SPAB Magazine autumn 2023

The educational remit and fostering of craft skills plays a key part of what the SPAB does. The autumn 2023 issue of the SPAB Magazine emphasises this role, which is illustrated by the approach to the philosophy and practice of traditional repair and maintenance across a range of buildings. Some of them post-date its statutory casework remit of buildings ostensibly dating before 1720.

The magazine references the new SPAB initiative aimed at addressing the shortage of the home-produced hazel thatching spars that hold straw or reed in place on roofs. Hazel spars are a by-product of coppicing hazel, as part of traditional woodland management. Spar making in the UK has declined and thatchers have relied heavily on spars imported from Poland. This supply has dwindled for a variety of reasons, including increased transport costs, and has become unreliable and intermittent. Although plastic spars are available, they are non-traditional and environmentally unsound, and the society does not advocate their use. However, without spars thatchers cannot thatch, so there is a pressing need to revitalise the production of home-grown hazel spars. The society is working with the National Trust, the National Coppice Federation, groups representing thatchers and the IHBC, to recruit the support of conservation officers for this initiative.

The SPAB continues to promote its exemplary practical Old House Project at St Andrew’s, Boxley in Kent. An article in the present issue explains the approach to research, investigation, community engagement, and identifying and devising appropriate repairs. The works are now well advanced and 2023-24 is the final year of work. On completion, the SPAB hopes that St Andrew’s will be exemplary not only in terms of conservation and sustainability, but also as an appealing place to live, complete with contemporary comforts, compatible with its listed status and the society’s repair philosophy. Completion will enable the society to repay an AHF Heritage Impact Fund loan, which was the first of a new stream of support that incentivises community engagement.

The issue also covers the tellingly illustrated, SPAB sustainable heritage award winner at Blackpool Bull Close, Dunbar. There the focus has been on reusing existing materials, replicating methods from residual evidence, and sourcing new materials as locally as possible to create an authentic low-carbon and mostly plastic-free rebuild. Again, the works reflect the society’s ethos, and the project was also found to inspire greater community cohesion, empowerment, urban regeneration, training and development, and the principles of the circular economy.

Although straying somewhat beyond the 1720 date of its statutory remit, the current issue also celebrates the exceptional achievement of reclaiming the 200-year old outdoor bathing pools at Cleveland, Bristol, after a 19-year campaign. The baths originally opened in 1817, but by 1975 Bath Council had built a new sports and leisure centre in the city centre, fed by the famous thermal springs, and in a programme of rationalisation it closed the pools in 1978. They briefly reopened in 1983 and 1984, only soon to be virtually forgotten, despite their Grade I listing. The long road back to successful regeneration has not been helped by the impact of Covid, but the imaginative approach to funding included an ability to tap into the public-sector decarbonisation fund. This, and the importance of sustained voluntary effort, are all explained in this inspiring case study.