The application window to join the RIBA Conservation Register as an accredited Conservation Architect, or a Specialist Conservation Architect, is now open until 30 September 2024.
The Register has three forms of specialism open to architects registered with ARB, and is open to all practitioners working with different aspects of historic building conservation, repair and maintenance.
In addition to the two formally accredited types, architects can apply to become a Conservation Registrant by demonstrating an awareness of the issues involved in working with historic buildings and completing a conservation course approved by RIBA.
Alan Chandler, co-chair of the steering group responsible for the governance of the conservation accreditation framework, says it is one of the strengths of the register that it can offer three related positions within the world of conservation and architecture, instead of relying on the single pass-or-fail test of technical knowledge that can gain entry to other accreditation schemes.
He also stresses that applicants to the register are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the cultural value and social aspects of heritage projects and their custodianship.
Why blending the technical and cultural is important for architects
“Architects are encouraged to blend the technical and the cultural if they are to bring the community along with you on a heritage project,” Alan says. “The register is a space where people can demonstrate their competence in handling not just the technicalities of a place, but also the sensitivities of place.”
All conservation accreditation courses, including RIBA-recognised courses, are based on the ICOMOS Education and Training Guidelines, but as, Alan points out, the guidelines only offer a single line of advice, beyond its host of technical recommendations, on what could be regarded as community buy-in, which is to take care to manage and resolve conflict with stakeholders.
As a lifelong conservationist, Alan, who is Research Impact Leader at the University of East London’s School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, believes that every practice regularly working on existing buildings would benefit from having an architect on the register who can advise on how to approach old buildings.
“I don’t think the register is just for specialists, I think it is much more about the broader sensitivity that frankly all architects ought to have,” he argues.
The three-tier register can be approached as a ladder of progression for specialists, but it does not have to be, he adds.
He thinks a lot of young practices seeking ways to add social value through community-based projects might be surprised how relevant the Register and the heritage mindset it embodies can be. He would encourage any such practice to have a look at RIBA’s Conservation Register Handbook, where they will find there is much more on offer than how to repair brickwork or where to place insulation.
What does a successful conservation project look like?
The work that the design collective Assemble undertook in Liverpool in celebrating the architectural and heritage value of threatened streets in partnership with local residents – a full-size mock-up of one of the houses and its craft objects won the Turner Prize in 2015 – counts as an exampled of a successful conservation project, Alan says.
“Assemble doesn’t think of itself as a group of conservation architects, but I think the way it saved that street of houses and gave local residents agency over how they did it was astonishingly good conservation,” he opines. “If that came across my desk as an applicant’s dossier of work (he is an experienced RIBA Register Assessor), I would regard it as a great piece of conservation work.”
Such projects highlight the importance of social competence alongside technical competence, and he argues the register deals with both of these things.
“If you can get everyone in the street or the area to feel ownership of a heritage project, feel they are part of it, then the chances are it will succeed,” Alan says. “If you don’t, then a building can be fixed as beautifully as you like, but it won’t last.”
You only have to look at some of the Lottery-funded white elephants of the recent past where the local community was not engaged, local voices were ignored, and projects went bust as proof, if it were needed, he adds.
Alan recommends that more practices should take a look at the Conservation Register Handbook, which does offer a model for thinking about conservation in these more intangible ways, and not just technical solutions. The Handbook is a valuable piece of CPD in its own right, he points out, and has more to offer than non-specialist practices will expect.
Apply to join RIBA’s Conservation Register.
Thanks to Alan Chandler.
Text by Neal Morris. This is a professional feature edited by RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas.
RIBA Core Curriculum topic: Heritage and Listed Buildings.
As part of the flexible RIBA CPD programme, professional features count as microlearning. See further information on the updated RIBA CPD core curriculum and on fulfilling your CPD requirements as a RIBA Chartered Member.
