Anybody who has travelled to a city hoping for a glorious view of a centuries-old cathedral – only to turn a corner and be faced with a scaffolding shroud – will understand the difficulties of balancing historic buildings’ need for regular maintenance with the aspirations of heritage organisations for public access and engagement.
But there is growing recognition that anything out-of-the-ordinary has potential for public engagement. And, far from disappointing visitors, the extra understanding and intimacy gained from going behind the scenes can make for a fascinating experience for visitors – as well as giving organisations a useful opportunity to talk about the importance of their work.
With more than 400 historic buildings, monuments and sites to look after, English Heritage (EH) welcomes more than 10 million visitors a year. Dominique Bouchard, the head of learning and interpretation at EH, says that engagement with conservation is a priority for the organisation.
“We've always invested a lot in conservation work,” says Bouchard. “It is one of the core missions of the organisation. Increasingly we're trying to give the public the opportunity to learn more about that work, and to learn more first-hand.
“There are volunteering opportunities for people who want to get involved, but also we're trying to provide better access to our sites, so that people can get really amazingly close to conservation works as it happens.”
The organisation has a strand of work called Conservation in Action, and is planning to recruit a specialist interpretation manager, who will work exclusively on this. Their job, says Bouchard, will be to work closely with estates teams and conservators who are running projects, “to determine what's safe for the public, what are the opportunities, how are we going to tell those stories and get people involved.
“By having a dedicated interpretation manager working on it, we will get better at maximising those opportunities, making sure that visitors consistently have high-quality experiences, and that they know that they are going to get the information from the experts in a way that is digestible, interesting and enjoyable – so they can see what we're doing and why we're doing it.”
Conservation and access
The success of the organisation’s approach was confirmed by recent work on the Iron Bridge in Shropshire, where a £3.6m restoration project was accompanied by tours of the site.
“The public really loved it,” says Bouchard. “We did a full evaluation of that whole programme and it was very successful for us because not only did we do a great job of the conservation, we also spoke to people and shared our passion for the work. The downside of closing off the view was counterbalanced by providing exceptional access to this amazing structure.”
In a similar way, the National Trust for Scotland is using conservation work as an opportunity to provide the public with a different view of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret MacDonald’s The Hill House in Helensburgh.
Dealing with loss
The National Trust runs Clandon Park in Surrey, which was almost entirely gutted by a fire in 2015. The trust is developing plans for a restoration and redevelopment led by architectural practice Allies and Morrison, with support from heritage specialists Purcell.
Sophie Chessum is the curator at Clandon, having been seconded from a different role after the night of the fire. She had worked at the property previously – researching Clandon for a new guidebook had been one of her first jobs when she joined the trust as a curatorial researcher in 1998. When she heard about the fire she immediately went to the site to see if she could help.
Chessum acted as the salvage lead in the aftermath of the fire, using her knowledge of the collection and the house’s significance to help prioritise work. As curator, she is a member of the project board for the overall redevelopment, as well as contributing to a programme of interpretation and engagement. The site reopened only four months after the fire.
Initially, the trust used three marquees in the garden – one that introduced people to Clandon before the fire, another about the fire and salvage, and another about what was happening with the project at that moment. Chessum and other members of the project team and volunteers were on-hand to speak to visitors.
After being made safe, the house was reopened the following year. A caged walkway was used to protect visitors from hazards including falling masonry (though this was unlikely), contamination from the lead roof, and uneven flooring.
The state of the building powerfully affected visitors, says Chessum, meaning that interpretation could be kept to a minimum.
“Lots of people were married at Clandon, or knew the house very well over many years – and those effects of loss meant that we needed to give people the opportunity to be with the building. That sounds emotive, but people were moved to tears. So we kept it incredibly light-touch.
“The building in its gutted state revealed some interesting technical aspects of building a Georgian house. For some people their best experience of a country house is just to experience it themselves, and not be talked to, or toured, or audioguided. So it was for people to pick up if they wanted to.”
Since then, three rooms of the ground floor and the house’s basement have reopened to reveal a building that in some places is gutted from the basement to the roof. Chessum says that visitors are awestruck.
“It is an overwhelming experience, she says. And some people find the technical aspects absolutely fascinating – we get endless questions about the bricks and mortar of it all, because it's such a rare opportunity.”
Visitors will also shape the developing plans for the building’s restoration, says Chessum.
“Engagement through the process and listening to what people think about Clandon in the future is very important to us. It’s not shaped yet – it's being shaped. But there are overriding principles of universal access and keeping Clandon's spirit of place alive.”
