Recycling And Conserving Buildings

INTRODUCTION

Conservation can be defined as preservation from loss, depletion, waste or harm. From early beginnings which included the controversial restorations of great historic buildings which so outraged John Ruskin in the nineteenth century, the field expanded to encompass the more scientific preservation of a heritage of great and small older building for the use and enjoyment of our own and future generations.

HISTORY

The period since the Second World War has seen not only a rapid development of the technology of conservation but also a matching development of the philosophy and ethics of conservation has been adopted to refer specifically to the professional use of a combination of science, art, craft, and technology as a preservation tool. The conservation of the historic buildings or buildings of heritage value has thus developed into an extremely complex process involving a team of many professionals’ specialists, trades, and craftsworkers.

In the 1970s a numbers of specialists who had trained primarily in the United Kingdom and Europe, worked on the development of the conservation of historic buildings and sites for the Canadian government. The developed an organized approach to the management of the conservation process which has been a major Canadian contribution to this field.

PROCESS

The conservation process is divided into six or seven distinct phases beginning with a phase in which the initial decision is made to conserve the building or resource and a conservation dossier is created. The continuously documented process the moves through phases of research, analysis, and design to physical conservation or maintenance. It can readily be appreciated that such a process is cyclical in nature, a never-ending process exactly like that of painting the great steel bridges which are also a part of our heritage. It does not really matter whether we use precisely this process or some variation. It is imperative, however, that the process is organized and carefully managed so that all relevant disciplines, skills, and individuals are involved at every appropriate stage.

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