SPEAKERS
Marion Barter is a buildings historian and heritage adviser based in Derbyshire, and has been with AHP since 2005. She bought her first copy of Brunskill in the 1970s, when researching farm buildings in the Lake District. In the 1980s she had fun selecting buildings for listing on the Listed Buildings Resurvey in Wiltshire. In the 1990s she was a conservation officer for Sheffield where her favourite vernacular buildings were cutlery workshops. After a stint at English Heritage as an Historic Buildings Inspector in the North West, she joined AHP. She has recently been nominated to join a national network for women leaders in museums, galleries and heritage.
Jasmin Eastwood recently graduated with a Masters in Architecture from the University of Liverpool having completed her Part I architectural education at APA Architects on the Isle of Man where she grew up. Her upbringing and architectural education led to an interest into how architects can create contemporary architecture “of-its-place”. In 2014 Jasmin was awarded the Honan Travel Scholarship from the Liverpool Architects Society to conduct research on the Isle of Skye as to how local architects are creating a contemporary rural vernacular.
Richard Harris is the Course Director for the MSc in Timber Building Conservation at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum. For over 25 years he has been responsible for the research and interpretation of the timber-framed buildings which form the core of the museum collection, and his book Discovering Timber-Framed Buildings (Shire Publications, 1978) remains an indispensable introduction to the subject. He has played a major part in developing the Museum's building conservation training programme, including the MSc course in timber building conservation and its internationally recognised, short course programme. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Chichester, a member of the ICOMOS UK Wood Committee and a Board Member of the Association of European Open Air Museums.
David Grech is a qualified architect who, after 25 years working in both the public and private sectors, has chosen to concentrate his career on the historic environment. After graduating from Nottingham University, David initially worked in private practice on the Welsh boarders then spent four years as a lecturer at the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University before moving back into practice in Cumbria. In 1996 he took a two month sabbatical to walk from Beachy Head in Sussex to St Bees Head in Cumbria, sketching the vernacular architecture encountered en-route and tracing the changes in the underlying geology through the building materials used in their construction. As well as resulting in a book (Head to Head, The Sketchbook of a Walk Across England), this sabbatical was also the catalyst to refocusing his career on the historic environment and in 2003 he took up post as Principal Conservation Officer at South Cambridgeshire District Council. In 2008 he joined English Heritage. He is currently Historic Places Adviser for the East of England.
Peter Messenger has an Honours degree in Geography and an MA in Vernacular Architecture both from Manchester University, and is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and IHBC.
Between 1972 and 2011 he was involved, at various levels, in the conservation of historic buildings and areas in the council planning departments of Staffordshire, Leicestershire and Carlisle City. During his career in local government he was involved in statutory listing programmes, conservation area designations and appraisals, appeals and grant work.
His research interests have included clay buildings in Leicestershire and Cumbria, and of farmsteads in Cumbria. In 2001to 2002 during the Foot and Mouth outbreak he was seconded to MAFF/DEFRA to establish a team to investigate the treatment of and damage to listed farm buildings as a result of cleansing operations and provide guidance on more appropriate methods for carrying out this work.
In 2004 he worked with Oxford Archaeology North on an extensive survey of Clay Buildings on the Solway Plain. This resulted in an English Heritage funded programme which included: research into clay buildings of the Solway Plain; training contractors in methods of construction and repair; and advising owners and occupiers of the care and maintenance clay buildings.
Chris O’Flaherty is the course leader for the MSc Building Conservation & Adaptation at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). The course is now in its third decade of delivery and Chris is himself a graduate from many moons ago. A Chartered Building Surveyor by trade, with diverse experience in the design, procurement and management of numerous heritage-led construction projects, Chris has recorded well in excess of a 100 building across Lancashire including many rural farm buildings and early industrial structures. He also has extensive experience in the production of heritage statements for public and private sector bodies and has a particular interest in determining the significance of heritage assets at pre-planning stage. Through his work at UCLan, Chris has helped set up a range of educational partnerships on Heritage Lottery Funded projects and is very keen to forge working relationships with any potential graduate employers in the field of building conservation. Chris’ interest in the vernacular buildings of the Fylde in part stems from his professional work, partly from his early career mentoring by the highly respected architectural historian, the late Nigel Roberts, and partly from having lived in the region over 40 years. In 2009 Chris appeared in the first series of Channel 4’s Restoration Man TV series, on an episode dealing with a C16th Fylde cruck frame cottage.
