Historic buildings are a cultural asset but sometimes a burden. Their owners are obliged to preserve whatever features make the buildings special and face an array of sanctions if they fail to do so. The Conservation Plan is a way of assisting owners of listed buildings.

The Conservation Plan gives a concise overview of why a building is significant, analyses the threats to its significance, and sets out policies to protect what is special without inhibiting all development. The approach is strongly supported by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The majority of historic buildings must continue to serve a useful purpose for their owners, so conservation must be compatible with social and economic pressures. The crucial role of the Conservation Plan is to balance these different factors and point to a viable way forward.

Listing Reform

CAR’s Conservation Development Strategy for the University of East Anglia (completed 2006) was a prototype for the new ‘heritage protection plans’. These are expected to be included in new legislation for listing reform. The UEA project was prepared in close cooperation with English Heritage and was based on CAR’s tried and tested Conservation Plan template.

Conservation Plan Projects

• Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge Grade I listed C19 classical museum with 1920s gallery extensions by Smith & Brewer. [Read more »]
• Foundling Museum, Brunswick Square, London Grade II listed 1930s neo-Georgian building with reconstructed C18 interiors
• New Hall, University of Cambridge Women’s college with Grade II* listed modern buildings of the 1960s and later additions
• Botanic Garden, University of Cambridge C19 ‘gardenesque’ layout with later extensions and some Grade II listed buildings
• Usher Gallery, Lincoln Grade II* listed art museum by Sir Reginald Blomfield built in the 1920s and relatively little altered
• Flatford Mill, Suffolk Grade I listed C18-C19 vernacular buildings strongly associated with the painter John Constable
• Museum of Lincolnshire Life, Lincoln Grade II listed C19 militia barracks now used for a social history museum
• University of East Anglia Grade II and II* buildings of the 1960s on an expanding university campus. This Conservation Development Strategy is a case study for the statutory management agreements proposed in the current reform of the listing process. [Read more »]
• National Maritime Museum, Greenwich C17 Queen’s House (Scheduled Monument) plus Grade I listed C19 buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site
• Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge Revision to Conservation Plan of 1999, taking account of subsequent developments.[Read more »]

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