A critical analysis of the continued use of Georgian buildings: a case study of Darley Abbey Mills, Derbyshire.

This thesis undertakes a critical assessment of the impact of Statutory Legislation and UNESCO World Heritage Designation upon the sustainability and continued use of historic industrial buildings, utilising the late 18th Century Georgian Industrial Buildings of Darley Abbey Mills, Derby, as a case study. This thesis provides an indepth and longitudinal analysis of the morphology and evolution of Darley Abbey Mills between 2006-2015, during this time the assessment of whether the mills would find a sustainable and continued contemporary use has shifted from a concern that the site was slowly disintegrating with the danger of an important historical artefact being lost for ever or becoming irrevocably damaged through lack of maintenance and repair to a position where the future of the mills is looking promising. What makes Darley Abbey Mills so unusual or unique is that it possesses the highest possible levels of statutory protection, but that is also under private ownership. The initial findings in an analysis of policy documents and planning applications between 2006- 2010 was that there was limited engagement with the external heritage and conservations stakeholders or the Local Authority, an ‘umbrella of statutory protection’ was not providing barriers or protecting the site, there was just a lack of action by all parties. This changed during the period 2010-13 when the site came under new unified ownership, the new owners started to make small adaptations and repairs to the site that enabled them to encourage new tenants from the creative and artisan communities to the site, however all of this work was not authorised, nor was planning permission sought. Although there was still a lack of enforcement of what can be seen as ‘aspirational urbanism’, a dialogue was started between the owners and the wider stakeholder community. Between 2013-2015, the relationship between all of the stakeholders became more formalised and an unofficial partnership was formed between the owners and the monitoring bodies that resulted in the successful planning application to adapt the West Mills and Long Mill, which moved some of the way towards ensuring the sustainable and continued use of Darley Abbey Mills.