SPAB Magazine Spring 2024

In the Spring 2024 issue of the SPAB Magazine, SPAB director Matthew Slocombe meditates on the considerable concerns aroused by the proposed redevelopment of Liverpool Street Station, London. Although it falls outside the date range for casework notifiable to the SPAB, Slocombe makes an interesting observation about heritage campaigning and the need for collective responses to significant threats. He notes that redevelopment of the massive Broadgate office complex close to the society’s headquarters at Spital Square came at a time when the SPAB’s focus had been distinctly rural. The then secretary, Philip Venning, wrote of the enthusiasm of the public response to the SPAB Barns Campaign, concluding that the society had chosen the right campaign at the right time. Slocombe states that many lessons can still be drawn from that campaign. Foremost, perhaps, is that one organisation alone cannot expect to turn the tide, and that this is likely to be true at Liverpool Street.

Residential barn conversions became increasingly common in the 1980s, despite SPAB objections, and they dominated the SPAB’s case work throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. SPAB was able improve outcomes, with the best examples of barns protected; design guidance introduced; and repair and maintenance grants secured.

This issue also addresses another campaigning issue in the making: the question of the selloff of churches in Scotland. The SPAB considers that it applies the lessons of the Barns Campaign to campaigning in the coming years. With Church of Scotland churches having lost around 80 per cent of their attendees since the 1950s, the closure of some churches is becoming inevitable. The magazine highlights Scotland’s church sales, and explains the collaborative work being undertaken to offer informed and pragmatic solutions to the problem.

The disposal of churches throws up many wider questions for religious observance and its place in society. Most pressing from a heritage perspective is the buildings and properties in its care, as there are simply too many churches in Scotland for the sizes of the congregations. This was the case even before the decline after the second world war, when there were many more church buildings than might ordinarily be expected, exacerbated by schisms within the established church. The article also presents comments from Craig Stanford, strategic heritage project officer for the Places of Worship Project for Historic Environment Scotland.