ATSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER201117CONSERVATIONoriginal historical building designs, techniquesand decorations, and adapted where necessary tomodern standards.What does this mean for architecture today? Hadthere been no record of the measured surveysetc carried out and held by the PHC. and theuniversities of Poland, the reconstruction wouldnot have been possible. I recently discussed theWarsaw reconstruction with Sue Cole of EnglishHeritage, who confirmed there is no EnglishHeritage or other national building record basedon architectural surveys. There are only ad hocrecords which are made when a listed building isaltered. This may not show the whole listedbuilding and curtilage. Therefore it might beprudent, if it is decided that our listed buildingsof architectural and historic interest areconsidered worthy of rebuilding in the event ofa disaster , that measures are put in place in orderthat this can be done. That is to say the creationof a comprehensive, measured survey record . How, by whom, and who should pay for this tobe achieved and indeed whether it should in factbe carried out would need to be determined bythe statutory and otherconcerned bodies andprobably in Parliament. It is my view that this isurgent, necessary and overdue. Opposite page: the Old Town square froman 18th century print. This page, top: thesquare after severe bomb damage after theWarsaw Uprising in 1944. Below: the restoredsquare today. © Scanrail - Fotolia.comConserva
on RegisterThe Conserva
on Register iden
fies Chartered Architectural Technologists competent in the conserva
on of historical buildings andtheir surroundings as defined and recognised by the Edinburgh Group.Suitability for the Register is based upon a technicalassessment of a candidate's porolio followed by a formal interview. Applicants must be resident in the UK.Applica
on fee: £150.00 plus VAT.Annual subscrip
on: £50.00 plus VAT.Subs year runs May-April; half year subs available to those joining aer 1 November.No addi
onal joining fee for re-assessment aer five years except if an interview is required in which case the fee is £100 (subject to change).For further informa
on please visit:www.ciat.org.uk/en/members/specialist_registers/conserva
on_register/Or telephone Amina Khanum, Membership Administrator at CIAT Central Office on 020 7278 2206.Develop your career with CIAT Specialist Registers

18 ATSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER2011PLANNINGIt is well known that when submitting paper-based planning applications to Local PlanningAuthorities (LPAs) in England and Walesapplicants or their agents must provide fourcopies (original plus three copies) of theapplication form and certificates plus drawingsand all other supporting documentation. Depending on the size and complexity of theproposed development, additional paper copiesare often requested by LPA's for distribution toconsultees and others? an additional five copiesis common but up to 22 is not unheard of.The direct cost of printing, copying, packing andparticularly transporting the high volumes ofpaper required for compliant paper-basedapplications are increasing and readilymeasurable. The cost of staff time andoverheads associated with handling all that paperis more difficult to determine. Those who have calculated the total cost ofsubmitting paper applications and comparedthese to the cost of electronic or onlinesubmission report an average saving of £120 persmall-scale application, while savings for majorapplications vary from £190 to a healthy £1,000or more for each.The sheer volume of paper involved can causeLPA's problems. In addition to having to re-keyall data from the application form into back-office computer systems, the physical task ofdistributing copies to internal and externalconsultees and occasionally mislayingdocumentation that can lead to the invalidationof an application, the LPA must also publish theapplication for viewing by the public. Stuart Mockford of the Department of Communities, Planning andLocal Government explains how savings can be made by onlinesubmission of planning applications via the Planning Portal. Planning to save© Sebastian Duda - Fotolia.com