ConserveConnectNews

Championing heritage & community-led conservation. Stories, campaigns & insights from the frontlines of historic building preservation. #ConserveConnect

[Conserve Connect @ConservConnect]

Master brickmason, author and conservation specialist Dr Gerard Lynch has spent decades preserving the knowledge behind Britain's historic brick buildings.

Our latest Guardians of Heritage profile explores the life and legacy of "The Red Mason" and his contribution to traditional brickcraft.

Read more:
https://t.co/nDEPMXfCzy
#GerardLynch #HistoricBrickwork #BrickConservation #LimeMortar #HeritageCrafts #BuildingConservation #ConserveConnect

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

Historic brickwork often fails not because it is old, but because it has been repaired with the wrong materials.

Using North Dulwich Station as a case study, our latest article explores how cement pointing traps moisture, accelerates decay and damages Britain's historic brick heritage.

Heritage is not always lost through demolition. Sometimes it disappears one mortar joint at a time.

https://t.co/ftKrxXe2hS

#HistoricBrickwork #LimeMortar #BuildingConservation #Heritage #BrickConservation #ConserveConnect

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

Historic pubs are not simply commercial buildings. They are part of the social infrastructure of towns and cities, places where memory, association and community life accumulate over generations.

Our latest article examines how communities across Britain have protected pubs like the Railway Bell through heritage campaigns, cooperative ownership, grant funding and organised civic action.

Featuring reflections on the work of Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford and Anne Minton alongside real examples of successful preservation movements.

https://t.co/xvorNGVMUE

#Heritage #PubPreservation #RailwayBell #BuildingConservation #CommunityOwnership #HistoricPubs #UrbanHeritage #JaneJacobs #LewisMumford #Conservation

[Conserve Connect @ConservConnect]

Restoring historic buildings requires more than craftsmanship. It requires navigating an increasingly complex funding landscape.

Our latest guide explores UK Funding Sources for Building Conservation & Restoration, including Heritage Grants, Historic England support, Lottery Funding, Church Repair Grants and Community Heritage Finance.

https://t.co/hkHRtkpW24

#BuildingConservation #HeritageFunding #HistoricBuildings #ListedBuildings #Restoration #HistoricEngland #HeritageGrants #ConserveConnect

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

@thevicsoc @MayorofLondon @RichmoMusic @thetimes https://t.co/BgsKCFrbwf

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

@thevicsoc https://t.co/4kwWGK0iA1

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

Liverpool Street Station needs renewal, but not at any price.

The City of London has approved a scheme that bundles essential station improvement with a vast over-station commercial development. The Mayor of London still has the power to intervene.

Read and sign the open letter: https://t.co/B6ASbdmVdQ

Liverpool Street deserves a station first future, not a financing model disguised as inevitability.
#LiverpoolStreet #LondonPlanning

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

Liverpool Street Station needs renewal, but not at any price.

The City of London has approved a scheme that bundles essential station improvement with a vast over-station commercial development. The Mayor of London still has the power to intervene.

Read and sign the open letter: https://t.co/B6ASbdmVdQ

Liverpool Street deserves a station first future, not a financing model disguised as inevitability.
#LiverpoolStreet #LondonPlanning

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

The replacement of historic York stone with asphalt in a Tower Hamlets conservation area is not simply a technical decision.

It reflects a broader shift in how the public realm is valued, managed, and ultimately diminished under conditions of austerity and rentier capitalism.

This article traces that shift from the ground beneath our feet to the wider political economy shaping the UK today.

Read more: https://t.co/XxTqtZIYIo #heritage #publicrealm #urbanism #planning #architecture #TowerHamlets #conservation #ukhousing

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

The Railway Bell has been saved for now.

Lambeth has refused the scheme that would have demolished the pub behind a retained frontage and inserted nine flats. In doing so, it has formally recognised the building’s heritage, cultural, economic and social value.

Now comes the harder part: securing a real public future for the building, not merely stopping one bad scheme.

https://t.co/4zyAuxhVg8

#RailwayBell #GipsyHill #Lambeth #SaveTheRailwayBell #PubHeritage #CommunityAsset #PlanningObjection #HeritageMatters #SouthLondon #Conservation

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

There is no doubt, Historic York stone paving in a Tower Hamlets conservation area has been removed and replaced with asphalt. This should not be normalised as routine repair. It is a diminishment of the historic public realm.

