Issue 46 April 25 web - Flipbook - Page 93
Colin Bignell closed the first session, speaking about the
challenges of working on heritage buildings, specifically
the OWO (Old War Office) project in Central London,
and the role glazing can play in protecting and preserving
buildings during their renovations, and well into the
future. Heads nodded throughout the hall as Colin succinctly summed up so many of the key issues conservation
professionals face, commenting that ‘(we as) professionals
look to strike the balance between preserving our heritage
and protecting our buildings’.
To close, Dan Reglar and Steven Mills of Railscape
technologies delivered a stunning video demonstration of
their innovative maintenance development. The
Railscape team have designed and produced drone and
virtual reality-based technology that allows maintenance
crews to inspect high or hard to reach sections of buildings
and, as the given example in the presentation, remove
weeds and plant growth. Site safety is paramount to
Railscape and they provided a fantastic demonstration of
the potential for introducing modern technology to our
work in heritage conservation.
For our first panel discussion of the day, David Watt,
Associate Director at Hutton+Rostron, and Katie
McAndrew, a Heritage Consultant Building Pathologist,
considered the process of managing change to a significant structure, in ways that will best sustain its heritage
values, whilst recognising opportunities to reveal or
reinforce those values for present and future generations.
People make our industry what it is. The talent, the
ingenuity, and the creativity throughout the UK, and
indeed across the globe, continues to inspire us, and the
celebration of people is something we at CIOB are proud
to be involved in. The Conservation Conference 2025
uplifted us all, and we cannot wait for next year.
As construction in the City of London continues to boom,
Chris Oldham highlighted the absolute necessity of
closing the skills gap as soon as possible. Alongside Chris’
work in the City, he is involved with Skyline Skills Hub,
a London based task force formed to bring greater awareness of the need to boost and diversify the built environment workforce. According to Skyline Skills Hub, 26,000
extra construction workers are needed in Greater London
by 2026, and 100,000 across the UK. The presentation
was a timely reminder of the role we all need to play to
ensure the future of the industry remains bright.
Below, conference
Our afternoon session opened with a talk on The
Museum of Making, led by James Thomson (CARE
GCA) and Tom Vigar (Bauman Lyons Architects). The
museum is a remodel of Derby Silk Mill Industrial
Museum, a £17 million project that required world class
creativity in procurement, design, and construction.
Daahir Mohamed, Director of Amar Eco-Plaster, recognises the yawning skills-gap, and the uphill battle to bridge
that chasm. But, in his presentation, Daahir spoke powerfully on the practical works we can enact to encourage
more people into construction, particularly across diverse
backgrounds, and the untapped potential that exists in
every level of society.
The value placed on community, and its diminishing in
this ever more online world, has had a greater prevalence
in the last 5 years, and the importance of the so-called
‘3rd Places’, (social surroundings that are separate from
home and work). Stefanie Stead presented the vision for
the Otley Common project, an intended transformation
of Otley Methodist Church to Otley Common, a social,
cultural, and entrepreneurial hub, run by the community.
The church itself is a Grade 2 listed building, and Stefanie,
speaking as Director of her architect firm, stressed the
importance of ensuring sustainability and accessibility
remained at the heart of all plans, and ensuring the
futureproofing of protected heritage structures.
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