Current Press Releases
Kevin McCloud launches NMW from the roof of Bristol Cathedral.
Date
1 November 2006
Join TV home and design expert KEVIN McCLOUD high on the roof of Historic Bristol Cathedral for the launch of Britain’s National Maintenance Week 2006.
EVENT: Join TV home and design expert KEVIN McCLOUD high on the roof of Historic Bristol Cathedral for the launch of Britain's National Maintenance Week 2006.
Kevin McCloud, presenter of TV's popular Grand Designs will be taking the message of good property maintenance to the highest places when he launches Britain's National Maintenance Week 2006 from the roof of historic Bristol Cathedral on November 1st.
Organised each November by SPAB (The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings), National Maintenance Week is an annual awareness campaign designed to give anyone who cares for a property - regardless of its age, style or purpose - practical advice on the best ways to batten down the hatches before winter bites.
Taking a few simple steps at the beginning of winter to maintain your property makes good sense and saves money. It's a message that's as vital to a great historic building like Bristol Cathedral as any suburban terrace - and that's why Kevin will be joined on Wednesday by a team of vergers responsible for the upkeep of the fabric of the Cathedral.
Long-term SPAB member and supporter Kevin McCloud is readily associated with cutting edge property design, but he is also a passionate advocate of the importance of good maintenance for buildings of all types.
He says: "Maintenance is the Cinderella of the property world. Together with good design, it is the most important factor affecting the quality of where we live, work and play. Without it our cities would descend to chaos and our buildings would become unusable. Sadly, many people put maintenance of their homes way down the list, preferring to spend money on the more glamorous stuff we like to fill our homes with instead.
"But lack of maintenance destroys the integrity of our built world so that in the end, decay overtakes history. The great irony is that most maintenance itself comes too late - it takes the form of repair and restoration - when so much can be done to prevent the ravages of time and the elements in the first place. Preventive care is the best form of maintenance, the least intrusive and the least expensive."
This year Kevin is Helping SPAB to take the maintenance message to new heights - literally, as ‘Up On The Roof' is the theme for the 2006 campaign. He will be joining the team responsible for the upkeep of the fabric of Bristol Cathedral to demonstrate the importance of simple tasks like clearing leaves twigs and other debris from gutters and downpipes - more than 90ft above the ground. He will also be hoisted aloft in a cherry picker to clear external hopper heads and gutters.
Maintenance is an ongoing challenge for a complex and significant building like Bristol Cathedral and one that the Cathedral authorities take very seriously. Dean of Bristol, The Very Reverend Robert Grimley, says: "Church buildings standing out against the modern cityscape have been called "the soul of the city". It is even more obvious that village churches are a sign of the presence of God at the heart of their community. But if these buildings are not cared for, they send a mixed message about faith so we at the Cathedral care deeply about this. We are very grateful for the help of local people in this, through our Fitzhardinge Society and in other ways."
Maintaining roofs and chimneys is one of the best ways to protect a property, as these are often the place where damaging rainwater finds a way in, potentially causing a great deal of damage.
Kevin McCloud explains: "Rebuilding a wall fractured by frost - where water from a roof or gutter has penetrated the masonry, frozen, expanded and then split the wall - is difficult and costly; by contrast, getting up there and repairing that roof or that leaking old gutter is relatively straightforward; but the easiest thing of all is to replace the odd rooftile and clear the leaves out of the gutter in the first place."
Now an established event in the calendar SPAB's National Maintenance Week (this year running from November 17th - 24th) provides homeowners throughout the UK with practical tips and advice on maintaining their properties in preparation for winter. National Gutters Day (Friday 24 November 2006) is a timely reminder to homeowners that just a few minutes spent clearing weeds and debris, or just a few pounds spent to mend a leaky gutter can save many hundreds, and possibly thousands of pounds!
SPAB is Britain's oldest conservation body fighting to save old buildings from decay and dereliction, but the message of National Maintenance Week is relevant to everyone who owns or cares for a property, whether it's 500-years-old or brand new. Water damage is a particular concern - especially as the winter rains approach. The annual cleaning of gutters and drains (at roof and ground level) can be much cheaper and less inconvenient than having to cope with a serious home defects following years of neglect.
On founding SPAB in 1877, William Morris spoke of the need to "stave off decay by daily care, to prop a perilous wall or mend a leaky roof". Maintenance is important to buildings of all ages and types and is as vital today as it was in Morris's time.
ENDS
Notes to editors
For more information please contact: Kate Griffin, SPAB press office, 0207456 0909/ mobile 07963 900939 email: kate@spab.org.uk
Details of the programme of events supporting SPAB's National Maintenance Week can be viewed at www.maintainyourbuilding.org.uk
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) was founded by William Morris 125 years ago to care for and preserve the UK's architectural heritage. Since its foundation, SPAB has been committed to maintenance matters, in line with William Morris' exhortation to: "Stave off decay by daily care." Today it is a dynamic organisation, and registered charity (no. 231307), taking building conservation into the future. To find out more visit www.spab.org.uk / www.maintainyourbuilding.org.uk
For more information about Bristol Cathedral go to www.bristol-cathedral.co.uk
