Clough & Associates Ltd. Page 39 Union Hill Heritage Management Plan MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES, CONTINUED Maintenance Objective 1. To protect and maintain the heritage remains in their current condition. Relevant Conservation Plan policy Policy 1: Ensure the cultural heritage value of the place is maintained Policy 2: Protect and preserve historic features as far as possible in their present condition, with minimal intervention Policy 5: Ensure the protection and preservation of the battery site Implementation The heritage structures are gradually deteriorating as a result of natural processes of erosion and vegetation encroachment. The battery site, for example, is particularly at risk from vegetation growing between the blocks of the stone walls and on the exposed western face of the tube mill floor, and many of the concrete structures at the battery and elsewhere are at risk both of vegetation growth on the structures and deep rooting and/or potentially unstable trees growing too close to them. While the process of deterioration cannot be completely arrested, the life of the structures can be prolonged through regular maintenance, and in particular keeping the structures clear of vegetation (both native and exotic) which will otherwise gradually break them down. Priority should be given to the maintenance of the more significant features (battery, ore kilns, cyanide tanks). The removal of large well established trees is outside the scope of the recommended cyclical maintenance programme, and is addressed under Remedial Work, below. The following maintenance measures are recommended (and see Table 3): The identified heritage structures should be kept free of encroaching vegetation through an annual vegetation control programme. Vegetation (exotic and native) growing on the structures should be removed by spraying with an appropriate biocide and cutting – it should not be pulled from the structure. Large deep rooting tree species (exotic or native) should not be allowed to establish in the immediate surrounds (within c.5m) of any heritage structures, shafts and adits, and any immature specimens should be removed. Tree ferns are not potentially damaging and can be left in situ. The life of metal elements, such as the bolts on the machine foundations and in situ and displaced machinery, should be prolonged by treatment with an appropriate corrosion protection coating such as POR® 15 Rust Preventive Paint. Continued on next page
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