Greendale Construction Directors, Rob Hooker, Andy Musselwhite, and Chris Cave (above) attended the CIOB Conservation Conference – The future of heritage conservation, at The Congress Centre in London on May 9th.
The day kicked off with Caroline Gumble, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Building, who welcomed everyone to the event.
Next was Gerard Lemos CBE, Chair of English Heritage (above) who talked about future-proofing our heritage – whether its supporting skills, managing climate change, or involving more people than ever before, the way we look after the heritage in our care is changing. Gerard talked about the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.
Making the Past our Future was the roundtable discussion from Robert Greer, Director, PAYE Dianna Fletcher, Head of Heritage, Bidwells Clara Arokiasamy, President of ICOMOS UK Juliet Baillie, Sector Skills Manager, Historic England. Here, the value of heritage, conservation, skills shortage, supporting inclusion and sustainability in the sector was all covered.
Best Practice was the topic for Barbara Entwistle, MSc FCIOB, of VELUX, followed by a case study on Weeting Castle, Norfolk, by Sophie Norton, Conservation Manager, Messenger BCR Group. Sophie talked about how Weeting Castle stands as a remarkable survivor from the 12th century, showcasing the grandeur of a manor house from that era. It epitomises the essence of an East Anglian ‘great house,’ and Sophie discussed the essential work carried out at the flint ruins of Weeting Castle.
Having not yet reach lunchtime, the attendees were then treated to another case study, this time, York Minster, Centre of Excellence, by Laura Cotter, Research and Partnerships Manager at York Minster. Laura explained how York Minster is fast becoming a world leader in heritage conservation; the new £8.5million ‘centre of excellence’ is due to cement it’s place in conservation, as part of The York Minster Precinct Neighbourhood Plan which endeavours to revitalise the entire 17-acre precinct surrounding the Minster. Laura discussed the key aspects of the project including digitisation of measurement and documentation, computer numerical controlled CNC cutting technology, cost, and project management.
Next up was Showcase: EBUKI – Lessons from earth for sustaining built heritage. Louise Cooke, Lecturer of Conservation at the University of York took to the stage. Louise, a conservation specialist, is passionate about sustainability, historic preservation, archaeological sites and landscapes, and shared with the conference her valuable expertise and examples of heritage skills crafts and earth building. Earth Building UK and Ireland, aims to promote eco-friendly, low-impact construction practices with earth materials in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and worldwide
After lunch there were more welcomes and introductions from Rebecca Thompson FCIOB, Director of Property, St Paul’s Cathedral, followed by Best Practice – PAYE from David Manktelow, Pre-Construction, PAYE Stonework and Restoration.
‘Mind the Gap’ saw Fleur Gordon, Head of Skills & Crafts, National Trust; Daniel Carpenter, Executive Director, Heritage Crafts, and Nicola Duncan-Finn, Head of Heritage Skills, English Heritage talk about the lack of diversity and inclusion in conservation, and how the shortage of craft skill are impacting the conservation sector. This session discussed the solutions, opportunities, heritage craft skills, creating early career pathways, opportunities for students/graduates and apprenticeship challenges.
Creating climate resilient heritage sites was the topic discussed by Morwenna Slade, Head of Historic Building Climate Change Adaptation, Historic England, and Meriel O’Dowd, Conservation Projects Manager, CCT. They talked about how historic buildings and heritage sites are hugely affected by the impacts of climate change; being both an immediate and long-term challenge. The continued care and conservation of our heritage requires understanding the impacts on fabric, significance, and value, and responding to them effectively. The Churches Conservation Trust and Historic England developed the vulnerable fabric project to explore the impacts of climate change for sensitive historic buildings and decorative surfaces. It considers, risk, vulnerability and adaptation methodologies for buildings that have no services and limited budgets for maintenance or building work. This is a project focused on practical decision making and action for historic estates and aims to build on climate vulnerability indexing to achieve a scalable methodology for estate-wide decision making.
Next was a Heritage Conservation Showcase with Adrian Attwood, Projects Director DBR; Rachael Baldwin-Gledhill, Director, Lantern Heritage, and John Brock, Beard Construction, St John’s College Library Refurbishment. These three experts in Heritage conservations showcased major projects, such as the £5 million conservation works and improvements to Clifford’s Tower, an 800 year old landmark.
Finally, after a fascinating and full day, the conference closed with some words from Caroline Gumble, Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Building.
Rob Hooker commented on the day, saying: “It was fantastic to attend the CIOB Conservation Conference, which was well attended with a terrific programme of speakers and interesting presentations. There were lots of Q&A on heritage and conservation, which are areas so close to Greendale’s heart. We’re very proud of the work we have done in this sector, many of which are showcased on our website. This was a very rewarding conference for us to attend, taking away a lot of information and insight from the event.”
Click here to see Greendale’s Conservation and Heritage portfolio.