English Heritage boss supports reclaimed

In the latest edition of Listed Heritage magazine Salvo posed the following question to Baroness Andrews OBE, the new chair of English Heritage:

Why does English Heritage not recommend that owners should reclaim and reuse old Victorian bricks when a historic building is altered or demolished, in line with current government policy? English Heritage's policy seems to be to encourage the bricks to be crushed.

This was a follow-up to Salvo's request for the trade to lobby MP's about English Heritage's proposed new PPS15, which neglects the need to reclaim old materials from demolition for reuse.

Here is Kay Andrews response which seems very positive:

We absolutely do advocate the reuse of authentic materials and like-for-like replacement as much as possible. If a building can't be saved then we would encourage as much as possible to be used again. The embedded energy in building materials is an important resource that should not be wasted. Re-using building materials not only retains local distinctiveness and authentication but reduces carbon emissions.