The design of a legacy indicator tool for measuring climate change related impacts on built heritage

Abstract

Background:We are experiencing a period of climate change the extent and impact of which is uncertain. In the cultural heritage sector the need for monitoring to inform our understanding is widely agreed, yet there is a lack of consensus over what constitutes 'monitoring for climate change' . This is due, at least in part, to the extended timescales involved. In this paper the design and implementation of one solution is described; a sustainable legacy indicator tool (LegIT) for the long term tracking of surface weathering effects on built heritage. Results:The assessment of climate change impacts requires 30-100 years of data collection, equal to the period referred to as the 'climate norm' by meteorologists. The LegIT is a sacrificial stone object that registers changes in the severity and/or magnitude of weathering patterns on built surfaces, providing a legacy data source for future decision makers. To ensure its sustainability, careful thought was given to the choice of materials, data retrieval and archiving. The tool aims to track surface changes caused by recession, salt crystallisation and microbiological growth. Conclusion:The development and installation of the LegIT is the first long-term exposure trial to be initiated at heritage sites in Ireland and is intended as a legacy for future researchers.

Securing the Future of Cultural Heritage by Identifying Barriers to and Strategizing Solutions for Preservation under Changing Climate Conditions

“…These findings corroborate the observations of other researchers who have noted that planning and implementing climate adaptation strategies can be impeded by ongoing knowledge and skill insufficiencies, particularly related to evaluating preservation strategies, monitoring of and interpreting changes to materials and the values embedded within cultural resources, and understanding the acceptance of permanent losses to cultural heritage e.g., [36,39,42,[44][45][46]. Moreover, Phillips [41] documents that even though knowledge and skills of adaptation may exist among various government levels, at a local site level, actors may not be fully knowledgeable.…”

“…Technical barriers to heritage preservation under changing climate conditions can relate to inefficient or the lack of technical skills for making decision about adaptation, e.g., [34,35,41], as well as to limited procedures for gathering data or monitoring cultural resource conditions e.g., [41][42][43][44][45][46]. Further, research on the climate change impacts on cultural resources is limited [39,47]; when coupled with climate change uncertainty, this knowledge insufficiency may hinder adaptation or preservation, e.g., [24,41].…”

Monitoring Climate Change in World Heritage Properties: Evaluating Landscape-Based Approach in the State of Conservation System

“…The key elements in building heritage resilience include social/adaptive learning and the monitoring of changes [73,74]. Monitoring is a valuable tool for generating data and knowledge that can serve as a basis for informed decision making in managing WH properties within a changing climate environment [68,75].…”

Recent progress in instrumental techniques for architectural heritage materials

“…More importantly, the restoration and conservation of the historic architecture which is as an integral constituent of human civilization turn out to be a global and worldwide issue [1][2][3][4]. As for the architectural heritage preservation, what must be taken into account are the factors which deal with issues of extending the life and preserving the authenticity and integrity of building characteristics such as design style and the constituent materials including sandstone [5][6][7][8], brick [9][10][11], glass [12][13][14][15], wood [16,17], painting layer [18][19][20], mortar [21][22][23][24], wall material [25,26], etc. Furthermore, in addition to the original material itself, ancient building materials have been suffering from decay and intervention in different processes [27].…”