Conservation Engineering

Heritage Seminars at the CEM

2012-01-17T09:09:00.000Z

Last week I spent two information-packed days at the College of Estate Management in Reading. This was the second face-to-face session as part of their MSc in Conservation of the Historic Environment and was filled with heritage related seminars from high-profile speakers including Henry Russell, Stephen Bond, Jill Channer, Charles Brooking and David Tomback, economics director at English Heritage.

I'm approaching the end of my first year of studies with one assignment to complete followed by an exam in March and am learning an awful lot about the heritage profession. For a long time as a Structural Engineer I wasn't sure what direction my career was heading in but with my love of working on old buildings and the enjoyment I am getting from my studies I am now clear where I want my career to take me. Ultimately my aim is to become a full member of the IHBC and get my name on the Conservation Accreditation Register for Engineers (CARE). In the mean time I'll continue to enjoy my studies and work on the varied and interesting projects that keep landing on my desk.

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T09:52:00.000Z

Happy New Year to one and all. With a busy end to last year my blog's been a bit quiet. However, there's plenty in the pipeline for this year and I'm hoping to post a few case studies and keep you updated with my studying.

My first target is to complete an assignment for my Msc before the end of January; the 5th and final assignment of the 1st year. Then there's an exam in March and a short break before the start of the 2nd year.

Current projects I'm working on include the reinstatement of Wentworth Castle Conservatory and a new visitor centre, reinstatement of some Victorian glasshouses in Warrington, an extension to West Berkshire Museum in Newbury, a new rectory in Manchester and a few other projects that will hopefully come off soon. Plenty of heritage projects to work on and I'm hoping to get involved in more and more of those type of projects throughout the year. If I can get the relevant permissions then I'd like to be able to post updates here as the projects progress.

Once again, wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year. Speaking of healthy, I've signed up to run the Manchester 10k again this year and will be raising money for Macmillan this time around; more on that in a couple of months time as the date gets nearer and my training starts.

New Heritage Brochure

2011-11-11T12:55:00.000Z

At Thomasons we've been working on a new brochure to showcase the type of heritage projects we've been involved with and the services we can provide to prospective clients. A link to view and/or download the brochure is now available from the downloads menu on the right. Let me know what you think and if there are any projects we can help with we would love to get involved.

Link: Thomasons Heritage Brochure 2011

deviantART link added

2011-11-07T23:24:00.000Z

Hello. There hasn't been a great deal for me to post about the past couple of months but worry not, I'm still here and still plodding on. My studying is going well with three assignments complete and the fourth one underway. Unfortunately the current assignments are not case study and therefore there's nothing I am able to post about here.

I've spent a fair amount of time lately working on a new/updated historic brochure for Thomasons and am hoping to share that with you as soon as our marketing people have put the final touches to it. We've also had a couple of interesting heritage projects come in lately and I'd like to be able to post about those once we start working on them.

In the mean time, I've just set up a deviantART account and have provided a link over on the right of the page with some of my photography, a mix of buildings, landscape and others that I intend to keep updated alongside this site.

ICE Membership confirmed

2011-09-27T08:54:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I received the great news that I have been accepted as a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, allowing me to use the designatory letters MICE (insert random joke about cheese here).

In other news, my third assignment is under way for my MSc and involves me preparing a report for the Client of a Georgian House giving advice on statutory and non-statutory conservation frameworks. A 1930s shop front is to be removed and the house reverted to residential use whilst the construction of a garage is being considered in the rear garden. It's interesting to research the development of planning and Building Regulations and to see where modern day legislation has developed from. I particularly enjoy reading old documents written in traditional English language; how fun it would be to send out reports written in the same language today!

Werneth Park Music Rooms

2011-09-06T18:54:00.001+01:00

Over the past 6 weeks or so I've been researching the design and architectural style of the Grade II listed Conservatory and Music Rooms at Werneth Park, Oldham. This was an academic study as part of my degree in Conservation of the Historic Environment from the College of Estate Management. The assignment asked me to consider the architectural style/s of the building and place them in to context with other buildings of the same period and by the same architect where it is possible to identify the architect.

