BOOKS
Maintenance of Historic Buildings, by Jürgen Klemisch. Donhead, £35
THIS book sets out to provide an aid to best practice in the maintenance of historic buildings. After the reunification of Germany in 1990 many important historic buildings in the former East Germany were found to have been neglected, and needed maintenance and repair. This book has been created by Jürgen Klemisch and his team, and is based on their rescue of Schloss Reichenow, a stately home built in Neo-Gothic Style in 1897. The introduction identifies various factors
which shorten the working life of a building, and then sets out the aims in producing a workable model of a good practice guide to building maintenance. The next section details how to create a Building Maintenance Logbook. Part one includes details of how to set up work cards, and gives a fairly comprehensive list of the elements of a building which need to be included. Part two details thoroughly the creation of a Condition Survey Spreadsheet
Model.All of the above is well thought out, and the work cards and the condition survey could easily be adapted to suit any building, whatever its age or size. There are 60 pages of work cards and 85 pages of condition surveys, covering the whole of Schloss Reichenow. Whilst the detail is exemplary, it would seem a little unnecessary to provide quite so many examples. The book concludes with a number of
“before and after” photographs. This section would have been enhanced if photographs of the work in progress had been included, and some text relating to the actual techniques used in the repair of the building. There is much to be admired in this book,
and it would certainly be of use to those about to set out on a maintenance programme for any building. However, fewer examples and more practical detail would be more valuable.
David Lodge
Leaves, a potent enemy to old buildings if not dealt with, as SPAB highlights annually. Left, basic pointing repair is also often overlooked
Reviewers Jon Steel is a practising building surveyor;
David Lodge, former SPAB Chairman, is the originator of National Maintenance Week; Philip Venning is SPAB Secretary.
Cornerstone, Vol 32, No 3 2011 107
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