APC: conservation and restoration

14 January 2015

Ewan Craig, a speaker at the RICS annual ‘It’s Your APC’ conference, talks about the optional competency of conservation and restoration

Conservation and restoration is one of the optional competencies of the building surveying Assessment of Professional Competence (APC). To understand, apply and make a recommendation you often have to draw with greater depth from your core competencies. This demonstrates a finesse in dealing with historic property, such as understanding the building, appropriate intervention and justifying proposals in historic building terms, for example:

• construction technology and environmental services: how historic buildings are constructed, how they interact and modifications over successive periods;
• inspection: an appropriate approach for the needs of the historic building;
• design and specification: sympathetic selection of conservation and restoration works; and
• legal/regulatory compliance: listed building consent, scheduled monument consent, Building Regulations and CDM Regulations.

The levels

• At level 1: demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles, techniques and methods applied to conservation and restoration.
• At level 2: undertake inspections or object identification to identify all the relevant factors that may affect the conservation or restoration of the subject matter.
• At level 3: provide evidence of reasoned advice on the conservation, restoration of or managing conservation or restoration of the subject property. You should be familiar with the conservation and restoration issues in your submission documents and be ready to address questions on them and aspects related to them.

Questions

Actual questions are based on the candidate. Two examples are given below.

Your client had considered replacing the staircase to building X. Could you please explain your advice to the client to not replace the staircase?

This is aimed at level 3. The answer would explain pertinent issues to support your advice.

'The client had wanted to alter the historic building to create an office. A designer had suggested replacing the existing original staircase to give improved access to the office, because it did not comply with current Building Regulations. Although the building is not listed, the original staircase was an important feature and the owner valued it. I looked at the options and presented solutions that minimised intervention, solely altering modern fabric. The client favoured reconfiguration of the office, by removing a modern partition, to give access to another staircase. This retained the original fabric and improved the building with a small reduction in the office floor area.'

You recommended the replacement of a lead roof covering to building Y, which is grade II listed. Please explain your advice to the client and your reasoning?

This is aimed at level 3. The answer would show the issues that were considered in reaching the advice.

'I ascertained the significance of the building and investigated the roof, roof structure and surrounding fabric. The majority of the roof lead had been stolen, despite recent security improvements. The building fabric often had consequential damage from these thefts. A temporary covering had been provided. After discussions with the loss adjustor, the owner, local planning authority and conservation officer, the ideal replacement would have been in lead; however, there was a significant concern that thefts would continue. Because this roof was hidden from direct view I suggested a number of options to reduce the risk of theft including lead with improved security or a terne-coated stainless steel replacement covering. The client preferred the stainless steel, which was successfully justified to gain listed building consent.'

Care

Given the time constraints of the APC your answer should give a brief but whole response. Care should be taken to demonstrate your skills, abilities and knowledge to the assessors.

Ewan Craig is an APC assessor and the Programme Leader for the BSc (Hons) in Building Surveying at the College of Estate Management

Further information

• Thanks to Henry Russell FRICS, Programme Director for the University of Reading MSc Conservation of the Historic Environment, for his input to this article.
• Find out more about the APC pathway for building surveyors
• Figures show that candidates with access to isurv.com are 12% more likely to pass than those without
• Related competencies include Conservation and restoration, Inspection
• This feature is taken from the RICS Building surveying journal (December 2014/January 2015)