Publications

There are Places I Remember: Pathfinder and the Destruction of Liverpool

A Report by Jonathan Brown

Publication date: July 2012 - pre-order your copy now!

On a clear winter morning in January 2012, I stood on Liverpool’s inner city Edge Lane, and surveyed a scene of epic destruction. This spot offers a telling vantage point of Pathfinder’s monstrous impact on English cities.

A vast expanse of open land, half a mile wide, stretches to the near horizon, crossed by heavy traffic, which grinds through a mess of dump trucks, direction signs and lamp posts. Over 1,000 people have been dispersed to the four winds from Edge Hill, their hundreds of homes and businesses compulsorily bought up and pulled down following two bitter legal battles.

This is SAVE’s fourth published assault on the £2.2bn Pathfinder demolition programme. Focussing on Liverpool, where mass clearance has ripped the heart from historic neighbourhoods, this report documents the latest episode in a heartbreaking tale of misery, waste and destruction.

Dare to Care: Buildings at Risk 2012-13

Publication date: 1 June 2012 - pre-order your copy now!

SAVE's new Buildings at Report 'Dare to Care' shines the light on historic properties in urgent need of new owners or fresh uses, revealing an array of exciting opportunities for restorers. This is the ultimate 'lonely hearts' list for buildings at risk.

A must read for anyone interested in Britain's heritage and an essential tool for prospective restorers, SAVE's reports play a critical role in the conservation of Britain's historic buildings. Some two-thirds of the country houses included in SAVE's first report, published in 1977, had found new owners or uses within three or four years and good news has continued ever since. Marcus Binney, SAVE's President says, 'This is the 23rd of SAVE's annual reports on buildings at risk, each one illustrating a remarkable selection of endangered properties in varying states of repair, but all candidates for immediate action.'

London's Churches are Fighting Back

In 1985 SAVE published the report London's Churches are Falling Down, revealing the desperate plight of some of the capital's most beautiful places of worship.

A quarter of a century on, SAVE revisits the subject with London's Churches are Fighting Back. As well as covering those churches currently at risk, this new report also recounts the many inspiring rescue stories, looking at how decaying buildings have been re-energised by new congregations or new uses, and kept alive by vital repair grants.

This 120-page report, by Edmund Harris, features stunning new photography by Matthew Andrews.

Saving Thanet: The Architecture of Kent's Forgotten Coast

The rich architectural heritage of the north eastern tip of Kent is the focus of this new SAVE report. The report takes a fresh look at the Isle of Thanet, with its towns of Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs, assessing the state of the area’s historic buildings and identifying the challenges ahead.

With essays from leading historians and commentators, and stunning new photography from Paul Barker, Saving Thanet: The Architecture of Kent’s Forgotten Coast tells the story of area through its buildings - charting its rise from rural backwater to fashionable seaside destination, including its decline during the later 20th century and its recent revival - energised by a new high-speed rail link and the opening of the Turner Contemporary gallery.

Click here to read more about the report.  

Published 7 October 2011. Available to order now.  

Rediscovered Utopias: Saving London's Suburbs

Edited by Bridget Cherry and Ann Robey.
Published by SAVE with the support of English Heritage.

London’s leafy suburbs form a giant garden city, of pleasant low-rise housing set amidst gardens and tree-lined roads. They fulfil the longstanding English dream of a house and garden in leafy surroundings and offer an impressive model for urban living.

The sheer number of suburbs – north, south, east and west – provide a quite astonishing housing stock. Yet while most Londoners know their own suburb well, and perhaps its neighbours too, not many people know more than a fraction of the whole.

This book is intended, like many other SAVE reports before it, to be a voyage of discovery. It focuses principally on planned suburbs and estates which have a particular harmony and sometimes a distinctive pattern of streets. It looks at suburban housing built in different ways, by landowners and speculative builders, by voluntary associations and the boroughs themselves.

Yet in many places the character of these areas is being constantly eroded, by small but accretive changes to details such as windows and doors, fences, gates and railings, roofing and paving materials.

In many places, conservation area protection is not working as effectively as it could. More ‘Article 4’ directions are needed to control features that give character to suburbs. The lists of listed buildings are also seriously out of date in some London boroughs, with many architect-designed houses of the early 20th century still unlisted. The sum of all the best suburbs is more than the parts. While houses have a sense of individuality it is the harmony of whole streets and neighbourhoods which make the suburbs a delight.

Published 2010.

Colchester: Back to the Future

Colchester is one of England’s most overlooked historic county towns. It retains its Roman grid, with a castle, town walls and street after street of handsome buildings. This report aims to highlight the wealth of Colchester’s built heritage, show the good work that has been done in conserving and augmenting these assets, and put forward ideas for the future - from the small scale to the highly ambitious.

Colchester, Back to the Future argues that the town must capitalise on its history and heritage rather than bend to the concrete will of those who mistakenly believe that economic development and physical development are one and the same. Only though conserving, and where possible, carefully adding to the town, can Colchester retain and strengthen its real identity. This will require patient discussion and negotiation, putting aside politics and working to a long-term plan. If Colchester can meet this challenge, it could be the envy of Britain.

Published 2010.

Reviving Britain's Terraces: Life after Pathfinder

New Labour's Housing Market Renewal (Pathfinder) Initiative has resulted in the destruction of thousands of terraced houses across the north of England. For this report, SAVE, a fierce critic of the scheme, has teamed up with architect Mark Hines to look at how housing earmarked for demolition can be adapted, upgraded and remodelled to a high standard of energy efficiency, creating a range of accommodation and forming exemplar 'eco-communities' of the future.

Published 2010.

* If you are interested in this publication, you might also be interested in our original report on the topic, Pathfinder (published 2006).