In doing the assignment I've learnt a lot about historical buildings and their development and most notably the Italianate architectural style that was used for so many of Manchester's finest 19th century industrial buildings. The buildings have been subject to an initial feasibility study with a view to obtaining Heritage Lottery Funding. A link to the PDF is given below, all feedback welcome.

Link: Werneth Park Music Rooms, Oldham

Assignment Update

2011-09-04T11:34:00.000+01:00

I've been a bit quiet on here the last couple of weeks so it's time to post an update. My Werneth Park case study assignment has just been completed this morning and I'll be printing, binding and sending that one off early this week. Once it's posted I'll also upload a PDF copy to my blog for anyone that might be interested.

In other news, I've had the results for my first assignment which was the case study of Oldham Parish Church. I scored a good 72 and my feedback included the words "quite impressive, well presented record" so I can't really complain with that.

Think I will take a few days now to relax before starting with the next one; a more technical study in to historic building legislation and archaeological conservation with respect to the restoration of a late Georgian house. There's an incredible amount of reading required for this MSc course but I'm still enjoying it and learning a lot from it.

Werneth Park Music Rooms Inspection

2011-08-20T22:29:00.001+01:00

On Friday I finally gained access inside the Music Rooms building. The cluster of rooms form a fantastic space but unfortunately they have seen better days. The original Beaux-Arts conservatory roof structure was replaced by a simpler C20 timber roof supported on steel beams although the original geometric floor tiles remain intact.

Fern collecting or pteridomania was a favourite past-time in the Victorian era and wealthy collectors liked to show off their ferns in a fernery:

The auditorium/ball room with it's timber sprung floor and ornate trusses is fire damaged and has seen better days:

Likewise the crush hall and octagonal entrance hall with their parquet floors and Art-Nouveau stained glass and decoration are in need of some attention:

Even though the building is in need of some serious restoration, £4M pounds worth of restoration, its grandness is evident in every room and it is impossible not to reflect on how these spaces might once have been used and how they can be used again one day. Oldham Council are hoping to secure Heritage Lottery Funding in the future to restore the park and its buildings to bring them back to use so that they can once again be enjoyed by the public.

Brodsworth Hall Visit

2011-08-05T20:56:00.000+01:00

Earlier today I took part in a guided tour around English Heritage property Brodsworth Hall near Doncaster. The building is an Italianate Victorian country house built c1860 and designed by Philip Wilkinson. English Heritage took the building on in 1995 and have spent almost £4M restoring the property. Below are some of the photos I took:

Werneth Park Music Rooms

2011-07-24T13:41:00.000+01:00

Earlier on I went to have a first look at the building I have chosen to study for my next Masters assignment and unfortunately it's in rather a sorry state:

The reception buidling c1907

The timber conservatory c1860

The building was originally constructed c1850 and was commissioned by John Platt. Oldham was at that time caught up in the Industrial Revolution and John Platt and Sons was the world's largest manufacturer of textile machinery. Attached to the building was a mansion but this was demolished c1906.

My research will look at the historical development of the building and its architectural style, and place it in context with other buildings of its period and other buildings constructed by the same persons. Unfortunately the information available in the archives is very limited and I have found nothing at all relating to the mansion that once stood on the site.

Oldham Parish Church

2011-07-22T09:02:00.000+01:00

Over the past 6 weeks I've been recording the history and form of the Grade II* listed Church of St Mary and St Peter, Oldham. This was an academic study as part of my degree in Conservation of the Historic Environment from the College of Estate Management and has been posted off today (yay!). It is generally recognised as good conservation practice to make records of historic buildings available for future studies and as such I will be leaving a copy of my report in the local study archives and a link to a PDF can be found below.

If you're interested in history, heritage or historic buildings then I hope you find something of interest. I'm relatively new to recording of historic buildings and so all feedback will be gratefully received.

