Lead was here before us and it will be here after we’ve gone, says Courtenay Hayes, on behalf of the Lead Sheet Association.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I think the ones on this page say it all.

If these were images of trees, an Oak just coming into leaf say, would you want your pedantic uncle telling you about the forests that were chopped down for ships of war, remind you the chair you’re sitting on, the table you’re leaning on etc., that wood has propped up our lifestyles for generations as well as helping the planet breathe more easily?

Lead doesn’t lend itself to a green logo as easily as trees, but you won’t find lead in landfill. If lead outlives its present occupation it can turn its hand to a new job. How’s efficient is that!

Like the trees, lead was here before us; with a durability and longevity that can leave it standing (more or less where we left it while health and safety standard have moved on).

In March of last year, a Memorandum of Understanding was developed and published by English Heritage, and National Heritage Training Group in consultation with the Parliamentary Arts and Heritage Group and the support of Lead Sheet Association.

Now everyone’s communicating. Getting their heads around lead; making sure it conforms with current standards whilst avoiding the loss of our architectural heritage to legislation. To foster awareness of local culture for instance and promote understanding of traditional buildings - particularly the repair and standards of design for pre 1916 buildings.

All this expertise needs specialists so the training and encouragement of a skilled workforce is an important service readily undertaken by the Lead Sheet Association.

A happy balancing act

We found out early on that lead was malleable and waterproof and surprisingly attractive. We use it every day in an everyday kind of way, roofs, flashings and gutters, lead’s bread and butter.

Though famous for weatherproofing, lead is moody and affected by the weather.

“Alters when it alteration finds,” a quality Shakespeare deplored when describing true love but otherwise inevitable. But lead's moods are more compatible. An attractive patina as it ages for example, whilst the discrepancies of July vs. January can be taken care of by a skilled craftsman. Installing Rolled Lead Sheet to BSEN12588 he will allow for thermal expansion and contraction to take place freely to ensure lead sheet will easily exceed the new Eurocode Standards, with their minimum of a 50-year design life for buildings.

If you’ve a professional interest in lead the LSA’s technical officers provide an advisory service. They are the professionals and offer advice over the phone, comment on drawings and can, in extremis, advise on site during installation. And while a majority of the services are free - a lifetime of experience is yours for the asking.

If it sounds too good to be true check out their services on the LSA website at www.leadsheet.co.uk.

The lead in our photographs may look like decoration, but its quietly getting on with the job, melding into the 21st century. Lead’s always been historically relevant and used to prolong the life of some of our loveliest and most sacred buildings.

As museums record the past and save our artefacts using them to reflect our way of life, show how habits change and once prized treasures become redundant lead too has stayed the journey providing that basic need of shelter yet bending to our current specifications and exacting standards.