Balancing renovation and preservation
Saving valuable buildings without excluding new development
Being one of the first industrial countries, Great Britain, through its industrial and port cities, began experiencing the agony caused by the regression of traditional dock managing techniques, towards the end of the 20th century. As a result, the huge warehouses became obsolete, and areas such as Shad Thames fell into a state of neglect, where vandalism took over. Very early, developers in Great Britain started transforming the old Victorian warehouses and factories into a diverse range of complexes.
The purpose of this article, is to stress the importance of historical conservation, and the need to adapt old and valuable buildings to modern purposes, using Shad Thames as an example. The paper considers highlighting the importance of cultural heritage before mentioning the difficulty of preservation in architecture. The essay then considers conservation as an alternative to preservation, before examining adaptive reuse as an approach to conservation. The paper concludes with the limits of adaptive reuse.
Today’s luxury waterside area of Shad Thames once displayed an “uninterrupted series of wharves, warehouses, mills, and factories, on both sides of the narrow and crowded roadway” ( ), during the Victorian era. Indeed, within the historic riverside, was the largest warehouse complex of London at the end of the 19th century.
Being a grade II listed building, 29 Shad Thames is considered to be of special interest, and therefore forms part of the English cultural heritage. Although not being listed, other buildings in Shad Thames, having persevered through time since the Victorian era, could also be considered significant to the English cultural heritage, which would therefore entitle them to an equal respect in terms of conservation.
Civilisations have long protected cultural heritage for historical research and for strengthening a community’s identity.
The importance of Shad Thames to the English cultural heritage therefore makes the riverside warehouses heritage assets.
Shad Thames mostly stored commodities, such as tea, coffee and spices that arrived from all four corners of the British Empire, within the large warehouses, completed towards the end of the 19th century.
However, by the beginning of the 20th century, congestion in the area of Shad Thames pushed river boats to unload further away. A decline in activity followed. When Butler’s Wharf, the largest warehouse, closed, Shad Thames became deserted and inactive, making them prone to deterioration.
Towards the end of the 20th century, Conran and Partners, through a regeneration plan, developed Butler’s Wharf and five other waterfront buildings. Other developers transformed old warehouses, that had become abandoned spaces, into restaurants and other commercial complexes.
The regeneration of Shad Thames allowed buildings of the Victorian era to survive, giving them a second life. Today, the blend of old Victorian buildings and new restaurants within Shad Thames attracts tourists from all over London.
By giving old and derelict buildings life, the regeneration plan created new tourist venues. In addition, the redevelopment process or gentrification has resulted in boosted property values. Waterside apartments with incredible views on the River Thames, art galleries, and cafes have all replaced the old warehouses.
Indeed, these heritage assets are not only valuable in terms of identity and belonging, but are also vital to the economy. According to Oxford Economics, “The heritage tourism sector itself generated an £8.8 billion gross value added contribution to UK GDP” as of August 2016.
Shad Thames serves as a good and successful example of Adaptive Reuse, based on tourists’ attraction to the site.
Adaptive Reuse can be defined as “any building work and intervention to change its capacity, function or performance to adjust, reuse or upgrade a building to suit new conditions or requirements” (Douglas, 2006). In other words, it is giving a new life to an old and derelict structure, by attributing a new function to an old and disused space.
Demolishing out-of-date buildings to create free space and therefore to build new ones is not desirable, as it only takes into account the financial value of space and neglects the historical value of that same space.
In the same way, preserving outdated buildings that no longer suit modern purposes should not be encouraged, as it prioritises history over the needs of a society at a certain point in time.
A combination of preservation and conservation can therefore be found in adaptive reuse. “In contemporary conservation theory and practise, adaptive reuse is considered an important strategy towards conservation of cultural heritage” (Plevoets & Van Cleempoel, 2011).
The technique begins by identifying the main characteristics of the historical building. Adaptive reuse then incorporates the identified characteristics of the old building in a new scheme, so as to serve a new purpose.
Looking at Shad Thames today, it appears that the overhead walkways, having been re-incorporated in the design, were considered important characteristics of the warehouses. Previously, dock handlers used them to roll barrels, push barrows, in order to transfer merchandises from a warehouse to another.
