On value conflicts: negotiating difference in the renovation of historic buildings

This paper examines the “value conflicts” played out between multiple participants involved in the restoration of Newcastle University’s Armstrong Building. Constructed between 1887 and 1906, the Armstrong Building has witnessed a number of transformations and alterations in the century it has been occupied. The paper will focus on describing the design proposals developed in the most recent transformation, ongoing since 2010, for which the authors are appointed ‘concept architects’. These renovation works have involved collaborations between a number of stakeholders, each with their own value systems and approaches to the conservation and rehabilitation of the building. As such, numerous “value conflicts” have occurred throughout the project. This paper sets out to narrate examples of these conflicts, accounting for the design approach we adopted for the renovation of the building in relation to the opposing values of other project protagonists, and the challenges and opportunities these conflicts enabled.