C O N T E X T 8 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 3 13 ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT Conservation as a catalyst Can conserving buildings breathe new life into their surroundings and lead to the regeneration of whole communities? The idea that conservation could be a catalyst was the theme of the IHBC Annual School 2003, held at the University of East Anglia, Norwich on June 26–29. Delegates also toured market towns and seaside resorts to see successful regeneration schemes in Norfolk. An overview of the school is followed by summaries of some of the speakers’ presentations. The past ten years have seen massive and increasing demands on the time and skills of conservationists battling with fewer resources. Now the IHBC itself is facing a year of major challenges. Delegates at the Annual School, chaired by Eddie Booth, found that discussions about how the IHBC should grow and develop – and how the rest of the world perceived the profession and its relatively young institute – demanded almost as much attention as the keynote speeches on urban and rural regeneration. Speakers from both the platform and the floor talked of the need to act quickly if the IHBC was not to miss out on the opportunity to become a major player in shaping both tomorrow’s conservation careers and the UK’s communities. There were pleas ranging skills represented by the IHBC. He pointed to the delegates in front of him, including planners, surveyors, architects and landscape specialists. ‘This IHBC Annual School 2003 IHBC Annual School 2003 IHBC Annual School 2003 IHBC for conservation to be seen in a more positive light and for professionals to be given more credit for the contribution they make to society. Despite some criticism of its late inclusion at the AGM, there was overwhelming support for a motion to raise subscriptions to pay for a director to run the IHBC. The institute and its role had grown beyond the dedication of even the most committed volunteers, the officers said. A director could help put the institute on a firmer organisational footing, and marshal the cases for coming campaigns on accreditation, government recognition and raising public profile. President Malcolm Airs, in his closing words to the school, paid tribute to the wonderful and wideis the catalyst for the future. We face a challenging time and an exciting time. The future ought to be ours. We have started to deliver and change those outside preconceptions.’ Friday Regeneration of some of East Anglia’s 250 market towns has been complex, but also rewarding and inspiring. That message came in the keynote address from Richard Powell, board member of the East of England Development Agency, chair of its Market Town Advisory Forum and regional director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Speaking on ‘conservation as a catalyst’, he told the 120 delegates about the forum’s work over the past two years and of his support for the role of conservation in regeneration schemes in the region. Powell said that conservation meant a lot of different things to different people. But everyone had to stop, Members at the AGM endorse raising membership subscriptions to fund the appointment of a director. John Preston (education secretary) takes to the stand at the AGM with, from left to right, Michael Knights (treasurer), Richard Morrice (secretary and vice chair), Eddie Booth (chair) and Malcolm Airs (president). Eddie Booth (right) and Philip Grover of Oxford Brookes University discuss the finer points on the boat trip through Norwich.
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