By increasing the buildings life, adaptive reuse “bypasses the wasteful process of demolition and reconstruction” ( ). Using existing structures and transforming them by adding components that were not thought of during construction and replacing the ones that have become obsolete enables us to build without needing more construction resources. In fact, if the old structure is strong enough for the new purpose, and if it does not present any risk to public safety regulations, adaptive reuse speeds up the construction process.
Nevertheless, adaptive reuse of heritage assets is more difficult than the reuse of ordinary buildings that have no value to the English Heritage. Therefore, “the key challenge, from the very first initiatives just before and after the Second World War to current Millennium-linked projects, has been to find the right balance between preservation and change” ( ).
The above mentioned “right” balance depends on each one’s opinion, it is therefore an impossible task to satisfy each and every opinion. However, this does not mean that adaptive reuse projects should not be questioned and challenged if an important part of a community believes them to be inconsiderate of heritage, or even, if they believe that the new purpose does not correspond to the old structure.
On top of balancing preservation and change, the developers must also consider the medium and long term economic and cultural significance of the site.
Looking at Shad Thames today, it is fair to say that the regeneration plan, that began with Butler’s wharf renovation, greatly or even entirely took into account the cultural and financial viability, as it did not impede on the location’s heritage, on the contrary, it grew on it and regenerated the area.
Although people might still argue that adaptive reuse is more expensive and more time-consuming than demolition and reconstruction, some projects have proved this common belief to be wrong. The above mentioned technique does require a certain level of expertise, especially when dealing with heritage assets. In the event where historians take part in the regeneration process, by bringing forward their knowledge on a site’s history and on a community’s culture, this added level of expertise is understandably going to be more expensive and the funding will naturally be increased.
However, one might ask if history has a price, and if the conservation of a piece of heritage can be put aside for funding purposes.
In addition to the price of adaptive reuse, dealing with buildings that have persevered through time, such as the old Victorian warehouses of Shad Thames, gets particularly challenging when it comes to regulations. The regulations at the time of construction and the current ones do not match, therefore a challenge arises when planning for renovation begins. For example, fire safety regulations having been re-examined multiple times since the 19th century, period at which Shad Thames’ warehouses were erected, and these important regulations must have been complicated to take into account while redeveloping the old warehouses and factories. In the same way, heating and venting, that might not have been important while storing merchandises like tea, coffee, spices and others, becomes crucial when it comes to designing and planning for apartments and restaurants.
Lastly, an issue of “authenticity” comes in to play. After the regeneration of Shad Thames, visitors or even architectural critics might argue that the building might not be as “authentic” as it once was, because of the numerous alterations it underwent. Residents, however, would disagree, as some of them were able to sense the smell of spices that had infused century old bricks, which suggests that the modifications might have been held to a minimum.
For Shad Thames’ case, the developers attributed the name of each court to the name of the spice that was stored at a certain point in time, for example, Wheat wharf and Cayenne Court, were at a certain period places where these commodities where stored. Renaming a court after a spice strengthens an aspect of conservation, because the place may have changed, and may also change later, but the name unifies the actual structure to its past.
Having started by stressing the importance of historical conservation, this essay emphasized on the need to transform old and derelict structures into spaces that could accommodate new purposes. The term adaptive reuse, the medium and long term cultural and financial gains were also previously discussed. A part from keeping an asset that serves as a tool to strengthen a community’s identity, adaptive reuse allows projects to utilise space reasonably, while increasing a building’s life. By keeping pieces of tangible heritage assets, it creates tourist venues, and therefore contributes to a country’s economy.
From the discussion, a crucial balance for a successful regeneration stood out, one that would take into account what once met the needs of a society in time, that is today considered to form part of the cultural heritage, and the needs of the actual society.
Lastly, the essay mentioned the various implementation challenges that often render a projects’ progress. Regulations were noted as complicated to deal with, whereas the cost was deemed to be high for these kind of projects, as a great level of expertise is needed.
Today’s Shad Thames remains a strong example of adaptive reuse as it successfully based the redevelopment on the heritage that a century long era of industrialisation left behind.