If you are considering an historic building Conservation Project, we are here to help. Repairs to Listed Buildings are a specialist area - not that it should be, it's just that good working knowledge of traditional materials is hard to find. Putting that into the context of scheduling a project, specifying it, and actually making the project work, is a rare skill. We have to work with the legislation - which sets out guidelines for materials to be used, and the approaches we take to gain approvals for any changes to the building.
We work very closely to the ICOMOS guidelines. This might sound a bit grand - it's not really - ICOMOS is all about looking after old buildings, and is the International body that gathers everyone's knowledge and experience into one overall place. It's a sort of clearing house for information about Built Heritage.
Historic building restoration is about doing it right. We use the word 'Restoration' as opposed to 'renovation' - Its the defining point between a Conservation Professional and Bodgit Builder.
There are not very many building conservation consultants out there. We work very closely to IHBC (Institute of Historic Building Conservation) guidelines - this used to be the Conservation Officer's professional organisation - but it has widened its remit considerably recently, and is now taking its place as the default organisation for anything involving Built Heritage. Sadly, IHBC is still a very political organisation, mainly run by town planners, and is not well known outside of a narrow conservation circle. I could try to sum them up as 'well meaning' - but like many of these organisations they are fond of rules and regulations, and not so good at being practical!
Historic England (the new branding for English Heritage) is still very much a political organisation, and you'll find it hard to get any sense out of them on a day to day basis. It's through our involvement and membership of IHBC that we are able to break the barriers and work with professionals within such organisations.