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The Heritage and Specialist Services Team
Osney Island Residents Association AGM 07.04.11
What the team manage
• Listed buildings
• Other old buildings
• Conservation areas
• Archaeology
• Trees
• Ecology
Where we are involved?
• Reactive – Determining some applications and advising on others
• Pro-active – Advising building owners on conservation management– Advising prospective applicants– Appraising conservation areas and proposed areas – Developing grant schemes– Identifying ‘the historic’ to be sustained during regeneration or
development – West End and Barton– Other studies – The Oxford Heritage Plan, Oxford Landscape
Character, View Cones, Local List (?)– advising on public realm works and strategic planning
documents– Promoting Oxford’s heritage
How we advise building owners
• Principles of Conservation Management– Know what you are dealing with– Find out what is special about it– Find any issues that might affect its special
value– Identify what you need to do to sustain the
special and overcome the issues
How about you?
• So you want to … convert your attic, build an extension, add solar panels, improve your insulation.
• How can you do this in a conservation area or historic building?
What have you got?
• What sort of building are you dealing with?
• What are its surroundings like?– How about using the Oxford
Character Assessment Toolkit?
– Have you checked the conservation area’s character appraisal?
– What does the Article 4 Direction control?
The Article 4 Direction
• Front facing roof slopes – materials and roof lights
• Rendering, plastering or painting external walls
• Satellite dishes• Chimneys• Rainwater goods• Front facing windows and
doors and their openings
What is special about it?
• Uniformity or diversity?• Well preserved architectural scheme – The Georgian
cabinet with all the knobs on?• Local or age specific materials?• Are spaces defined by a particular history of
development• Activity• Views – do any stand out as of particular interest, where
is the building in the view?• Greenery – What contribution does it make to the
scene?
What could threaten its specialness?
• Deterioration, missed maintenance
• Good intentions• Unsympathetic change
– loss of special features – removed or hidden
– introduction of new, poorly contrasting features
– Can be dependent on changing taste and fashion
• Bad neighbours?
What could threaten its specialness?
Some impartiality …(?)• English Heritage asked 147 estate agency branch managers what affected
the value of properties in Conservation Areas• 75% believe that a well-maintained Conservation Area adds to the value of
the properties within it. • Residential properties in Conservation Areas tend to sell for more than
equivalent properties outside a Conservation Area.• 82% felt original features add financial value to properties • 78% thought that they help a property to sell more quickly.
But …• Unsympathetic replacement windows and doors was the biggest threat to
property values identified in Conservation Areas. • Poorly maintained highways or paving, and unsympathetic extensions and
alterations, are also particular problems. • 82% of estate agents believe that few, if any of their clients understand the
additional controls in Conservation Areas.
Conserving the special value
Thinking about windows– Does it really need
replacing?• Plastic is not cheaper, longer
lasting or more environmentally friendly
– Shapes, arches, lintels, sills– Patterns of glazing –
anything special?– Do they line up?– Glass – can it be saved?– Energy efficiency and
historic character?
Conserving the special value
• Thinking about walls• Bricks are a very distinctive material.
– Colour, texture, form and pattern (bond)– Hand moulded, stock or wire cut (texture and light)?– Imperial sizes?– Flemish bond?– New or recycled?– Suppliers (start at buildingconservation.com), but
also check mass manufacturers product lines.– What about mortar? Lime mortar may prolong the
life of your brickwork
Conserving the special value
• Removing old paint – would you strip and repaint your own car?
• “Pointing something that looks like artillery at your house is likely to end in damage.”
• Is paint part of the design?• Does your house need to breath?
Conserving the special value
• Looking up – What’s on the roof?• Do you dormer window?• Options with roof lights – long, narrow and flat• How do they line up with the neighbours’ and the existing
fenestration• What’s so good about Welsh slate? Looks right, saves
you time, could save you money, will save carbon.• Replacing rainwater goods – salvage or new
Conserving the special value
• So much for solar panels?• Initiatives to reduce our contribution to climate change are high on
the Council’s agenda. Where these involve historic buildings it may require some careful planning to preserve the special interest of the area
• Many buildings in Osney are not ideally oriented for roof based solar panels
• We would advise keeping them off the front slope to avoid detracting from the historic character of the area
• No reason not to put them on rear slopes or outbuildings if you have them.
• Are they the best response to reducing carbon and saving money?• Alternatively … how about some community action to use roofs at
Osney Mead?
We cannot manage the historic environment without you!
Robert Lloyd-Sweet, Senior Conservation Officer, Oxford City Council
Tel. 01865 252804
