What’s the appeal of working on old buildings and what can the use of traditional building techniques and materials teach the sector today? Professional Builder’s Lee Jones talks to four craftsmen who are committed to conservation.
In order to secure the future of our nation’s period properties and listed buildings for posterity we need individuals with the skills to repair and conserve them – and there is an organisation that is dedicated to realising that ambition. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings’ William Morris Craft Fellowship is a unique educational initiative that offers four tradespeople an unrivalled insight into our built environment heritage. Over the course of a year their grand tour will see them take on the role of itinerant builders, travelling the country and engaging with numerous projects and professionals. We caught up with the Fellows at the SPAB working party in Boxley Abbey, Kent.
County Down-based self-employed carpenter and joiner, David McFerran is relatively new to old buildings, with around three years of experience, but has already developed a passion for the sector. “I’ve been on the tools for more than twenty years but lockdown gave me the time to reflect and pursue a different path – and that’s when I moved into heritage work. It’s inherently more rewarding to save something for the future. I’ve helped conserve historic monuments in Ireland that I visited myself as a child and that my own young daughter is now experiencing for the first time. It is that bequeathing to future generations that elevates the work.”
David also feels a real connection to the past masters of his trade: “There is a rich history to carpentry and joinery. You’re putting your hand to a structure where some 100 or 200 years previous a carpenter did just the same thing. That’s why everyone involved in period property repair has huge respect for their forbears. They completed high quality work with none of the modern tools we take for granted, and often had to improvise the equipment needed for the job.”
Commited participants
As rewarding as it is, The William Morris Craft Fellowship is a big commitment for anyone who earns their living in the trades. SPAB offers a bursary to cover costs – and all four of this year’s intake have secured a grant from the York Consortium for Conservation and Craftmanship – but there’s an inevitable loss of earnings, not to mention time away from friends and family. The programme demands dedication and a level of sacrifice from its participants – but there are equally real benefits.
“We get to meet so many people as we move from site to site, and it’s an excellent networking opportunity,” explains Owen Bushell, a Highland-based shingle maker and signwriter. “There’s a swathe of former Fellows and SPAB scholars who take us in, and we are introduced to a huge range of skills. The experience is as close to the German ‘Zimmerman’ wanderjahre concept – where a carpenter will travel plying their trade for several years in their black hat and traditional costume – as you can get in the UK.”
It is from these diverse encounters that the four have their own approaches to conservation challenged and the course of their future direction determined, as Steve Hogarth a joiner and rope access technician from Derbyshire explains: “What the Fellowship reveals is a hugely varied range of approaches to conservation, where some might advocate for more or less intervention, for instance, and it ultimately comes down to what’s right for a specific building. It’s taught me to be a lot more pragmatic in my attitude to a project.”
“Conservation and the SPAB values ask you to change your relationship with buildings and the way they work. We are used to having flat walls and floor joists having a stated strength, but that’s not the case with older structures. It’s about education and changing mindsets.”
Inspiration
Whilst undertaking the Fellowship, Bristol-based, lime plasterer Daahir Mohamed, has been inspired by working with Master Plasterer Philip Gaches, as well as clay plastering. “I’ve worked on listed buildings with lime for some time now, but the Fellowship has already provided me with a wealth of technical support that I can draw upon to take on different projects in the future. One of the first things we did was a hot lime mix, where we’re making the material on site, and that’s something I’ve already taken back to my own jobs in Bristol.”
Somali-born Daahir was motivated to pursue a building career utilising these more traditional materials by his formative years in his African homeland. “I was helping to clay plaster huts in our village at the age of 7 or 8,” he reveals, “and it’s only recently that I’ve realised that my enthusiasm for building conservation is rooted in those memories. In this country we are at a point where more and more people are asking for lime plasterers to work on their homes, because it has real benefits over gypsum, and is a more sustainable alternative. I am very interested in how conservation and traditional building practices can make a contribution to energy efficiency, for example.”
Indeed, the Fellows are united in their belief that the modern building industry has a lot to learn from a more traditional approach. “There’s so much embodied wisdom in old buildings,” concludes Owen. “They were using local materials that have proven to last much longer, and endow a community with a specific vernacular. It’s essential that we apply that ethos to construction in the modern world.”
For further information on the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) William Morris Craft Fellowship visit https://www.spab.org.uk/
