Conference Summary

Summary

The transactions of the conference will be published early in 2010 and will be available as a pdf from this website. Meanwhile, a brief summary of the day may whet your appetite.

We have received positive comment on the value and timeliness of the day and its consultative approach on our post-war legacy. We are most grateful to all those who attended the conference and submitted questions in advance. Your views contributed critically to the discussion and the constructive airing of key issues surrounding the protection of buildings from the period. They will help to inform and prioritise developing policies and initiatives for the protection and management of this heritage.

Conference Opening

Scotland: Building for the Future was opened by Mike Russell, Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution. He welcomed the delegates to a thought-provoking series of talks and an important afternoon of discussion which sought to engage a wide audience and provide a steer on the protection of our post-war heritage. He explained that the publication of the same name, which he launched in August 2009, served as a good introduction to the proceedings of the day. And he stressed the value of modern architecture to Scotland’s economic performance and to the grain and colour of our environment.

Morning Papers

The morning papers, introduced by Pauline McLean, BBC Arts Correspondent, set the scene for the afternoon’s debate, each one superbly illustrated.

Raymond Young, A+DS, kick-started the day astutely, with apaper entitled ‘Towards a new Architecture? Towards a New Society?, exploring the influence of Le Corbusier on the places created in post-war Scotland, explaining the thirst for change and its acceptance at the time.

Neil Baxter, Secretary of the RIAS, showed how The Architectural Profession changed over the decades both in response to the circumstances and to the emergence of more structured qualifications for architects: he illustrated the position and contribution of the profession, its self-analysis and evolution into the new world for architect and developer with new policies from the 1980s.

David Page partner of Page & Park Architects, explored in The Liberating Aspects of Modernism, the relationship of three elements in the development of our environment, architecture, planning and production, showing the contrasting results produced from differing combinations of these components.

After coffee, Miles Glendinning, Director of Conservation Studies at the Edinburgh College of Art, put the public’s reaction to the period in historic context, showing how opinions were re-made by later generations and considering alternative means of protection for the successful management of an historic environment in his paper Remaking the Future: The Multiple Faces of Post-war Scottish Architecture.

Deborah Mays, Head of Listing at Historic Scotland, reviewed the evolution of post-war listing in Scotland, showing consistency in policy from its inception, describing the range and nature of the listings to date and revealing the advantages of the thematic focus to the current approach.

Before lunch, Malcolm Cooper, Historic Scotland’s Chief Inspector, posed a series of questions for the audience on the pros and cons of listing post-war buildings to help frame discussion for the afternoon, outlining why protecting buildings from the period often met a negative reaction, illustrating why this perception can be inaccurate, showing how the public’s thinking is changing and considering the effective contribution of listing in the management of change. He stressed that the book, Scotland: Building for the Future and the eponymous conference were to open a conversation on the best way forward.

Afternoon Papers

The talks were concluded by Janet McBain, Curator, National Library of Scotland, after lunch with instructive and entertaining film footage from the period which brought alive both the reality of the times and the enthusiasm of the visionaries.

Panel Discussion

The panel was chaired adeptly by Pauline McLean and comprised Neil Baxter, Malcolm Cooper, Malcolm Fraser (Malcolm Fraser Architects), Raymond Young, David Page and Miles Glendinning. A question and answer session followed. Read more about the panel discussion.

Closing Remarks

Pauline McLean summarised the day’s proceedings and thanked speakers, panel and delegates for their contributions. Deborah Mays thanked Pauline in turn for her perfect choreography of the panel discussion and the day, and repeated her thanks to the panel for their informative, thought-provoking presentations and constructive discussion. In thanking the delegates, she stressed again that the purpose of the day was to invite active participation in the way forward. She welcomed ideas and reminded everyone that the website, www.celebratingscotlandsarchitecture.org was a good source for update on progress and for the submission of suggestions.