Protecting the Past
Attitudes towards the reuse of old buildings have changed. During the 1980s and 1990s, many older buildings were seen as unfit for reuse and were demolished. More recently, attitudes have changed in favour of reuse on the grounds of sustainability.
There is a greater awareness now that the reuse of historic buildings and areas in regeneration projects creates a tangible link to the past for local communities and helps reinforce a sense of place, local identity and character. Many developers now have considerable experience in taking on refurbishment projects, in response to changes in planning policy and market demand.
English Heritage (EH) has an important role to play in protecting historic hospitals and healthcare buildings through a combination of historical research, statutory designation and advice on development proposals. EH has been active in studying the surplus NHS estate to make sure that the buildings and sites of special architectural or historic interest are properly protected.
EH is also engaged in talking to developers and owners of historic hospitals about their proposals and in responding to local planning authorities when consulted on applications for listed building consent or major planning applications.
As a result of research into hospitals and workhouses carried out over the past twenty years, we now have a much clearer basis for understanding the development of different types of hospital.
The research carried out by the former Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England has been summarised in: English Hospitals 1660-1948: A survey of their architecture and design, (English Heritage 1998). This describes and illustrates the many specialised types of hospital building.
This was followed by a companion volume The Workhouse: A Study of Poor-Law buildings in England (English Heritage, 1999).
Hospitals illustrate the gradual changes in the treatment of contagious and incurable diseases while workhouses reveal the gradual rejection of punitive concepts regarding the ‘undeserving’ poor in favour of universal care. They can sometimes be fine architectural statements too.
Within English Heritage, the Heritage Protection Department deals with requests to protect historic hospitals. Currently there are two forms of statutory protection: listing and scheduling. Listing is the type of protection used for buildings of special architectural or historic interest, whilst scheduling is used to protect monuments such as prehistoric earthworks, ruins and other structures which do not have a beneficial use.
The criteria for protection are set out in a recently-published series of selection guides, including one on health and welfare buildings: www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/Health_and_Welfare.pdf
This guide looks at hospitals, asylums, workhouses, almshouses and health centres, and offers a brief overview of their development and the factors taken into account when considering them for protection.
Historic hospital sites may also be protected through being included in conservation areas (designated by the local planning authority) or by inclusion in the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
English Partnerships and English Heritage have co-operated on the hospital sites since the announcement of the programme. It was agreed at the outset that a comprehensive review of the portfolio was necessary to ensure that the historical and architectural significance of each site was understood and protected in any development plans.
A rapid desk-top survey was carried out by English Heritage during 2005. This confirmed that many sites already have statutory protection: 44 listed buildings and a number of scheduled monuments. The portfolio includes several well-preserved examples of purpose-built asylums set in landscaped grounds. Four of these sites (Graylingwell, Fairmile, Springfield and Severalls) were already on English Heritage’s Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. English Heritage’s study recommended further investigation at about 30 sites of historical or architectural interest, to provide a basis for recording and detailed assessment.
The Heritage Protection team has followed up those cases where buildings or landscapes appear to meet the criteria for statutory designation. This has helped to clarify the historical interest of all these sites and in a handful of cases buildings have been listed as a result.
However, the majority of older hospitals do not meet the stringent national criteria for listing. In these cases, the local planning authority plays the lead role through the Local Development Framework and the use of their powers to designate conservation areas. Of the former NHS sites referred to above, five of the 96 sites are protected as conservation areas, including Park Prewett near Basingstoke and West Park in Epsom, irrespective of any listing.
At Graylingwell in Chichester, a former mental hospital, English Heritage has produced a pilot characterisation study in partnership with English Partnerships to ensure that the historic interest of the site is fully understood and respected in any plans for reuse of the site.
Heritage assets such as historic hospital sites can play a central role in achieving successful regeneration. English Heritage believes that they represent an opportunity rather than a constraint. One such example is the former Devonshire Hospital at Buxton, a Grade II* listed building, which has been adapted for educational use by the University of Derby.
The experience of reusing historic assets as a catalyst for regeneration has been summarised in another recent publication Heritage Works - a toolkit aimed at organisations and individuals engaged in regeneration programmes. It is the result of a partnership project between the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the British Property Federation (BPF) and English Heritage, and has been produced by Drivers Jonas.
The co-operation of English Heritage and English Partnerships has been recognised as a successful example of joint working, helping to minimise uncertainty and potential delays in the development and planning process. The shared vision is that the historical and architectural character of former hospital sites will help to create attractive new communities with a distinct sense of place.
