IHBC looks back on Context 181 (Part 2): Special Features update, from coal tar to Blue Plaques and climate impacts, for insightful and accessible learning and CPD

With the new issue of IHBC’s members’ journal, Context now out, did you work through all of our earlier number – Issue No. 181 – which boasted feature articles on topics ranging from wood and coal tar to Blue Plaques and climate impacts.

John Pendlebury and LoesVeldpaus, onBlue plaques for inspiring pioneers’, write:

‘Blue plaques’ are probably the best-known national physical commemoration scheme for marking places associated with notable figures or events. Yet only in 2024 have we seen the advent of a national (in England) blue plaques scheme, to be led by Historic England. English Heritage has managed a blue-plaques programme in London since 1986, inheriting a scheme that has its origins in 1866. English Heritage plaques are subject to strict criteria, including that any recipient must have been dead for at least 20 years, and that there should be a surviving building closely associated with the person in question. Outside London, provision is common but has always been patchy. Many local schemes have come and gone, operating in different ways to different designs and criteria, and many parts of the country have no provision at all….

Special feature articles include:

  • The architectural use of wood and coal tar in England, Belle Neilson
    • New research for Historic England has helped to fill the gap in the long history of wood and coal tar being used as materials to preserve, waterproof and decorate buildings.
  • Blue plaques for inspiring pioneers, John Pendlebury and LoesVeldpaus
    • In the face of a lack of diversity in blue-plaque schemes, a programme in Tyne and Wear commemorates notable women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
  • Connecting people and places with climate impacts, Imogen Wood
    • A project linking National Trust sites with those already experiencing climate extremes aims to explain the need for action to conserve places with climate resilience in mind.

Access the online archive and see the issue online

Reading Context helps IHBC members develop their skills across all of the

IHBC’s Areas of Competence, and so is a critical baseline in addressing priorities in Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

See more IHBC background and guidance on IHBC CPD and on how you might use past, current and future issues of Context

See the formal guidance paper on IHBC CPD (scheduled for update)

See more on the IHBC Competences and Areas of Competence

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