Reply To: Development or not? [Warning: Rant]

True MG, but English Heritage have a much greater number of buildings to protect and at least the conservation of buildings law in the UK stands for something concrete.

In Dublin, the replacement of traditional sliding-sash type windows in 18th/19th/early 20th century buildings with those with modern opening, uPVC, ones with the cheap imitation “Georgian” pane effects, is widespread. Often you’ll see two period red bricked homes side-by-side, one intact, with traditional wooden windows in the original style and the other, recently sold and subsuequntly ‘refurbished’ with plastic, ugly windows only suitable for modern buildings. Its all the more visually offensive when the try to disguise it with unconvincing leading.

In the UK, to its credit, any alteration other that cosmetic decoration carried out on buildings in specially designated conservation areas is forbidden. It turns out that almost every housing scheme over about 40 years of age is listed for conservation! My brother recently bought a house in South London [run-of-the-mill Victorian mid-terrace] and found all sorts of preservation orders in place for the whole area on the house’s deeds! Hence he can do virtually nothing to it without specially approved planning.

30 years ago this kind of heritage preservation was unheard of so I suppose in another few decades – like everything else – we’ll catch-up. But will it be too late?