“I admire modern architecture and understand why some people want to live in clean, minimalist, steel and glass spaces,” says Marianne Suhr MRICS. “But it doesn't work for me, I love being in an old house.”
Suhr is a chartered building surveyor who, as you might have guessed, specialises in historic or listed buildings. She’s co-authored two books on the subject, the Old House Handbook and the more retrofit-focused Old House Eco Handbook. The conservation of old buildings is more than just a job to her, it’s a guiding principle.
“I like looking at an old floor and seeing where people have walked across from one side to the other over the centuries – there's often a dip in the floor which shows the quickest route of getting across the room. And where certain things are worn out because generations of people have rubbed against them. It’s fascinating and strangely comforting.”
However, she also recognises the potential pitfalls that come with owning a house that is more than 200 years old, especially if the pre-purchase survey doesn’t spot certain elements that could be costly to fix. If the surveyor knows what they’re looking for, this shouldn’t be a problem, but there is a shortage of historic building expertise in the profession.
“A lot of the buildings I work on are 16th or 17th century and they've been changed umpteen times since. There are so few surveyors geared up to look at historic buildings, and you need someone with specialist knowledge,” says Suhr. “Similarly, if someone asked me to survey a 1980s house, I would say no because I don't know enough about them.”
“To survey historic buildings, you need to have a really good understanding of what you’re telling a prospective buyer, so that they go into it with their eyes open. A poor survey is disastrous for a homeowner.”
This belief in the value of historic building surveyors is what prompted Suhr to create the Building Conservation Summer School, with Stephen Boniface FRICS, former chair of the RICS Building Conservation Forum. The two met in 2004 and ran the summer school at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, in conjunction with RICS “who took it on board under their umbrella of training for many years,” until the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Suhr and Boniface now run it themselves, along with another chartered surveyor and historic building specialist, Duncan Phillips FRICS. Suhr is keen to emphasise the hands-on nature of the way the course is taught, saying: “You need to see these things and touch them to understand why they're failing and know how to put them back together. On the course we have a go at brick making, lime pointing and plastering. And we have people bringing great big lumps of wood and sheets of mouth-blown glass, it’s a physical experience.”
An early interest in old buildings
A career in historic building repair was on the cards from an early age, says Suhr, inspired by many childhood visits to National Trust properties. “I did a building surveying degree and I knew that I wanted to specialise in historic buildings. And then I had a few lucky breaks – I met a carpenter working on a church porch and he pointed me towards the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB).”
The SPAB was founded by the famous Victorian textile designer William Morris in 1877, in response to the work of harmful building restoration of the time that was causing irreparable damage. After completing her degree, Suhr’s first job was clerk of works for the National Trust in south Wales.
“I was supervising the builders on a large project, making sure everything was running smoothly and done to spec,” says Suhr. “But to be honest, I was so green, straight out of university, that I knew very little and therefore I just decided not to bluff my way through. Instead I made friends with the builders and asked lots of questions. And they showed me the ropes.”
“They gave me a go at lead beating and carpentry and plastering and I got stuck in there. It was a fantastic first job. You can’t really understand a building until you see how it's put together or taken apart, so this was a fantastic opportunity to do that.”
An average working day now for Suhr consists of lecturing, writing or running projects through her business, The Old House Consultancy. She is also a broadcaster and was one of the expert ‘ruin detectives’ alongside Ptolemy Dean (who is now surveyor of the fabric at Westminster Abbey) on the BBC TV show Restoration, hosted by Griff Rhys Jones.
“Broadcasting and filming have always been something I love doing,” says Suhr. “But I mix it up with real project work, so I've always got something new to say.”
“You can’t really understand a building until you see how it's put together or taken apart” Marianne Suhr MRICS, Old House Consultancy
Rules and regs
The rules around what you can and cannot do to listed buildings in the UK take some getting your head around and can come as a surprise to property owners who assume that they’re free to modernise an old house how they see fit. Without knowing the whys and wherefores of historic properties, it could feel like you’re coming up against a brick wall of bureaucracy.
“There is still a lot of ignorance around old buildings,” says Suhr. “People like the idea of living in them, but often find them inconvenient and want to change them. Or they employ a builder who has no experience of traditional repair techniques and makes the situation worse. I am astonished that some surveyors are still recommending injected damp proof courses in solid walls, despite the Joint Position Statement on Moisture and Traditional Buildings published by the RICS over two years ago.
“The big challenge now with listed buildings is retrofit – working with historic fabric to make it more energy efficient, without affecting breathability or detracting from its special interest”, says Suhr. “In Oxfordshire we work with fantastic conservation officers who are happy to grant listed building consent as long as you want to do something that can be fully justified. Wherever possible, we try to make new work reversible, just in case someone changes their mind in the future.”
“When people want to do irresponsible things to historic buildings, the conservation officers have to put their foot down. People do shocking things to our buildings because they're inconvenient.”
One of the most common causes of friction between property owners and conservation officers is replacing drafty windows. Historic single-glazed windows that let heat out make a house very energy inefficient, but replacing them with modern double or triple-glazing is rarely an option for listed buildings.
Which is why Suhr’s newest venture is a historic windows consultancy, “to advise people on what to do with their windows and what the options might be to retain their historic significance, but also to make them energy efficient and fit for the 21st century.”
“There is an argument to replace them, but even the glass in those windows is precious, and especially when you find out that there are only around 20 experienced glassblowers left in the world now who produce traditionally made window glass. And they're in Germany and France, there’s nobody left in the UK, which is a real tragedy.”
As well as retrofitting older buildings to be more efficient, Suhr believes the UK government should be following the Passivhaus standard for the many new homes it intends to build. “If we are embarking on a massive programme to build new homes, I can’t understand why we are not designing them to Passivhaus standards,” she says. “Buildings that will never need retrofitting. This seems like a no brainer.”
“Yes, it would cost more, but in the long run it would be worth it, especially if you're building houses for people who are in fuel poverty. Northern European countries wouldn't dream of building houses on this sort of scale that aren’t Passivhaus.”
Perhaps if new homes are built to last, they could eventually become historic buildings themselves.
