The IHBC’s 2018 Yearbook is themed on the 2018 Belfast School topic, ‘Our Shared Heritage’, and its introductory article, written by IHBC Education Secretary and Committee Chair Andrew Shepherd, which looks at the diverse takes covered by the lead articles.
Andrew Shepherd writes:
The concept of a ‘shared’ heritage, however, shifts the focus from the physical to the metaphysical – the intangible bonds that connect us as Brits, Europeans or, indeed, as humans, to others, past and present. As conservationists, however, our eye is on the future too. Our aim is to hand down to future generations all that’s best of what we have inherited.
… Shared heritage is explored from the perspectives of different stakeholders and users of the historic environment, including social issues of regeneration (McClelland), traffic issues and environment in historic urban centres (Taylor), and the legacy of industry in the regeneration of the Titanic Quarter, Belfast (Sweeney).The European dimension is most clearly evident in Darren Barker’s outline of the Devetaki Project in rural Bulgaria. Skills retention and development are also explored in articles on Historic Environment Scotland’s new Engine Shed (Tennant and Urquhart) and in the strategic study of decline of local authority conservation capacity in England (Newton)…’
‘… contemplating shared heritage from such strikingly different perspectives and in such diverse contexts is a reminder of the scope of the IHBC’s remit as a professional institute and of the varied nature of its membership. It reminded me, too, of the extent to which a culture of sharing permeates the institute.’
For the full text see your local Yearbook.
See background to the Yearbook
