The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Newcastle will be the honoured guests of The Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC), the UK’s professional body for conservation specialists, at its reception in Newcastle Cathedral on 23 September.
The reception marks the IHBC Council’s annual peripatetic meeting and linked conference, which this year is hosted by the IHBC’s North Branch under the direction of its Chair, Stewart Ramsdale.
Stewart Ramsdale said: “I’m delighted that the city’s most senior civic figures will attend the IHBC’s reception in the Cathedral’s Church Hall. The North Branch has put a huge effort into preparing for the reception and the linked IHBC conference, on Friday, which examines conservation services in the recession. The conference is now fully subscribed, and if our conservation services can repeat the partnership between civil society and local government that we’ve created here, then we will all find it a lot easier to continue delivering services despite the impending cutbacks.“
Jo Evans, IHBC Chair, said: “Each September we meet in a different place across the UK and I’m really pleased that this year, my first as IHBC’s Chair, we’re meeting in the splendid city of Newcastle.
Newcastle has an unequalled early record of heritage-led regeneration, represented especially by the remarkable rejuvenation of its historic heart, Grainger Town, in which the IHBC’s own Past President David Lovie played such a prominent role. The city represents a highpoint of what the IHBC’s members work for on a daily basis, improving valued places so that people can benefit directly from them and enjoy better lives.”
IHBC Director Sean O’Reilly said: “The Newcastle conference, which looks at how our sector might respond to the cutbacks, is just one of a number of IHBC events coming up that will help people respond to a rapidly changing environment for the management and conservation of historic places.
In November, in Glasgow, we’ll be holding an international joint conference on how to fund heritage projects in the current climate, aimed at professionals, project managers and leaders in all communities who want to make a difference. The collective endorsement we’ve had from private sponsors and sister organisations, including from all the national heritage agencies across the UK, is, I think, unique, and a sign both of the timeliness of the topic and the strength of the IHBC’s partnerships.
For our Annual School in June 2011, which is the key event for conservation specialists across the UK, we’ll be inviting members and colleagues to Llandudno to identify and share opportunities to help valued places despite the cutbacks.”
For details of the Glasgow conference, ‘INVESTING IN THE PAST – Funding Heritage Projects: Global & Local’, Glasgow, 18-20 November 2010, see www.investinginthepast.co.uk
For Llandudno 2011 see www.ihbc.org.uk/llandudno2011 and monitor the IHBC website NewsBlog updates at www.ihbc.org.uk
