved through dissemination activities they have promised as in-kind contributions.
3) Building professionals dealing with building renovation, including architects (see supporting statement by Institute for Historic Building Conservation, Millar Howard Workshop and the Scottish Civic Trust) and planners, who will benefit from improved understanding of attitudes to heritage and energy conservation among clients and the wider nexus of people involved in modifications to historic buildings.
4) Local Authorities who have to manage policies and programmes with conflicting aims and objectives in relation to heritage and energy conservation will benefit from improved evidence to use in decision making. Durham County Council, a project partner, have identified an absence of research on which to base their own policy and practice and have pointed to wider issues relating to the management of historic buildings by Local Authorities. Durham County Council will benefit directly through improved understanding as a result of dialogue and dissemination of research findings. Other Local Authorities, both nationally and internationally, will benefit from dissemination via Durham County Council and other project publications.
5) Academic researchers in a range of disciplines will benefit from improved understanding of an area of important and emergent area of interest (see Academic Beneficiaries).
6) The PI will benefit from research and career development to consolidate existing interests as a research leader in this field. This will enable him to benefit other researchers in the future through contributions to research, mentoring, teaching and support of other academics and students.
7) The broader public will benefit in the longer-term via interventions to the built environment that effectively manage the tensions between heritage and energy conservation on the basis of improved understandings.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Thomas Gresham Yarrow (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Adams C
(2014)
Building with History: Exploring the Relationship between Heritage and Energy in Institutionally Managed Buildings
in The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice
Yarrow T
(2018)
How conservation matters: Ethnographic explorations of historic building renovation
in Journal of Material Culture
Yarrow T
(2016)
Negotiating Heritage and Energy Conservation: An Ethnography of Domestic Renovation
in The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice
Yarrow T
(2018)
Retaining character: heritage conservation and the logic of continuity
in Social Anthropology
Yarrow Thomas
(2019)
Architects: Portraits of a Practice
Yarrow, T
(2018)
Context: Journal of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation
in How conservation matters
Yarrow, T
(2018)
Introduction: from theory to practice and back again
in Context: Journal of Historic Building Conservation
Description | The key outcome of the award has been to better understand how commitments to historic conservation of buildings intersect with commitments to improved energy efficiency. Moving beyond previously entrenched debates, my empirical ethnographic research highlights how these tensions are understood, encountered and negotiated in the everyday practices of a range of building professionals. Research reveals how concerns with climate change and energy efficiency transform the meanings and values associated with old buildings, and so the very idea of what it means to conserve these. By the same token it revealed how existing commitments to historic buildings constrain and enable the uptake of new building technologies. These findings have been disseminated through over 9 publications, including a book (monograph) by a leading US academic publisher (Cornell UP), targetted papers for policy and professional audiences, and papers (already well cited) in leading international peer reviewed journals. |
Exploitation Route | The findings of this award are already available in publications that are key texts for scholars interested in building conservation and energy-related retrofit. These texts are likely to be used in subsequent scholarship in this area (both applied and fundamental). Applied findings have been used by building and conservation professionals working on these issues and are likely to be put to use by others working in these areas in the future. |
Sectors | Construction,Energy,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Description | The findings are beginning to have impact, through dialogue with partner organisations, and dissemination of initial findings. Dialogue with project partners, hasresulted in increased understanding of social dimensions to issues of retrofit, and hence has resulted in professional learning, amongst architects and conservation professionals. Beyond the immediate project partners, broader dissemination and dialogue have been promoted through my engagement in the architecture and anthropology research network, through the third sector organisation Association for Conservation of Energy, and through the third sector organisation Institute for Historic Building Conservation (IHBC). While the research has yet to result in documented changes in policy, findings from the research are already informing understanding in this area, including through dialogue with Historic Scotland, the government conservation agency. Key findings of the research were made available to the government select committee on Energy and Climate change. The end of project workshop enabled dissemination of key findings to relevant professional audiences in the conservation and energy sector and facilitated dialogue between these organisations. Project participants reported change in attitudes, and plans to disseminate findings amongst fellow professionals. Ongoing collaboration with the IHBC has led to special issue of their practitioner focused magazine 'Context'. This disseminates the projects' key findings for a range of practitioners in the heritage sector (in particular, architects, conservation officers and various construction professionals engaged in the conservation of historic buildings). |
First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
Sector | Construction,Energy,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
Description | Building on the past: stakeholder engagement workshop |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | As a result of the workshop, stakeholders in the construction and heritage sector were better able to understand how to conceptualise and manage the conflicts between heritage and energy. |
Description | Iron Age and Roman Heritage: exploring ancient identities in contemporary Britain |
Amount | £620,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/N006151/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2016 |
End | 07/2019 |
Description | The Power of Grids: making and imagining the future of electricity |
Amount | £2,100 (GBP) |
Organisation | Durham University |
Department | Durham Energy Institute |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2016 |
End | 07/2016 |
Description | Building on the Past: energy efficiency in historic buildings |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Blog on a leading Energy Conservation charity to disseminate key findings to a range of policy and practitioner audiences |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016 |
URL | http://www.ukace.org/author/thomasyarrow/ |
Description | Building on the Past: professional dialogue (Durham) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | End of project workshop for dissemination of project findings and dialogue with professionals, practitioners, policy makers and other academics working on these themes, nationally and internationally. A focused two day workshop led to a project report with key policy and practitioner recommendations. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Building with history: exploring intersections between energy and authenticity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Talk at a networking event on social approaches to energy, Durham University. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Conservation in Construction: how the past is made to matter |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Summary of the project findings were presented to an audience of 45, followed by questions and discussion |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/news-and-events/events/external/heritage-research/2017-18/thomas-... |
Description | Millar Howard Workshop professional dialogue (Stroud) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Dissemination of project findings to an audience of architects |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Participation in conference on Managing Heritage in a Climate Changed World, Smithsonian Institute, Washington. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The two-day workshop hosted at the Smithsonian aimed to open a dialogue between the UK and US, arts and humanities and science, museums and universities to identify mutual research interests in the area of cultural heritage management under changed climate conditions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Project website, 'Building on the Past' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Project website with project information and findings primarily for policy, practitioner and academic audiences |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016 |
URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/anthropology/research/botp/ |
Description | The Space Between: life and work in an architectural office |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Around 60 people, mostly undergraduate and graduate architects, attended a talk based on findings from the project. The talk was followed by questions and networking activities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |