The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019)".
The Society was established:
(1) To educate the public in the appreciation, knowledge and understanding of the arts, architecture, crafts and design for the period after 1914;
(2) To encourage the study of these and of the related social history and to afford advice to owners and public authorities with regard to the preservation and repair of any buildings constructed or designed during this period; and
(3) To save from needless destruction or disfigurement, buildings or groups of buildings, interiors and artefacts designed or constructed after 1914.
There has been no change in the Society's objectives during the year.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
Significant activities
In April 2023 we were shocked by the sudden death of Elain Harwood (1958-2023). Elain made an immense contribution to the work of the Society over more than four decades, and to the understanding and appreciation of C20 architecture. Although her day-job with English Heritage/Historic England barred her from acting as a Trustee, she was at the very centre of our work; vigorously leading tours in the UK and abroad, writing and editing books, and organising innovative lectures and conferences. Her unrivalled expertise, enthusiasm and generosity was appreciated by staff, board members and members and she was unfailingly generous with her knowledge and an inspirational support to both professional scholars and amateur enthusiasts.
Our Director, Catherine Croft, delivered a eulogy at her funeral, and organised a day-long Remembering Elain Harwood event held on Saturday 18 November, at the Purcell Room in the Southbank Centre. C20 Society established The Elain Harwood Memorial Fund to ensure the lasting impact of all Elain had achieved. This aims to secure the long-term future of our vital casework and campaigns.
For the first time C20 Society advertised for a new Chairman, and Trustees were delighted to be able to appoint Hugh Pearman. Hugh is a distinguished journalist, editor and author. He was architecture and design critic of The Sunday Times for 30 years (1986-2016), editor of the RIBA Journal for 14 years (2006-20), and has written extensively for other media. His latest book, ‘About Architecture: An Essential Guide in 55 Buildings’ was published by Yale University Press in May 2023.
Peter Ruback stepped down as Head of the Events Sub-Committee and his position was taken by Trustee Cela Selley. A new team of event coordinator volunteers was recruited to support her: including Polly Schlesinger (UK Events and Tours), and Barry Needoff (International Events). John Chapman initially took on oversight of Lectures, but stepped down and was replaced by Mark Davies.
Trustee Jeremy Gostick took on the role of Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.
Head of Casework Clare Price, returned from her sabbatical in May, and was awarded her PhD later in the year. Andrew Murray, who had been providing cover for her, returned to his role as full time Membership and Events Assistant.
In September our Operations Manger Andrea Crooks left and Andrew Murray was promoted to fill her role, with the assistance of bookkeeper Polina Chizhova. Andrew left in February 2024 and Jonathan Woods (previously sole staff member of the Guild of Food Writers) was appointed as his successor as Operations Manager, working 4 days per week.
Caseworker Coco Whittaker was accepted to participate in the Getty Institute’s International Course for the Conservation of Modern Heritage which ran from May until August 2023 including a two week stay in Los Angeles. We were grateful to the Getty for her subsidised place on the course, and to the C20 members whose generosity facilitated her travel and subsistence.
Following the continued success of C20 Cymru, and the extension of or statutory planning role to Wales, Paul Sweeney (MSP for Glasgow) queried whether there was scope for C20 to have similar role in Scotland. In response to this C20 held a party in Edinburgh for people who would be interested in being involved in a national regional group to parallel C20 Cymru, or to explore how C20 could best support pre-existing groups Over 70 people attended, and we were very grateful to Rab and Denise Bennett for hosting.
C20 Casework
Casework Statistics | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
Number of C20 Consultations Logged * | 2017 | 3998 | 2630 | 1351 |
Number of cases carried forward for Assessment | 753 | 875 | 722 | 578 |
Written responses to consultations | 181 | 214 | 144 | 117 |
Pre-application Consultations | 46 | 48 | 33 | 57 |
Designation consultations and listing support | 19 | 30 | 49 | 41 |
Listing Applications Submitted | 31 | 29 | 32 | 15 |
Other Consultations (eg LDF/LPA) | N/A | N/A | 425 | 278 |
* since 1/4/2021 all consultations are identifed from the Joint National Amenity Societies database. Prior to this, consultations were received from a number of different sources. Since joining the database, we have altered our requests for what we’re consulted on which has led to changes in the stats.
In 2023 C20 Cymru saw its first three listing successes, with the National Watersports Centre at Plas Menai (BDDP, 1978-83 – Grade II and II*), St David’s Concert Hall in Cardiff (Seymour Harris Partnership, 1978-81 – Grade II), and Pencadlys in Caernarfon - the headquarters for Gwynedd County Council (Merfyn H Roberts, Terry Potter, Wyn Thomas & Partners and Professor Dewi-Prys Thomas, 1982-84 – Grade II) all added to the national register. With several more applications currently being assessed, it capped a highly successful year for our Welsh chapter.
The Tollcross Fire Station in Edinburgh – one of the finest examples of postmodernism in Scotland - became the first listed post-war fire station in the UK. Nearby, the surviving concrete foot from the Gulliver figurative play-sculpture in Craigmillar (1976-78) was belatedly listed at Category C, several years after the rest of the artwork was demolished, despite the protestations of C20.
