HERITAGE
Changing perceptions
Alan Burgess, MD of Masterframe, employs a specialist town planner to help his customers overcome the perception of our industry held by most planners and conservation officers, which is not always a good one.
PLANNING FRUSTRATIONS
Conservation officers are concerned with the amount of frame material showing, the visible sight lines and seeing windows incorrectly fitted. They dislike having the styles changed,( sash to casements of instance), inappropriate replacements like when old boxes are left in-situ with aluminium or plastic inserts or shoddy architraves and silicone.
They much prefer windows of similar proportion, windows fitted correctly behind the reveals with wood grained finishes, traditional butt jointed construction and authentic detailing.
Installers meanwhile find the whole“ approval” process frustrating. Unable to fit what they want, they dislike the bureaucracy, the costly and time consuming applications and find there’ s no consistency between departments or authorities.
They also find that the authorities often have outdated policy documents, are unaware of recent regulatory changes, and totally unaware( and unwilling to consider) the latest product developments.
Unwilling to stick out their necks and approve a new product, they turn to Historic England for guidance, rather than consider any“ modern” alternative, believing wood is good and nothing else should be considered. Their reaction is therefore quite interesting when they’ re informed that that sealed units were first patented in 1865, yes over 150 years ago!
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS
So what are the common misconceptions, how can installers use the rules to their advantage?
Well firstly, Historic England only offer advice, they don’ t make any decisions. All decisions are taken at a local level via the Local Authority; they must follow the NPPF, the National Planning and Policy Framework.
What most homeowners( and installers) do not know is that the vast majority of homes have Permitted Development Rights, that’ s to say that permission has already been granted for the owners to“ develop” their home i. e. change their windows, the only proviso is that windows must be of“ similar” appearance. This also applies to conservations areas. If a normal house with single occupancy, no commercial or rented accommodation in a conservation area, has permitted development rights, then no further permission is needed. However rented accommodation, flats or multiple use buildings always need permission as the permitted development rights will have been removed, meaning an application is necessary.
Secondly, installers don’ t know that the NPPF actually states that a development that may be“ harmful” should be permitted( but normally isn’ t, only developments that are likely to cause“ substantial harm” should be refused.)
AN UPHILL TASK Whilst applications are tedious, time consuming and frankly a little complicated to get right, they are a necessary evil. All too often, applications are refused or turned down because the installer didn’ t explain the changes in sufficient detail. Planning authorities need to visualise the impact the proposal will have on the building and neighbourhood. Scale drawings of before and after are pretty well mandatory.
Unfortunately, unlike Building Regulations( which either comply or not) planning restrictions are a question of perception, personal preference of the planner or conservation officer. Until the rules are changed or we as an industry become more professional with applications, the challenge of changing perceptions of the industry will remain an uphill task.
Masterframe has had a number of interesting articles written for them by Michael Thornton, a town planner, specifically to help its installers understand the challenges, improve their applications and overturn refusals. Read them at www. masterframe. co. uk / news / diy-planningapplication.
www. masterframe. co. uk
50 » OCT 2016 » CLEARVIEW-UK. COM