Here's the link to my report: The Church of St Mary and St Peter, Oldham

My next assignment requires me to investigate another local historic building, research its history and architectural style and place it in context with similar buildings of the same period and by the same architect. The building I have chosen, in conjunction with the local Civic Society, is Werneth Park Music Rooms; an unused C19 park building. The building has recently had a feasibility studied carried out by Lloyd Evans Prichard with a view to obtaining a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for returning the building to functional use.

Mandatory CPD

2011-07-21T17:43:00.000+01:00

The idea of life-long learning and Continued Professional Development (CPD) is a necessity in the construction industry due to ever advancing research and technology and ever changing design guidance. The requirement to keep ones knowledge updated is a requirement for membership of the Institution of Structural Engineers and other professional learned societies. Relatively recently the Institution has also made the 'reporting' of CPD a mandatory requirement of membership. This change has caused, and continues to cause, great debate amongst the membership and the topic has been discussed rather heatedly from both sides. This week my own views have been published in the Institution's magazine 'The Structural Engineer' and are repeated below. I'm interested to learn the opinions of fellow members of the IStructE and members of other professional institutions, please do comment below:

I am intrigued by recent discussions in Verulam regarding CPD. In our era of discontent over fees, salaries and status I find it absurd that some of our members see fit to claim mandatory CPD as ‘pointless’ (Roy New, 17/05/11) and ‘bureaucratic’ (Tom Arthur, 21/06/11).

Whilst the completion of annual return forms may be an inconvenience, the requirement to ‘maintain and broaden competence’ is a necessary requirement of our professional membership (IStructE Code of Conduct) and an indication to our clients and the public of our commitment to delivering appropriate engineering solutions based on current best practice.

Few can argue that we, as an internationally recognised learned society, would be in a worse position with regulated CPD returns than without. The question ‘why should we have to?' is simply indicative of a reluctance to change and a reluctance to spend time and money demonstrating what many members undertake during the course of their normal working week.

Rather than argue the merits of mandatory CPD, should we not be discussing how we are to satisfy the minimum requirements and how we can simplify the submission of CPD returns. It is the process of recording and verifying CPD that is the cause for concern and not the requirement to undertake continual learning. I can demonstrate the minimum requirement for CPD in each of the past 5 years with over 75% of the recorded time being ‘on-the-job’ learning. I ask the Institution if they would theoretically accept a CPD return with 100% self-centered learning?

With regard to simplifying the submission process, perhaps the Institution could develop an online CPD record where members can continually update their CPD thus avoiding the need to complete a single annual form. The online record could be checked by the Institution and accepted or rejected accordingly.

Mandatory CPD should not be a burden but a means of ensuring that our members maintain high standards. It also raises the profile of the Institution and safeguards against those individuals who fail to update their knowledge. Mandatory CPD benefits us and our Institution and should be welcomed by the membership.

'Restoration' Home?

2011-07-13T23:14:00.000+01:00

For those unaware, there is a great storm brewing regarding the BBC's latest 'educational' series Restoration Home (BBC2 Tuesday evenings). The programme seeks to follow 6 homeowners through their 'restoration' projects while supporting them in researching and recording the history of the buildings they are adapting. I write this post in follow up to another blog by huntwriter which sets out concerns over the lack of conservation approach to these projects.

Having earlier watched this week's episode I felt compelled to add my own thoughts and like many, will follow up this post with a complaint to the BBC over the approach used and the potential harmful effects of which they are clearly unaware. My comments posted in response to the huntwriter blog are as follows:

"...Restoration Home has nothing whatsoever to do with restoration and any attempt to claim otherwise is harmful to the future of our built heritage and the profession that seeks to protect it. Such high profile and misguided coverage of this topic is cringe-worthy and I would support our learned societies in contacting the BBC to raise their concerns.

