A tour of the conservation challenge in a changing world

Record heat this summer across the UK and the rest of Europe is a timely reminder of the pressing need for action on climate change.

Last month Fleet Street Quarter’s Climate Connectors Festival explored the complexities of climate action for historic buildings as part of London Climate Action Week.

One of the events took the conversation out of the conference room and onto the streets as a walking tour which visited a number of historic City sites to hear about their efforts to adapt while preserving their heritage.

St Bride’s was one of the stops and our Rector, The Revd Canon Dr Alison Joyce, welcomed the tour group and began by describing the changes she has made personally to make her lifestyle more sustainable: “I need no persuading of the importance of embracing a greener lifestyle in every aspect of what we do.”

However, extending this to a Grade I listed Wren church creates a number of challenges. Alison spoke of how joined-up thinking is sometimes lacking in local authorities.

Implementation of sustainability policies often presumes levels of financial and human resources which are simply not available to small church teams trying to do their best to maintain the City’s heritage and mitigate climate change.

Adapting historic buildings is rarely straightforward and viable solutions to some problems such as heating churches still do not exist.

There is always a tightrope to walk between heritage protection and energy performance, especially in the context of complex regulation and considerable cost.

These thoughts were echoed and expanded by the other speakers on the tour: The Venerable Luke Miller, Archdeacon of London and Rector of St Andrew By The Wardrobe; Celine Luppo McDaid, Director of Dr Johnson’s House Trust; Nic Crawley, Technical Director and Sustainable Architecture Lead at WSP; and Paul Cutts CEO of Temple Church Trust.

We cannot afford for heritage and sustainability to be competing agendas but the challenge of finding a path forward requires careful collaboration and innovation if we are to preserve our cultural heritage and our way of life.

The tour also stopped at St Andrew by the Wardrobe in the adjoining parish to St Bride’s in Castle Baynard Ward