Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Whart have you bodged up today

Yep, been there done that, including having to allow a massive section of walling at a castle to collapse, whilst the 'offficer' spent weeks deciding what repairs were allowed

Am late in joining this thread but have noticed that it is thought in a number of posts that the 'listing' of a building means that it can't be altered.

This is not correct but the legislation covering this issue does require for the appropriate approval (Consent) to be sought from the relevant Local Planning Authority who will also wish to consult other interest parties in their decision making, such as Historic England, Cadw and Historic Scotland. Listed buildings can be altered or even demolished but the experience of many indicates that this can be difficult to achieve and depends on the character and caution of the Conservation Officer concerned.

Unlike Planning Permission and Building Regulations approval, which may also be needed, the consent required for works to Listed buildings is covered by a different Act of Parliament, i.e. the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, and, unlike the the others mentioned, failure to comply is a criminal offence. In my experience, not many people seem to recognise this. It also perhaps explains the caution of many of the officers involved in cases.

The websites of the three national authorities mentioned have very good websites covering all aspects of 'heritage' legislation which is there to protect heritage 'assets' in the long term national interest. If this protection wasn't there many of these would have been swept away by the shorter term interests of owners and developers.

It gets expensive as well, I know of someone that was fined £10,000.00 for putting a screw into a listed plaster panel within a building.

As he had deliberately ignored the conservation officer the fine was multiplied by the number of screws he had used - totalled £80k & could have been 2 years imprisonment if the damage he had done was more serious.

I have also worked with an extremely rich client that turned rather pale when we quoted £8million just to reinstate his manor house to how it should be after a conservation officer spotted some unauthorised changes.

All gets a bit ridiculous doesn't it. One of our neighbours was denied permission to change a window back into the door that it once was and to close a passage that would reunite a section of the building that was united in the past. In the end he won an appeal, who knows at what cost, which allowed him to restore the configuration of the building to its original plan.

All this bureaucracy on top of bureaucracy just gives employment to a bunch of people who probably got their jobs because of who they know, not what they know.

In the mean time buildings fall to pieces because no-one wants to undertake the job of restoring them.

I'm not saying that there should not be some controls but when multiple authorities have to be consulted and decisions made by people who want to avoid responsibility it becomes impossible.

This is so true, I've seen some ridiculous decisions made and costly delays due to trying to please all the bodies involved. I guess it would be too much to ask for a common sense approach coupled with some local knowledge. If the various bodies involved were more accountable better decisions would be made.

There will always be anecdotes relating to the difficulty of achieving planning permissions and listed building consents and these will be interpreted in different ways depending on who one represents. The obligatory consultation process during planning and listed building negotiations is a double edge sword. It is both the opportunity for local and national specialist interest groups to have their say, and, perhaps influence the decision that the Local Planning Authority makes at the end of the day. The Conservation Officer concerned has a difficult job in situations where there are multiple consultees but early consultation with him / her can pay off.

For those interested, the national heritage bodies for the UK keep 'Buildings at Risk' registers in addition to compiling and maintaining the Listed Building database. As an example of the scale of the issue of buildings falling into disrepair, Historic England records just under 1500 listed buildings at risk in the whole of England. There are greater numbers in Scotland and Wales and fewer in Northern Ireland but, out of a total of around 500,000 listed buildings in the UK overall perhaps not the size of problem that one might imagine from our thread.

I agree, don't get me wrong, I think it's paramount that our architectural heritage is preserved. I've said before, it keeps me in work, but more importantly preserves local buildings and skills.
I guess it's like the NHS, you are only ever going to hear the horror stories, good things never get reported. I do however think the people responsible for implementing the rules should be more accountable.

An example, an old building with two different profiles on the sash windows, one window in the obviously older part of the building made in pitch pine. The other in a fairly recent extension (last 50 yrs) redwood, 6 week wait to reach a verdict!! This despite both my boss and myself advising historic Scotland of our opinion. We were not experts apparently.

Mum in law is unfortunately loosing her sight. She can see just enough to still manage herself but virtually does not cook any more and can't see well enough to read - thank goodness for audio books.

The other day I asked her if a talking clock would be useful and she thought it would be. She decided that red would be the best colour for the LED display and the push button on the top to have it tell the time. She also decided that 12, not 24 hour time would suit her best.

So I whipped up this little number using an Arduino compatible micro controller, real time clock, SD card reader, a small amplifier, speaker, etc.

I recorded the numbers 1 to 59 and the words "O'clock" and "The time is".
When she pushes the button on the top it says something like: The time is 5. 42" or "The time is 6. O'clock"

As the real time clock holds the actual date, as well as the time this could easily be expanded to the day of the week or the full date. The program corrects the time automatically for European daylight savings rules (or US if required). It has a back up LiPo battery (and charger) that will power it for a day in the case of a power failure or being disconnected. The real time clock has its own back up battery that will keep it going for a long time, perhaps years, if the clock stays without power, but of course no display or sound in that case.

Having used it now for several days she is very happy with it. Above all when she wakes up on these dark mornings, or during the night, she now knows what the time is.

A few shots of the innards and then the finish job in a shiny black box cut and drilled to accommodate the "works"







The unlit LEDs stand out in the photo more than they do when one looks at the actual display.

That is nice!!!!!

Well done. That is very clever.