A critical analysis of the continued use of Georgian buildings: a case study of Darley Abbey Mills, Derbyshire. Item Type Thesis Authors Deakin, Emmie Lousie Download date 07/10/2021 13:37:41 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10545/620525 UNIVERSITY OF DERBY A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTINUED USE OF GEORGIAN BUILDINGS: A CASE STUDY OF DARLEY ABBEY MILLS, DERBYSHIRE Emmie Louise Deakin Doctor of Philosophy 2015 List of Contents Preface viii Abstract ix Acknowledgements xi Chapter 1 Introduction 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Context 2 1.2 Aim and Objectives 5 1.3 Structure of Chapters 5 1.4 Conclusion 11 Chapter 2 Darley Abbey Mills as a Historic Artefact 2.0 Introduction 12 2.1 The Industrial Revolution 16 2.1.1 The Industrial Revolution and Economic Expansion 17 2.1.2 Technological Development 19 2.2 Enlightenment 23 2.3 Industrial Communities 26 2.4 Industrial Architecture 29 2.5 Evaluating the Historical Significance of Darley Abbey Mills as a Historic Artifact 33 2.5.1 The Evans Family 38 2.6 Conclusion 40 Chapter 3 The Role of Industrial Georgian Buildings Within Contemporary Urban Design 3.0 Introduction 41 3.1 The emergence of the contemporary post-industrial globalised urban landscape. 42 3.2 Regeneration 45 3.3 Culture and the Role of Historic Buildings within Regeneration 50 3.4 Heritage as a Tool for Urban Regeneration 52 3.5 Creative Industries 58 3.6 The Rise of Creative Industries 60 3.7 Hard and Soft Location Factors 63 3.8 Reuse of Historic Buildings as a Sustainable Alternative 65 3.9 The Sustainable City 66 3.10 The Four Dimensions of Sustainable Development 70 3.11 The Role of the Sustainable Historic Industrial Buildings 75 3.12 Conclusion 79 Chapter 4 Principles, Protectionism And The Ethics Of Conservation 4.0 Introduction 82 4.1 The Development of Statutory Control 83 4.2 Conservation Defined 89 4.3 Significance and Value 91 4.3.1 Character 95 4.3.2 Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and, World Heritage Sites 96 4.4 Managing Change and Physical Intervention 99 4.5 Principles and Ethics of Conservation 102 4.5.1 Degrees of Physical Intervention 104 4.5.2 Preservation 104 4.5.3 Restoration 105 4.5.4 Repair 106 4.5.5 Restoration 108 4.5.6 Minimum Intervention 108 4.5.7 Reversibility 109 4.6 The Protective Umbrella of Conservation 109 4.7 Resistance and Spatial Reflexivity 110 4.8 Conclusion 118 Chapter 5 Philosophical Groundings Of The Research 5.0 Introduction 119 ii 5.1 Ontological Positioning 123 5.2 Epistemological Considerations 124 5.3 Axiology 125 5.4 Paradigm, Worldview or Philosophical Perspective? 128 5.5 Positivism: The Euro-American Conservation Doctrine 130 5.6 Interpretivism 133 5.7 Cultural Heritage as a Social Construction 138 5.8 Conclusion 140 Chapter 6 Research Strategy and Data Collection Methods 6.0 Introduction 141 6.1 Inductive Reasoning 143 6.2 Areas of Enquiry 144 6.3 Case Study Research 145 6.4 Rationalisation For A Single Case Approach 148 6.5 Preliminary Theory and Data Collection Methods 156 6.6 Data Collection Techniques 157 6.6.1 Semi-structured Interviews 157 6.6.2 Condition and Usage Survey 161 6.6.3 Documentary Analysis 163 6.7 Conclusion 165 Chapter 7 Findings 7.0 Introduction 167 7.1 Historical and Architectural Context of Site 167 7.2 Economic Sustainability 169 7.2.1 Economic Viability 169 7.2.2 Heritage Costs 176 7.2.3 Condition of the Georgian buildings at Darley Abbey Mills 179 7.2.4 Tourism 197 7.2.5 Compliance with Statutory Regulations 200 7.2.6 Maintenance and Repair 219 7.3 Social and Cultural Sustainability 224 7.3.1 Sense of Place, Community Cohesion and Identity 224 iii 7.3.2 Creative Community 224 7.3.3 Darley Community and Stakeholders 225 7.3.4 Neighbour and Representative Comments Contained in Planning Applications 226 7.4 Conclusion 237 Chapter 8 Assessing the Continued Use and Sustainability of Darley Abbey Mills 8.0 Introduction 238 8.1 The Historical and Architectural Significance of Darley Abbey Mills 240 8.2 Economic Sustainability 241 8.2.1 Economic Viability 241 8.2.2 Job Creation 243 8.2.3 Tourism 243 8.2.4 Compliance with Statutory Regulations 244 8.3 Social and Cultural Sustainability 248 8.3.1 Sense of Place, Identity and Continuity of Social Life 248 8.3.2 Social Cohesion and Inclusiveness 249 8.4 Environmental and Physical Sustainability 251 8.4.1 Environmental Performance 251 8.4.2 Retention of Historical Setting, Townscape and Urban Pattern 252 8.5 Political Sustainability 253 8.5.1 Community Participation, Transparency and Accountability 253 8.5.2 Supportive Policies 256 8.6 Conclusion 259 Chapter 9 Conclusion 9.0 