Even our misguided Victorian restorers of the past with their conjectural makeovers believed that what they were doing was in the interests of the buildings. There was nothing on display in last night’s episode to demonstrate an ounce of consideration for the physical or industrial heritage of the building.

Granted, the building wasn’t Listed but surely that was an oversight; the historical research identified sufficient significance to warrant some form of statutory protection.

As a professional I would be ashamed to put my name to such a programme in the name of ‘restoration’ when the project so clearly demonstrates a complete lack of awareness of the philosophies of conservation. The building could quite easily have been adapted for alternative use without such dereliction.

The end result may be pleasant to some... but the building may well have been constructed new. Any claim that the building has been “saved” is pure fallacy."

For those with any interest in heritage and conservation I would recommend the series to you, if only to see how irresponsibly our historic buildings are often treated. But be warned, you will not be impressed with what you see and will no doubt find yourself caught up in the debate.

Tackling Heritage Crime

2011-06-25T11:03:00.000+01:00

You might expect a seminar about heritage crime, held at 5PM on a Friday evening, to be a a bit of a drab affair with a relatively low turn out. However, the event I attended last night in Manchester had an attendance of 50 or so supporters of our historic built environment and the speakers were equally as passionate.

The speakers were Chief Inspector Mark Harrison, Policing Advisor to English Heritage, Paul Murphy, Chair of Greater Manchester Police Authority and Ian Marshall of Specialist Environmental Services at Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The focus was to raise awareness of English Heritage's Heritage Crime Initiative backed by the recently published National Heritage Protection Plan. Heritage Crime is defined as "any crime or behaviour that harms the value of England's heritage assets", those assets being listed buildings, scheduled monuments, protected wrecks, military remains, conservation areas, world heritage sites, registered parks and gardens and registered battlefields, though only the first four of those are currently enforceable by law. Currently the task given to the authorities in policing heritage crime is unclear and there is a lack of awareness; crime's against our heritage are not recorded as such, theft is recorded as theft even where it is the theft of lead from a church roof, vandalism is recorded as vandalism even where it is graffiti to a scheduled monument.

The objective of the NHPP is to raise awareness nationally of the importance of protecting our heritage and the irreparable damage caused by crimes such as theft, illicit metal-detecting, arson and unauthorised adaption or demolition of protected assets. In order to tackle the problem of heritage crime a co-ordinated sustainable effort is required using a common approach and a common terminology. In this respect English Heritage have formed the Alliance to Reduce Crime against Heritage (ARCH), a voluntary national network aimed at tackling heritage crime, it's free and all those working with heritage assets are encouraged to register.

The Police, English Heritage, the Local Authorities and Crown Prosecution Service aim to work with their community partners, Police Community Support Officers, Archaeology teams, neighbourhood watch schemes, dioceses and local parishes to identify heritage crime problems and hotspots and ensure they are properly reported and recorded. All those with an interest in our heritage are encouraged to get involved and to write off to their own LAa, Civic Societies and community groups to get them on board. Heritage crime prevention is in it's early stages and there is much to do, it will take time but with a co-ordinated effort it can be tackled. Dealing with heritage crime doesn't necessarily require additional effort, it can be integrated in to normal working activities, "part of the day job".

There is already evidence of increasing awareness of the value of our heritage; recently when sentencing Adam Blythe for graffiti to some of York's historic landmarks, judge Roger Elsey told Blythe "Given the worldwide significance of the historic sites you damaged with graffiti, I am satisfied the offences were so serious only a custodial sentence is appropriate". Mark Harrison said he hadn't written those words for the judge, but those are the exact words he would have used if he had written them! There is also an increased use of the word 'heritage' in the media.

One growing problem is that of metal theft from historic buildings such as churches. Many insurance companies now won't insure against metal theft unless it is Smartwater protected whilst others claim they will only insure against 'risk' and not certainty; metal theft being considered a certainty and not a risk! As an example of being pro-active and in the interest of collecting heritage crime data, Chester Diocese sent an email to each of its Parishes to ask for them to record all heritage crimes that had occurred in the past 5 years. Only with this type of data available can adequate prevention measures be put in place and, as mentioned above, crimes against heritage assets are not currently recorded as such.

