Get Sust! Issue 34

A whole life in sustainable construction; one man’s passion for conservation

Conservation is not all ‘tin baths and gas lights’. With more than 30 years’ experience in property maintenance and conservation John Edwards, Surveyor of the Fabric at Cardiff Castle, tells Get Sust! that the world of conservation can teach the ‘new build’ sustainable construction sector a thing or two...

Whole life costing and life-cycle assessment are often cited as the next layer in the ever-decreasing-circle that is sustainable construction. It’s what we’ll need to do once the ‘big’ issues such as maximising building energy efficiency have become commonplace (though of course the forward-thinking clients and designers are already ahead in this particular game). And as well as selecting materials and components with low environmental impacts, what better way to improve a building’s sustainability than to build for longevity?

But I doubt the Romans who founded Cardiff Castle 2000 years ago had WLC and LCAs on their minds. And John Edwards – whose current job title is the medieval-sounding ‘Surveyor of the Fabric’ at the Castle – probably didn’t intend to enter the ‘sustainable construction sector’ when he took on an apprenticeship with a building contractor back in the 1970s.

“When I left school, I fancied building work,” explains John. “I suppose it was in my blood; my grandfather was a building contractor, and my late uncle had been a lecturer in construction at university.”

John learnt the construction basics working as a bricklayer/stonemason at the ‘coal face’ during his craft apprenticeship, but when the contractor he was working for went into receivership, he joined the local authority’s construction department and began a long and steady climb through the ranks mopping up a fistful of qualifications along the way – ONC, HNC in Building Surveying, Post Graduate Diploma in Building Conservation and, in 2005, MA Conservation Management.

Although the early years at Cardiff Council covered all sorts of properties, John quickly developed a taste and a talent for maintenance and conservation projects. As the Council’s Principal Building Surveyor he was responsible for setting up and managing projects ranging from Housing Capital programmes to the refurbishment, planned maintenance and major repair of commercial, civic and historic buildings.

One of his key responsibilities then – overseeing the maintenance and conservation of Cardiff Castle – became a job in itself, and since 1993 John Edwards has devoted his considerable experience and energy towards ensuring this national monument has a sustainable future.

“The maintenance and conservation work in the late 1980s was mainly fire-fighting to keep the building going,” he says. “In 1992 we conducted a thorough survey, and it became clear that Cardiff Castle needed around £6 million spending on it to get it into a good state of repair.”

John and his team applied for funding from the Heritage Lottery (then in its infancy), and with the funding secured they embarked on what turned out to be the largest conservation project in Wales, which is only now nearing completion.

“To me, sustainability is not just about ‘saving the planet’; it’s about economics,” explains John. “We wanted to ensure that this historically important site could earn enough income to make a significant contribution to its on-going maintenance.

“When we started out, the main focus for visitors was the Victorian interiors, which are both sensitive and expensive to maintain. But the Castle dates back around 2000 years, and the remains of the Roman fort and later Norman castle are well worth preserving and displaying. Our aim was to develop a central ‘visitor reception and interpretation building’ worthy of a European capital city, and manage the increasing number of visitors by spreading them wider across the site, and charging extra to visit the well-known Victorian areas.

“This philosophy of economic sustainability is almost as important as preserving the structures.”

Although the Castle has been a major part of his life, John is keen to pass on his expertise to the next generation of construction practitioners, and is currently lead tutor in Facilities Management of Historic Buildings on the Post Graduate Programme in the Historic Environment for the College of Estate Management, University of Reading, and an external examiner for the Building Maintenance & Management BSc (Hons) at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.

“Most courses teach students about new buildings, but most work on existing buildings,” he says, and even repairs to a humble terraced house can make or break that building’s economic (and therefore sustainable) future. “What people fail to appreciate is that there are economic benefits to doing things properly. Careful renovation, paying attention to aesthetics and retaining the building’s character will pay off in the long term

“But I’m not advocating tin baths and gas lights,” he hastily adds. Some aspects of ‘modern’ construction could certainly benefit the heritage sector – lean methods of construction, team-working and partnering being good examples. At Cardiff Castle they used the engineering form of contract instead of the JCT contract you might expect; and with John in the role of client-side manager and also project supervisor, he was able to ensure that conservation policies were strictly adhered to.

“Proper research is essential; and once you have developed a conservation or sustainability plan, don’t skimp on the supervision. With everyone working together, you’ll get the best quality outcome.”

With the Cardiff Castle project nearly finished, John is turning his attention to his own future. But one thing is certain, he’ll go on sharing his knowledge and expertise both as a lecturer and author, and as an active member of CIOB, RICS, IHBC and numerous other professional organisations.

	•	Cardiff Castle was the winner in the building conservation category of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Wales Awards 2007, and the outright winner of the British Building Maintenance Awards in 2007. See www.cardiffcastle.com
	•	Post Graduate Programme in the Historic Environment for the College of Estate Management, University of Reading. See http://www.cem.ac.uk/courses/CHE.asp
	•	Building Maintenance & Management BSc (Hons) at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. See www.csad.uwic.ac.uk