New Zealand is regarded as a young country and seen, by many, as having a very small amount of heritage buildings worthy of conservation. This may be true when comparing New Zealand to Europe but in my opinion, the comparison is unnecessary. I agree that we are a young country when it comes to built heritage but so were countries such as Greece and Italy 1000's of years ago.Many people regard New Zealand's efforts in conservation as pointless or futile because they compare our countries heritage with that of older countries. My advice, study those other countries, their successes and failures in conservation but avoid the comparison. They might already have their abundance of historic buildings but we are in the privileged position to be creating, what will eventually be, our historic buildings and doing so with a breadth of knowledge from what has gone before.
Our built environment impacts on us all whether it is a newly built glass skyscraper in the city centre or a two hundred year old solid stone museum. Conservation is many things to many people and whilst there are some guiding principles that most practitioners in the arena adhere to, the most important aspect of conservation is conserving the social value of a building.
The fact is that the age of a building is irrelevant. We conserve buildings because they have meaning. A building should not have to wait until it achieves a certain age before it is deemed worthy of conservation. The Sky Tower in Auckland's Central Business District is a modern landmark building. Whilst it is not considered a heritage building now, it will, no doubt, be seen as one in 100 years time.
For some the beauty or worth of a building is in its history, for others its function, architectural merit or how high it towers above the buildings around it. A building doesn't even have to be whole or even functional to be of worth. There are ruins of buildings the world over and many are the focus of targeted conservation to preserve what remains.
Replicas of lost buildings can also be of value. The Old Town in Warsaw, Poland, was bombed during the WWII. A replica was built after the war and is visited by thousands of tourists every year whom marvel at the beauty and character of the Old Town.It is argued in some conservation circles that good conservation has to be honest and that replicas are not honest. The fact that Warsaw's Old Town is not the original does not detract from it's worth as the rebuilding of the town is simply a layer of its history and for many this adds to the social value.
With so many of Canterbury's historic buildings destroyed in the 2010 and 2011 quakes, rebuilding in the image of what was lost may be an option. As with most decisions of this type, there will be advocates and those who oppose such an approach. Ultimately, the approach adopted should be one that will have the greatest benefit to society and the debate over the future of Christchurch's historic buildings is set to continue in the months ahead.
The buildings in New Zealand, at this moment in time, will become our historic buildings in the future. As a country we are still in our infancy. Our built environment reflects this and in time it will reflect a country with a more established history. If we stop comparing our nation with others and accept we are a young country and have a limited historic building stock we can focus on the job at hand - conserving what we do have and laying the foundations for the future where our history will be reflected in the buildings we conserve today.Victoria Richardson BSc (Hons) MRICS
Ignite Building Consultancy Ltd
