8 C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 Periodically Hard on the heels of the excellent final 2012 issue of the Association of Preservation Technology Bulletin, the Journal of Preservation Technology, comes the first issue of the current year (Volume XLIV, No 1, 2013). This is devoted to preservation-engineering education at the university level.With the loss of experienced practitioners to retirement, the need for conservation specialist skills is ever greater and a new phalanx of suitably educated professionals needs to march forth. The issue, guest-edited by Douglas Porter and Ronald W Anthony, has its origins in a colloquium held at the School of Engineering, University of Vermont, in 2009. This was sponsored by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training and the Getty Conservation Institute. The objective was, and is, the enhancement of the skills of engineers faced with the special demands posed by the evaluation and repair of historic structures, and to encourage collaboration between university engineering programmes, practicing engineers, professional societies and students. This should promote the expansion of existing engineering curriculums to include a specialisation in historic preservation, and incrementally foster student interest, professional recognition of the discipline and development of new courses. By setting out the principles of preservation engineering and the challenges for the future, the introductory essays by John Ochsendorf and Edmund Meade describe the roles of the preservation structural engineer in demonstrating the safety of historic structures and the incremental augmentation of existing educational programs necessary to ensure the continuing development of essential competencies. Drawing on his UK experiences, long-standing IHBC member John Fidler, now based in Los Angeles, reviews the current state of advanced conservation training in the USA while cross-referencing to the demand for conservation engineers in the UK and in the courses being taught in Europe. He also highlights the concerns about the quality of expertise that led to accreditation schemes for architects (AABC) and engineers (CARE) in the UK, all of which continues to have implications for engineering education. David Fischetti develops this theme further by considering what aspects of the repair of historic structures could be identified by new engineering curriculums. Specific elements require understanding about the application of the right techniques and the right knowledge at the right time. Richard Ortega outlines the performance evaluation of existing buildings systems and how competencies can be incorporated into engineering education. Paulo Lourenço looks at the specific core engineering competencies associated with timber, masonry and earthen construction, and at what courses need to address. Ronald Anthony shows how wood engineering and design relate to existing structures, and how they should be part of a preservation-engineering programme. Michael Schuller deals with the increasing role of nondestructive evaluation of existing buildings. And Donald Friedman concludes with the relationships between the history of building technology and our understanding of the existing building environment. Many of these issues can clearly also inform UK practice. On the subject of engineered structures, Theatres Magazine (No 35, Spring 2013), the journal of the Theatres Trust, has a very interesting item on the Paines Plough Roundabout. This is a low-cost, flat-packed, fully selfcontained auditorium for an audience of 156 patrons which it would be easy to imagine could be erected in large redundant spaces such as civic, commercial or industrial buildings where a consciousness-raising, or better still a regenerative (even if temporary) reuse was sought. The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has recently funded development of the prototype for Sheffield Theatres and it was used experimentally at Shoreditch Town Hall late last year. Seeing it reminded this reviewer of the transforming effect of the (albeit more sophisticated) Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. The adaptability of this latest innovation in intimate performance space is a genuinely exciting development. This is the time of year when annual transactions appear from the Ancient Monuments Society and the Association for Studies in the Conservation of
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