Ashley Pettit was born in a village in Kent in 1950, qualified as an Architect in London in 1978 with a lifelong interest in the vernacular and deep suspicion of the Garden City Movement. Appointed by Bournemouth University to supervise the repair of Peel Castle with John Ashurst and Jim Strike, after completing a Diploma in Landscape Interpretation at the Centre for Manx Studies and Liverpool University. Elected to IHBC in July 2001 and as a committee member of Buildings Lime Forum in 2006 and IHBC NW 2007.
A chartered planner, urban designer and heritage advisor, Jerry Spencer is director of a consultancy based in Tarporley in mid Cheshire. He is a trainer, advisor and advocate for local authorities, helping to secure high standards of conservation and design in heritage and development projects. Jerry is also employed as the Conservation and Design Officer for St Helens Council. Jerry was interim manager for CABE’s Design East Lancashire, where he organised the first national design review to be held outside of London. Jerry’s previous positions include Head of Design with Northwest Development Agency and Assistant Director for Regeneration with Stoke on Trent Council.
Historic England’s Building Conservation & Research Team specialises in dealing with the problems of deteriorating materials on historic structures and are responsible for the revised Practical Building Conservation (PBC) handbooks which are being published this year. Alison Henry and Clara Willett have spent considerable time involved in the Strategic Stone Study and writing the PBC handbook on stone. We are delighted to be welcoming one of them to speak on this topic. Alison Henry has a background in geography and geology. After 23 years in local government as well as developing her own small stonework conservation business she joined the team in 2010 with her interest in stone, mortars and thatch. Clara Willett has worked as a hands-on conservator and manager in private practice for almost a decade following on with a decade in the research team at the now Historic England. She has experience and interest in a range of masonry based materials, their application and repair.
Trefor Thorpe is a registered conservation architect and former Chief Architect at Cadw. Employed within Wales’ built heritage sector for over 30 years at a senior level and associated with the successful repair and renaissance of many of the country’s most important historic buildings and areas. Responsible within Cadw for assessing and advising on applications for the grant assistance of built heritage projects, and monitoring and mentoring successful recipients. He was also the principal monitor on applications for listed building consent in Wales, and developed policy and management guidance for the improvement of standards in listed building control and historic building repair.
Holding a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Leiden University, Marcel Vellinga has extensive research and teaching experience in the fields of cultural anthropology and international vernacular architecture studies. Over the years he has taught and published on a variety of topics including vernacular architecture, the anthropology of architecture, rural architectural regeneration, Minangkabau architecture, tradition and sustainable development. Marcel is a Director of the Paul Oliver Vernacular Architecture Library and the International Vernacular Architecture Committee (CIAV) of ICOMOS. Marcel is currently Director of the Place, Culture and Identity Research Group, Oxford Brookes University
John Whyard has a degree in Town and Country Planning, an MA in Urban Design and is a member of the RTPI, IHBC and Urban Design Group. He has worked with Manchester City Council’s Planning Service for over twenty years. Since 2010 John has been one of the City Council’s Urban Design and Conservation Officers. In a varied career with the City Council, mostly focusing on the City Centre, he has also been in teams specifically dealing with development management, planning policy, regeneration, environmental improvement and corporate initiatives, and was directly involved in the planning work following the City Centre bomb in 1996. John has previously held conservation officer posts at Durham City Council and Lincoln City Council.
Dr Maria Yioutani-Iacovides is a Conservation Architect, with professional experience in Cyprus & the UK (2005-2015) on the conservation, repair and restoration of secular, ecclesiastical and residential historic and listed buildings. She has a strong interest in vernacular buildings and settlements and their potential to be sustainably developed. Maria has also worked as the Conservation Officer for the Methodist Church, which she describes as a challenging and wonderful experience on the conservation of listed chapels, both urban and rural, dating from the 18th century onwards.
Norman Redhead is the Heritage Management Director (Archaeology) for Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service, based at University of Salford. He has spent 26 years providing archaeological planning advice for the ten Local Planning Authorities of Greater Manchester. During this time he has also managed the Historic Environment Record, including delivery of a major Historic Landscape Characterisation project, and promoted community engagement and research. He spent 4 years as County Archaeologist and Director of Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit (GMAU) prior to becoming Director of GMAAS at Salford University.