We have published a short article and sample complaint text for anyone wishing to challenge it. In order to proceed, we need the exact location of the damage.

https://t.co/QoqOxqT0cw

#TowerHamlets #Heritage #YorkStone #ConservationArea #PublicRealm

[boundaryTRA @BoundaryTra]

@TowerHamletsNow please stop destroying our conservation area and listed estate. The pavement survived 125 years on our estate, an important conservation area. Today an unqualified contractor came and took away the original pave stones and tarmac over the area. Stop all work!

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

@BoundaryTra @OurArnoldCircus @TowerHamletsNow The council must force those contracted to reinstall the original stones. Sadly, these are often sold off to reclamation yards as a tidy side business.

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

Only a few days left to object to the proposed demolition of the Railway Bell, Gipsy Hill.

Lambeth Council must refuse application 26/00528/FUL and reject the destruction of a locally listed pub under the guise of façade retention.

Sign the open letter, share it widely, and submit your formal objection now.

https://t.co/iWJaKLTjl5

@thevicsoc @SAVEtoReuse @savecentralhill @lambeth_council #RailwayBell #GipsyHill #Lambeth #SaveTheRailwayBell #Heritage #PlanningObjection #SaveOurPubs #StopDemolition

[cpneighbours @cpneighbours]

Help save the Railway Bell Pub, Gipsy Hill, before it's demolished!
➡️ https://t.co/1fi6ip5Jvx

Locally listed two-storey ‘cottage’ PH. Original pub front c1864. Is there another Victorian suburban two storey 'cottage' pub in London & with stables as ❤️as this?

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

From Brixton to Central Hill to the Railway Bell, Lambeth’s redevelopment conflicts are not isolated events. They are part of a wider order in which heritage, working places and community memory are subordinated to viability, land value and rentier extraction.

Lambeth and the Grammar of Redevelopment: https://t.co/bCNnZhzuFP

#Lambeth #Brixton #Planning #Heritage #Redevelopment #RentierCapitalism

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

Old Kent Road is not being renewed. It is being rewritten.

Southwark’s plans promise 20,000 homes, 10,000 jobs and a transformed corridor. But beneath the language of regeneration lies a deeper shift: a city increasingly governed as an asset, where land becomes liquidity and planning becomes the management of yield. (Southwark Council)

This article examines what is really happening, why objections are growing, and what Old Kent Road reveals about the future of London itself.

Read more: https://t.co/cG0hEEvdef #OldKentRoad #LondonPlanning #UrbanDevelopment
#Regeneration #HousingCrisis
#AffordableHousing #London

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

The Railway Bell scheme at 14 Cawnpore Street asks the public to accept the loss of a locally listed pub and social space in exchange for a façade retained in front of a denser one bed flat scheme. This is not conservation. It is facadism dressed up as regeneration.

Our latest article explains why the proposal should be refused: weak viability evidence, a serious heritage objection, a narrow housing offer, and an overdeveloped scheme beside a school and play area. Read and share:

https://t.co/pYL1OgP5lZ

#RailwayBell #CawnporeStreet #SE19 #PlanningObjection #Heritage #Conservation #Facadism #CommunityAssets #LondonPlanning #SaveLocalPubs

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

Liverpool Street generates enormous public value.
94.5 million passengers. A freehold estate. A national transport node.
So who captures the uplift when the air above it becomes a financial instrument?

Part III of our investigation puts the numbers on the table:
• £197.5m residual value from station retail
• £171.75m potential developer profit on the office
• A 50 year income strip packaging future station revenue
• A delivery structure that determines who keeps the upside

This is not just architecture. It is governance. It is distribution. It is value capture in plain sight.
And without a published station first minimum baseline, “public benefit” becomes a story told after the deal is structured.
Read Part III:
https://t.co/NS8pF7N135
#LiverpoolStreet #CityOfLondon #NetworkRail #LondonPlanning #ValueCapture #PublicBenefit #EIA #Viability #PoliticalEconomy #PublicInfrastructure

[ConserveConnectNews @RestoreConnect]

Liverpool Street generates enormous public value.
94.5 million passengers. A freehold estate. A national transport node.
So who captures the uplift when the air above it becomes a financial instrument?

Part III of our investigation puts the numbers on the table:
• £197.5m residual value from station retail
• £171.75m potential developer profit on the office
• A 50 year income strip packaging future station revenue
• A delivery structure that determines who keeps the upside

This is not just architecture. It is governance. It is distribution. It is value capture in plain sight.
And without a published station first minimum baseline, “public benefit” becomes a story told after the deal is structured.
Read Part III:
https://t.co/NS8pF7N135
#LiverpoolStreet #CityOfLondon #NetworkRail #LondonPlanning #ValueCapture #PublicBenefit #EIA #Viability #PoliticalEconomy #PublicInfrastructure