Angela Brady OBE, Director at Brady Mallalieu Architects and former President of RIBA, talks to us about her love for the historic environment and the benefits to integrating it with new designs and developments.
Q. What are the main benefits of retaining historic structures within schemes?
AB. The beauty of working with historic buildings is that they give us identity and root us in our past. Historic buildings can be easily adapted to modern living, which is not only a sustainable way of building, but it means that architects have to work even harder to respect a building’s past and enhance its future.
People want to see something of ‘character’ in their new projects. Naturally, this can translate into extra financial value by creating unique spaces. In design terms it also avoids the identikit stand-alone style of contemporary buildings that we find in so many cities around the world. UK towns and cities have a rich history, culture and identity in their building stock; even when they look dilapidated they can be given a new life with the right client and use.
