Abstract
It would be assumed that a survey of a masonry structure would result in the production of an objective report. This situation cannot necessarily be guaranteed as the experience and understanding of masonry deteriorology and repair will vary from practitioner to practitioner. The difference in reporting will clearly determine alterative starting positions for the repair works, with divergence in the project potentially occurring when philosophical tenets are applied. The selection of repairs can be significantly influenced by the different professional’s philosophical perspectives that can be broadly categorised as, purist, pragmatist and cynic. These perspectives may direct the approach to repair, placing emphasis of the intervention towards what is of greatest perceived value to the practitioner; for example, honesty over aesthetic integrity and vice versa. This paper investigates how and why projects may start at a subjective point (although perceived as being relatively objective) and be prone to further divergence when building conservation philosophies are applied. This situation would go some way in explaining why two professionals would be confronted with the same structure, yet the outcome of the finished repair project could be significantly different.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Watt, D.: Building Pathology: Principles and Practice. Blackwell, London (1999)
Ashurst, J.: Conservation of Ruins. Butterworth-Heinmann, Oxford (2007)
Straub, A.: Dutch standard for condition assessment of buildings. J. Struct. Surv. 27(1), 23–35 (2009)
Douglas, J., Ransom, W.: Understanding Building Failures, 3rd edn. Taylor & Francis, Oxford (2005)
Addleson, L., Rice, C.: Performance of Materials in Building. Butterworth-Heinmann, Oxford (1992)
Ruston, T.: Understanding why buildings fail and using ‘Heir’ methodology in practice’, latest thinking on building defects in commercial buildings: their diagnosis, causes and consequences, one-day conference, London, 15 July 1992
RICS.: Assessment of professional competence: RICS Education and Qualification Standards. RICS http://www.RICS.org (2009). Accessed Apr 2010
Hollis, M.: Surveying Buildings, 5th edn. RICS Books, London (2005)
RICS.: Guide to Building Surveys and Inspections of Commercial and Industrial Property. RICS guidance note, 3rd edn. RICS, London (2005)
Webster, R.: Stone Cleaning and the Nature, Soiling and Decay Mechanisms of Stone. Donhead, London (1992)
Earl, J.: Building Conservation Philosophy, 3rd edn. Donhead, Somerset (2003)
BS 7913.: The principles of the conservation of historic buildings. BSi (1998)
Bell, D.: Technical Advice Note 8: The Historic Scotland Guide to International Charters. HMSO, Edinburgh (1997)
Stirling, J.S.: Building Conservation Philosophy. Unpublished lecture notes, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh (1997)
Forster, A.M.: Building conservation philosophy for masonry repair: part 1 ‘Ethics’. J. Struct. Surv. 28(2), 91–107 (2010)
Forster, A.M.: Building conservation philosophy for masonry repair: part 2 ‘Principles’. J. Struct. Surv. 28(3), 165–188 (2010)
Powys, A.R.: Repair of Ancient Buildings. Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Kings Lynn (1995)
BRE.: Building Research establishment (BRE), stone list. http://projects.bre.co.uk/condiv/stonelist/corsehill.html (2010). Accessed Mar 2010
Scottish Executive: Building with Scottish Stone. Crown Copyright, Arcamedia, Edinburgh (2005)
Hill, P.: Conservation and the stonemason. J. Archit. Conserv. 1(Part 2), 7–20 (1995)
Ashurst, J., Ashurst, N.: Practical Building Conservation: stone masonry: English Heritage Technical Handbook, vol. 1. Gower Technical Press, Avon (1988)
Hughes, J.J., Banfill, P.F.G., Forster, A.M., Livesey, P., Nisbet, S., Sagar, J., Swift, D.S., Taylor, A.: Small-scale traditional lime binder and traditional mortar production for conservation of historic masonry buildings. In: Proceedings of International Building Lime Symposium, Orlando, FL, pp. 1–13 (2005)
Scotland, H.: Tan 19: Scottish Aggregates for Building Conservation. Crown Copyright, Edinburgh (1999)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 RILEM
About this paper
Cite this paper
Forster, A.M. (2012). Masonry Repair Options and Their Philosophical Ramifications. In: Válek, J., Hughes, J., Groot, C. (eds) Historic Mortars. RILEM Bookseries, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4635-0_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4635-0_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4634-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4635-0
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)