Heritage Unlocked - Flipbook - Page 25
Heritage stewardship through time
Alison Cox
‘Our statutes
require that we
maintain the
College in
perpetuity and
that principle
underpins our
decisions’
Since its founding in 1511, St John’s has
built in every century, from the 16th to
the 20th, and is currently working with
Wright & Wright on student residences
for the 21st century. The River Cam flows
through the site, so the Bridge of Sighs
anchors the list of college assets, along
with the Chapel, the Old Library, and
historic Hall. Less visible is the portfolio
of citywide flats and houses which
supplement the College’s on-site student
accommodation.
It goes without saying that we’re in it
for the long term. Our statutes require
that we maintain the College in
perpetuity and that principle underpins
our decisions. We’re currently working
to a masterplan produced by Allies and
Morrison in 2017, which has three key
elements: to house all our
undergraduates on the main College
site; to consolidate postgraduate
accommodation in clusters close to the
main site, and to use our beautiful
landscapes to support the well-being of
students, staff and Fellows. Our other
guiding principle is a commitment to
sustainability, which is driving the
removal of gas boilers from all our
capital projects, significant upgrades to
insulation and airtightness, and re-use
of historic materials.
Along with this, we undertake
planned preventative maintenance plus
rolling refurbishments and the odd
reactive item. St John’s is full of life, year
round, which makes conservation
easier, not harder: there are 1,000 pairs
of eyes spotting things that need fixing.
Making adaptations for accessibility
becomes not a theoretical exercise in
meeting code requirements, but a
conversation with a disabled student
about how much power her wheelchair
has got: will it get up the ramp on the
Bridge of Sighs?
Heritage stewardship through time
Over the centuries College buildings
have proved remarkably flexible and
adaptable, supporting the principle that
one should build for a lifespan of 100
years or more. Delivering a long-term
vision like this requires sustained
leadership, which at St John’s comes
from our Master, who is in post for 10
years, long enough to set out a strategy
and also to see it through. We’re
fortunate in Cambridge to have ready
access to expertise. We have an
informed and thriving local property
and construction market and a good
supply chain of consultants and
contractors. However, the heritage craft
skills required to maintain our estates
are increasingly vanishing, so we should
all be considering, as colleges, how to
support apprenticeships- after all,
education is our core purpose.
As someone who’s trying to conserve
and decarbonise a diverse historic
estate, certain aspects and
contradictions stand out. The planning
system could be more responsive to the
many conflicts that we face, such as
adding insulation versus the loss of
historic detail, or stipulating the use of
costly original materials in places where
aesthetics are unimportant.
VAT is added to refurbishment and
reuse projects, while new-build schemes
with a design life of a mere 25 years
avoid it. The insurance market could be
more accommodating of low-carbon
concrete and timber-framed structures.
Finally, national infrastructure schemes
to boost water and electrical capacity in
our region need to be progressed at pace.
All these things will build on what
we’ve done so far and secure a vibrant
academic community in our beautiful
historic estate in perpetuity.
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