Summary 263 9.1 Reflection on the Objectives of the Thesis 265 9.2 Contribution to Knowledge 268 9.3 Future Research 269 iv 9.4 Limitations 270 9.5 Conclusion 272 Bibliography 273 Appendices 332 Appendix 1 A Review of Planning Applications Submitted for Darley 333 Abbey Mills 1997-2012 Appendix 1a A Review of Planning Applications Submitted for Darley 340 Abbey Mills 2013-2015 Appendix 2 Neighbour and Representative Responses to 370 Planning Applications Appendix 3 Condition Survey of Darley Abbey Mills 441 Appendix 4 Interview Transcripts 470 v List of Figures Figure 2.1 Long Mill. Metal plating on attic wall 35 Figure 2.2 Long Mill. Metal plating on roof trusses 35 Figure 2.3 North Mill Trusses 36 Figure 2.4 Rafter to Purlin Connections with Lime Mortar Torching in Place 36 Figure 2.5 Fire proof tiling with Lime Mortar Torching removed 37 Figure 3.1 ‘Circles of Cultural and Creative Activity within the European Community’ 62 Figure 4.1 Graph detailing the age range of listed buildings in the UK 99 Figure 5.1 Differences Among Key Methodological Positions and Implications for Choice of Research Design and Implications, (Azzopardi and Nash 2014:153) 120 Figure 5.2 Defining the Field of Historic Preservation Through Dichotomous Values (Wells 2014:1) 136 Figure 5.3 The Regulators, Conservators, Interpreters and Stewards (Wells 2012:1) 137 Figure 7.1 Site Plan of Darley Abbey Mills (Atkins 2010:9) 168 Figure 7.2 Listed Georgian buildings including those placed on English Heritage’s Building at Risk Register 178 Figure 7.3 The Watch House 2006 220 Figure 7.4 The Watch House 2013 220 Figure 7.5 Gassing Shed 221 Figure 7.6 Polishing Shop 221 Figure 7.7 Engine and Boiler House 221 Figure 7.8 Coppice Barn A 221 Figure 7.9 Signage on front façade of the North Mill 2013 222 Figure 7.10 Signage on front façade of the North Mill 2013 222 Figure 7.11 Broken pipe in 2006 225 Figure 7.12 Broken pipe in 2013 223 Figure 7.13 Replacement tiles on Sawmill range of buildings 223 vi List of Tables Table 3.1 ‘Significant sustainability adaptive reuse criteria 71 identified in the literature and verified by project participants’. (Yung and Chan 2012:359) Table 4.1 Categories of listed buildings 97 Table 5.1 The Core Ontological Assumptions Guiding Positivism And Subjectivism Evely et al. (2008:55) 129 Table 6.1 Adoption of a Constructivist Philosophical Positions and Implications for Choice of Research Design. (Adapted from Azzopardi and Nash 2014:153) 142 Table 6.2 Rationale of a Single Site Case Study Approach (Adapted from Yin 2009) 150 Table 6.3 Identification of Stakeholders (adapted from Wells 2010) 158 Table 7.1 Occupancy Levels at Darley Abbey Mills 2006-2013 170 Table 7.2: Use Of The Buildings Within the Complex 172 Table 7.3 Morphology and Significance of Darley Abbey Mills 177 Table 7.4 A Summary of the Planning Applications Submitted For Work Within Darley Abbey Mills Between 2013-2015 201 Table 7.5 A Summary of the Planning Applications Submitted For Work Within Darley Abbey Mills Between 1997-2012 213 vii Preface This work makes a number of contributions to knowledge within the field of the conservation of the historic built environment. 1. This work provides a longitudinal insight into the morphology of an Industrial World Heritage Site, and charts the evolution and, factors that have informed this morphology. What makes this unique is that most studies take a snapshot of a site without charting the transformation that occurs over time, and the impact the changes in stakeholder can have on the site, and ultimately its sustainable continued use. 2. There is an assumption that if a building or site is Grade 1 or Grade 2* listed, is part of a Conservation Area and possesses World Heritage Status, then its future is guaranteed, that it will be protected and that people will not be able to alter, repair or not maintain the site. Although this may be the case if the site is managed by a Charity (as reflected in the literature) as they have certain legal responsibilities, and are more likely to form formal partnerships with the organisation that fund and protect heritage sites. However, as a result of this research it is clear that if the site is under private ownership, the ‘umbrella of protection’ and the statutory legislation provides little protection. 3. The work also questions if truly sustainable development is possible in privately owned historic sites, Yung and Chan’s (2012) criteria for assessing the sustainable adaptive reuse of historic buildings, provides a clear framework that reflects the various contemporary discourses that define sustainability within the field of heritage conservation.