Private home, public cultural asset: The maintenance behaviour of listed building owner-occupiers

This article examines the maintenance behaviour of listed building owner-occupiers. In particular it evaluates the degree to which owners are aware of and undertake maintenance of their building from a conservation perspective, which emphasises maximising the retention of historic fabric and encourages preventive maintenance as the least destructive of all conservation interventions. The research suggests that the primary motivation for owners to carry out maintenance is that the building is their home: to avoid the discomfort and financial cost of disrepair, and to gain the personal satisfaction of keeping their home in 'good order'. Whilst owners were keenly aware of their statutory duty in relation to their building, they do not think about and prioritise maintenance from a cultural perspective. The article concludes that encouraging owners to undertake maintenance from a conservation perspective will require both mechanisms for awareness raising and providing fiscal incentives and practical support. Crucially, there is a need for the development of a framework for policy which addresses the inherent tensions in a system which imparts on listed building owners a responsibility to protect something that is of value to society as a whole. © Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006