C O N T E X T 8 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 3 3 while interested in conservation, often lack some of the necessary background understanding. Out of something like 4,000 students who have attended a postgraduate course in building conservation, only around 20 have been engineers. The course ‘Conservation and refurbishment: keeping buildings alive’ is organised annually by the Institution of Structural Engineers. This year it had to be cancelled due to lack of support. According to the DTI’s Annual Construction Statistics for 2002, of an annual budget of £60 billion (at 1995 prices), half was related to maintenance and repair. It has also been reported that more than 90 per cent of the urban fabric that will exist in 30 years time has already been built. A great deal of the work of engineers relates to existing structures, and a considerable proportion of this will involve conservation. To be considered for accreditation under the CARE scheme, engineers will be asked to show that they have experience of and/or understand topics outlined in five units. These are based on A framework description of competence for a shared approach to built environment conservation accreditation schemes in the UK (2002). This document was commissioned by Historic Scotland in cooperation with the Department of Building Engineering and Surveying of Heriot-Watt University and the School of Architecture at the Edinburgh College of Art. Engineers were represented on the committee which oversaw the production of the framework document. It is intended that conservation accreditation schemes for a diverse range of conservation related professions should achieve a level of parity by all being based on this framework document. It is planned that each application for accreditation will be assessed by a panel of three. Two members of the panel will be engineers; the other will be drawn from another conservation profession. Applicants may be called to an interview. The scheme is designed to accredit engineers experienced in conservation work. Members without conservation experience will need to undertake suitable training and gain experience by working with an accredited professional. Ian Hume IHBC, chair of the CARE Panel The initiative was initially prompted by English Heritage, Historic Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund announcing that a future condition for applications for grant aid would be for the work to be led by a consultant accredited in conservation. Notwithstanding this condition (in practice only a small proportion of projects are led by engineers), the merits of accrediting engineers in conservation will have a much wider impact. CARE will provide a register that potential clients will be able to use as a first filter when choosing the right consultant for work on historic structures. Just as important, it hopes to raise engineers’ awareness and standards by pursuing their continuing professional development in this specialist field. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has had an accreditation scheme running for a number of years. ‘THISWORSHIP of ancient piles and unspoilt countryside that conjures up the image of Scotland seen on biscuit tins has its drawbacks…While restoration is often commendable, … if it determines how a country is seen through television, it helps fix an image based on the past. And if it ranks high in a country’s architectural undertakings, it dampens the need/desire for new buildings. ‘Hence the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh... are all housed in buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries and, as structures, say nothing about Scotland today. Opportunities have been lost to commission contemporary buildings that talk about the future and not about the past.’ ArtWork (published in Ellon, Aberdeenshire) commenting on the BBC Restoration series. ‘I DON’T believe you should restore buildings.You can stabilise them, but without all the skills to hand, the original plans and people, then you’re only producing a facsimile of a building.’ Architect Richard Murphy in the Sunday Herald (Glasgow) on the BBC Restoration series. ‘MARIANNE Shur comes across as the steady, feet-on-the-ground, goodhousekeeping foil to Ptolemy Dean’s absurdist young-fogey character, sketchbook in hand. He rambles on in a laughably posh accent about romantic ruins… interjected with plenty of “goshes”, “good Gods”, “lovely stuff”, and a few slightly patronising comments directed towards the “little woman” at his side.’ Claire Melhuish in the Architects’ Journal on the two presenters of the BBC Restoration series. ‘THE PRINCIPAL local resource of a city is its connection with the past.’ Thomas Bender inThe Invisible City: NewYork and the metropolitan idea,The New Press, 2002. More recently, architects have been able to join the register of the AABC (Architects Accredited in Building Conservation). Engineers working in conservation must have an appreciation of disciplines and interests extending well beyond their normal professional training. They need to understand the philosophy of conservation and matters such as social significance, archaeology, recording, dating of structures and historic building legislation as well as the more obvious requirements of survey and investigation, understanding decay mechanisms and the technicalities of repair methods. Experience suggests that engineers,
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