Facade-retention schemes are increasingly being used as a means of providing modern accommodation for commercial and industrial buildings whilst preserving the external architectural features of historic and attractive buildings in conservation areas and city centres. This book is the first authoritative guide to this highly complex technique and includes detailed case studies of eight successful facade-retention projects. The Construction of New Buildings Behind Historic Facades is a unique phase in the history of architecture. It can only be applied to traditionally constructed buildings with load-bearing external walls and it presents designers and contractors with special technical problems. The subject also raises philosophical and ethical questions which have generated much controversy amongst conservationists, architects, developers and planners. However, facade-retention has been recognised as a realistic and necessary compromise which combines architectural conservation with new development. The aim of ^The Construction of New Buildings Behind Historic Facades is to explain the key issues associated with the subject, including the background to and reasons for, its widespread use, its acceptability as a means of architectural conservation, planning procedures, design, the structural problems associated with facade-retention, and the technical solutions which can be used to overcome them. The highly illustrated case studies of recent facade-retention schemes give a detailed insight into the particular techniques and solutions which can be used.