Conservation of Historic Brick Structures

Citation

Hurst, L. (1999), "Conservation of Historic Brick Structures", Structural Survey, Vol. 17 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ss.1999.11017aae.002

Conservation of Historic Brick Structures

Conservation of Historic Brick Structures

Edited by N.S. Baer, S. Fitz and R.A. LivingstonDonhead (Tel: 01747 828422)1998ISBN 1 8733 9434 9£48.50x + 505 pp.Figures in text

Keywords Brickwork, Conservation

The first surprising thing about this book is that it arises out of a NATO committee. The fact that your reviewer is surprised displays his ignorance that NATO is not entirely a military body and since 1959 has had a Science Committee, which the preface tells us operates an extensive programme of international study institutes, research workshops and collaborative research in many areas. One of its initiatives led to the establishment of the Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society, which promotes pilot studies carried out by groups of NATO countries. The proposal for a study of the conservation of brick buildings, drafted in 1986 and accepted in 1987, consisted of five major topics:

1. 1.

   Development of an atlas of damage to historic brick studies.

2. 2.

   Diagnosis of damage.

3. 3.

   Field and accelerated ageing tests.

4. 4.

   Instrumental methods. Development and standardisation of procedures with emphasis on non-destructive testing.

5. 5.

   Treatment and conservation methods.

However, 2, 3 and 4 are ancillary to and an essential part of 1, and 5 follows on from 1.

It recognised that a brick building does not consist of bricks alone, but rather is a system composed of the bricks themselves, the mortar, and in many cases, a plaster, rendering or stucco covering the surface.

West Germany led the study, with participation from Belgium, East Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Turkey, the UK and the USA, and this book collects together 40 papers presented at the eight experts' meetings held at various venues between 1987 and 1994.

The first impression of these international papers is that they mostly comprise detailed results of tests on materials, salts, moisture contents and air pollutants, which are interesting and provide useful background knowledge but are of little direct use to those with projects involving conservation of brick structures where there is unlikely to be time to carry out detailed testing or indeed funds to pay for it.

The most important aspect of this project is the work towards producing an atlas of damage to historic brick structures which has involved the development of a questionnaire to standardise terminology and develop diagnostic systems. If this proceeds to fruition it will help us all to develop our knowledge of how and why brickwork weathers and decays, and to identify probable causes in particular cases of deterioration. It is to be hoped that we can look forward to Donhead following up this book with publication of that atlas.

That is for the future, but all structural surveyors will gain from reading the two UK papers and one of the US papers which provide real case histories of work to St Pancras Chambers, to the Octagon House in Washington and to the fire damage at Uppark. Margaret Davies' description of the categories used in the survey of the exterior of St Pancras Chambers and the reasoning which led to the remedial work is particularly useful. It is a pity, however, that the murky illustrations do not live up to the standards of the text.

Even though over half the papers are on brickwork in Germany, this book will provide a useful source of reference for structural surveyors whose work involves historic brickwork. Academic institutions that teach building surveying should have copies on their library shelves.

Lawrance Hurst