New designations for the postmodern Doncaster Dome (Faulkner Brown, 1986-89 - Grade II) and Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth (John B. Davidson, 1966-68 - Category B) took the total number of listings for our ongoing Leisure Centres campaign to five. In a continuation of the Society’s long running phone boxes campaign, 9 rare K8 kiosks (designed by Bruce Martin, 1965-66) in Hull and 4 on the London Underground were listed at Grade II.
The former Inland Revenue Centre in Nottingham by Hopkins Architects (1993-95) – the first British project to receive maximum points under the BREEAM assessment – was awarded Grade II listed status, just as the building reached its 30th birthday. Another sign of our casework focus increasingly moving to buildings of the 1990s.
The Society continues to be heavily involved several long-running ‘lightning rod’ cases, chiefly the former Museum of London and Bastion House in the City of London, the Ringway Centre in Birmingham, and 72 Upper Ground on the South Bank, all of which have progressed to legal challenges from the respective grassroots campaign groups with support from C20 Society. See the campaigns update before for more details.
Campaigns
Our Cooling Towers campaign continued with an exhibition at Margaret Howell during London Festival of Architecture in June (British Cooling Towers: Sculptural Giants), Duncan Wilson from HE attended the opening. The exhibition was covered by Wallpaper*, PORT, and other media usually outside C20’s sphere of influence.
PhD student Ellie Brown completed an internship at C20 (funded by Midlands4Cities) researching the development of post-war shopping centres in the UK, which will form the basis of a forthcoming report. The project follows on from our previous Department Stores campaign, and ties in nicely with our recent focus on retail heritage, with the publication of our 100 Shops Book, and Retail lecture series.
The ‘Risk List’ (our rebranded Buildings at Risk register) was launched in Spring 2023, identifying 10 buildings under threat across the UK. Greater commitments have been made for this campaign to have a greater geographical spread and represent buildings from across all the nations and key regions, while featuring a broader range of styles and periods than has sometimes been the case - better reflecting the Society’s stylistic neutrality.
The Risk List was followed within a matter of weeks by the designation at Grade II for the Channel 4 HQ – a rare and happy instance of a new listing coming so soon after a campaign has highlighted the threat to the building. Other cases in the top 10 have continued to be among the most high-profile cases we’ve been involved with over the past 12 months, particularly the Museum of London / Bastion House, and the Ringway Centre in Birmingham. Both have been taken to legal challenges at the High Court by the respective community campaign groups, proof of the value in aligning our own campaigning activities with that of grassroots activists.
C20 social media has grown by an average of 30% on the key platforms, overtaking several of our fellow amenity societies and conservation organisations in the past 12 months, and putting us on course to achieve our target of being the top ranked UK heritage campaigning organisation online.
After a broad review of the Regional Groups structure, a decision was taken to centralise all digital communications to the C20 office, and to deactivate the various regional social media accounts. This has already enhanced our SEO and enables a more coordinated, consistent output for the Society, on what are our most important and fastest growing communication channels.
The Society continue to enjoy a significant media profile, with regular coverage in the printed press and broadcast media. Our campaigns and key cases this year appeared in The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Financial Times, BBC News, and Radio 4 ‘This Week’. Coverage of our key cases in the specialist press - the Architects Journal, Building Design, Dezeen et al – is even more frequent, often on a weekly basis. C20 has also become a partner on Open City’s ‘The Brief’ podcast, providing regular coverage for the Society and modern-heritage topics on the UK’s biggest weekly architecture podcast.
Education: Lecture and Events Programme
2023 was a successful year for our events and lectures programme, which makes a major contribution to the delivery of our educational remit, as well as contributing to the funding of our casework and campaigns. Our Spring lecture series on the Architecture of the 1980s and 90s was followed swiftly by one on World Brutalism—taking us as far-afield as Australia. Our Autumn series was on Monumentality, including talks of the architecture of Herbert Rowse and N F Cachemaille-Day, and one-off talks through out the year included topics as diverse as designer Betty Joel, and Neasden temple.
Our London walks saw us frequenting South London. We went to Catford, Battersea, Elephant and Castle, Vauxhall, and Kennington (the last following our AGM at St Anselm’s Church, Kennington). We had three trips to the City of London, one to explore the north-east fringes, plus returns to both the Golden Lane and Barbican Estates, and we also visited South Kensington, Oxford Street, Hampstead and Clerkenwell.
Day trips included one led by Charles O’Brien to Surrey (in celebration of his completion of the Pevsner Buildings of England volume for the county), whilst Alan Powers took us to Ipswich and to Essex (the latter focusing on the work of Raymond Erith). We also went to Reading and to Walsall, and to Cambridge, where a punt trip enabled us to see the river frontages of key buildings.
Two weekends in Wales, one in Swansea and the other to North Wales to visit Wrexham and Denbighshire, were complemented by one in Edinburgh, (with an add-on day in the Borders to see work by Peter Womersley, and celebrate the publication of our monograph on him by Professor Neil Jackson). We had two weekends in Bournemouth and Poole, and one each in Sheffield and Blackpool.