Increased awareness. Common terminology. Co-ordinated effort. Better recording. More research. Development of best practice guidance for preventative measures. Protection of heritage assets is in the early stages of development and all who are involved with, or interested in, our built heritage are encouraged to get involved and do what they can.

Church of St Mary and St Peter, Oldham

2011-06-17T17:42:00.000+01:00

My first MSc assignment requires me to record a church building with history dating back to pre-1820 times. The church I have chosen is a gloriously detailed Gothic church that was actually built in 1827-30 but on the same footprint as an earlier 15th century chapel. The religious history of the site dates back to the 13th century and the earliest records show clergy as early as 1280.

I've spent the past week researching the history of the site and undertaking inspections of the outside, inside and basement crypt of the building. Fortunately I've collated a significant amount of data and am now ready to start putting together my assignment. Lots to do. I've upload a few photos to my flickr account here, hope you like them.

The deadline for submitting the assignment is the 1st August and I've promised myself I'm not going to finish it the night before! New course, new motivation, maybe this time I will stick to my good intentions!

The hard work starts now

2011-06-08T08:12:00.001+01:00

Today is the start of my new Masters degree and with it a new chapter in my career. After a 220 mile drive to Reading followed by a well needed cup of coffee I'm ready to meet my fellow students.

As I wait for everyone else to arrive I thought I'd take the chance to post this quick update to my blog. The course material has arrived and despite the mass of information it's very well organised and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in. More coming soon.

A 5yr plan

2011-04-29T20:16:00.000+01:00

As someone who thrives on having targets to aim for I have found myself to be aimlessly plodding through my career for the past couple of years. Since leaving school at 16 I have always studied part-time with the ultimate objective of becoming a Chartered Structural Engineer and that particular accomplishment was completed back in 2008. So I sat down with the bosses to look at my options and then did some research. I was keen to 'specialise' in a particular field of engineering and settled on a Masters in Conservation of the Historic Environment from the College of Estate Management as I have a keen interest in historic buildings, their use, maintenance and adaption. This particular course has the added benefit of being accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC) so was ideal for me.

The Masters degree itself is 3 years in duration with the final year being a post-graduate level dissertation. I appreciate that this is quite a commitment but having now enrolled I'm feeling rather excited at the prospect of continuing my education and having further professional qualifications to aim for. Alongside studying for the degree I have enrolled on the RICS APC (Assessment of Professional Competence) and am now an affiliate member of the IHBC. Everything is starting to fall in to place.

This is where my 5yr plan comes in. I have set myself the target of completing the degree, obtaining professional membership of the RICS as a Chartered Building Surveyor and obtaining full membership of the IHBC within the next 5 years. In addition to this the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Structural Engineers have a Conservation and Restoration Engineers (CARE) register which is required for engineering works on certain types of project and completion of all of the above should allow me to get on that register. 5 years may seem like a long time to be planing ahead but these things take time and with the support of my employer and perhaps more importantly my family I am totally committed to reaching my targets. I am hoping to share this experience through my blog and build relationships, professional and personal, along the way.

Hello and Welcome

2011-04-25T18:26:00.000+01:00

Welcome, this is the first post on my new blog. I've had a blog site for a while but I thought it was time for me to set up a more 'professional' blog that's related to my career and my academic studies. I'm a Chartered Structural Engineer and have been working in the construction industry for nearly 13 years, I have an interest in all things heritage and conservation related and have enrolled on a new degree which starts in June; a 3-year distance-learning Masters in Conservation of the Historic Environment. Here I will share details of current projects I am working on, interesting things I have seen or done and anything else related to my world of work that may be worthy of sharing with you. Hopefully the things that I post will be of interest to someone out there and if not then I'll continue to post anyway so feel free to follow me and share in my latest venture. Lee.