Private exhibitions tours, led by their curators, included ‘Ideas, Faces and Places: Robert Maxwell and Celia Scott’ and ‘Monica Pidgeon 1960-1970’, both at the RIBA, and a display at the Mellon Centre of items from their newly acquired Gavin Stamp archive. Artist Paul Catherall talked about his lino-cut prints of Brutalist buildings at an exhibition of his work, and an evening at the Lloyd’s Building was the perfect venue for Boris Hamzeian to talk to us about his study of the early years of the Pompidou Centre and his recent book.
Finally, we were once again able to include an overseas event: Berlin and the Bauhaus ,led by Alan Powers which was so popular that it is running again in this year, and in 2025.
We are extremely grateful to all our event leaders, our hosts and our events team volunteers without whom none of this would have been possible. And we note that the frequent rail strikes/works in 2023 affected much of our event planning and delivery and led to many forced changes and additional administration, which was frustrating but handled with admirable forbearance and efficiency.
Education: Publications
We continue to co-produce the monograph series in conjunction with Liverpool University Press and the100 series and architectural styles series with Batsford Books.
No less than four monographs were published in 2023: Edward Cullinan Architects by Kenneth Powell, Patrick Gwynne by Neil Bingham (launched at the Homewood, Esher), Peter Womersley by Neil Jackson and Berthold Lubetkin by John Allan (which was launched at Finsbury Health Centre). This brings the total number in the series to 23, published in the space of 15 years.
With Batsford Books, we published 100 C20 Shops, launched at Heals in Tottenham Court Road.
Two issues of C20 Society Magazine were published in 2023, and well received. Issue 2023/1 was issued in May 23, and Issue 2023/2 in November 23.
Our Journal ‘Holy Houses’ was Issue 15 in the series Twentieth Century Architecture. It , returned to a theme last covered in 1998 with ‘The Modern Church’, and it included articles on individual architects about whom little or nothing has hitherto been published, including Richard Twentyman, E. Bower Norris, Thomas Ford and Robert Potter and ones on Non-Conformist denominations and groups, including the Society of Friends, Salvation Army and Christian Science.
Members
We could not operate without the loyal support and encouragement of our highly valued members to whom we are as always very grateful. Membership subscriptions form the single largest contribution to the Society’s income and are essential in supporting casework, and in turn our mission to save outstanding buildings.
The past year has been another challenging one for many charities, with the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and the increasing cost of living. We are very aware that our members make an active choice to support us, and we are delighted that our membership levels have held up throughout this period.
Volunteers
Some individual volunteers have been mentioned above, but they are but a few of the large team which contributes hugely to the success of the charity. Volunteers support our team of paid staff in a variety of ways including:
Casework: researching applications for listing building consent
Events: programming, coordinate and delivering a programme of educational lectures, walks and tours for our members and for the general public
Administration: Providing office support to the membership scheme and online shop
During the year ended 31 December 2023 incoming resources totalled £403,411 (2022: £332,252) with total resources expended of £413,146 (2022: £340,707). As a result total funds held by The Twentieth Century Society at year ended 31 December 2023 totalled £347,148, of which £10,090 were restricted.
It is the policy of the charity that unrestricted funds, which have not been designated for a specific use, should be maintained at a level equivalent to the minimum that would be needed to meet the legal obligations in the event of winding up the Society. On current levels of expenditure the Trustees calculate that would be £80,000. This level of reserves has been maintained throughout the year.
The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006. The charity is an incorporated trust, governed by Memorandum and Articles.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
Trustees are elected at Annual General Meetings of the Society or may be co-opted within the year.
None of the trustees has any beneficial interest in the company. All of the trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of a winding up.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of The Twentieth Century Society (the charity) for the year ended 31 December 2023.
As the trustees of the charity (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
Since the charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of ICAEW, which is one of the listed bodies.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
Mark Johnstone FCA
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The Twentieth Century Society is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 70 Cowcross Street, LONDON, EC1M 6EJ, United Kingdom.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Deed of Trust and Memorandum and Articles, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)". The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, [modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties and to include investment properties and certain financial instruments at fair value]. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Income is recognised when the charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Grants offered subject to conditions which have not been met at the year end date are noted as a commitment but not accrued as expenditure.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives which is estimated at three years
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).
Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and estimated selling price less costs to complete and sell. Cost comprises direct materials and, where applicable, direct labour costs and those overheads that have been incurred in bringing the stocks to their present location and condition. Items held for distribution at no or nominal consideration are measured the lower of replacement cost and cost.
Net realisable value is the estimated selling price less all estimated costs of completion and costs to be incurred in marketing, selling and distribution.
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
General Activities
Events
Publications
General Activities
Events
Publications
Rent and services
Office stationery and printer costs
Telephone
Postage
Marketing costs
General administration costs
Website
Events
Magazine
Publications
The average monthly number of employees (headcount) during the year was:
The average number of employees (Full time equivalent) was 3.9 in 2021 (2021: 3.7)
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
The restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.
The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2022 - none).