The IHBC’s new ‘Branch Committee Bulletin’ has been issued, updating our Branch committees on strategic developments and current priorities, while if you want to find out more just check the NewsBlogs or contact your Branch Officers or the IHBC’s National Office.
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IHBC Director Sean O’Reilly writes: [Continued from Bulletin NewsBlog Part 1]
… developments above represent just some of the most significant threads linking our Branch support and Charter explorations, with more detailed progress outlined below. [See Bulletin NewsBlog Part 2]
IHBC Charter and ‘CP30’ developments, consultation and planning
Charter progress
Final approval for the IHBC to submit a Petition for Charter came from the Privy Council Office (PCO) just 12 months ago. As our President Rebecca Thompson then said: ‘This is a very proud moment for the IHBC, and indeed for all Conservation Professionals and heritage stakeholders. We now have confirmation from the Privy Council – a key mechanism in our government – of the potential for the IHBC to secure formal recognition of our own unique discipline: the practice of Historic and Built Environment Conservation.’ Of course any decision on an application for Charter remains subject to agreement on the principle and texts by our voting members at a future General Meeting, hopefully in 2027, following full consultation with members on the draft and detailed consideration of any material issues arising in that process.
Since that formal approval, we have been very busy on the Charter texts, the suite of documents that will serve as our new constitutional control, standards and guide, replacing our current Articles. This suite is led by the Charter document itself and accompanying Byelaws, the two governing texts that together operate directly in processes controlled under the Privy Council’s oversight.
These texts, as the highest order of constitutional guidance under a Charter, should – in principle at least – be relatively straightforward to complete, as so much is already there in our current constitution. The key document, the Charter document itself, alongside the underpinning Byelaws, will be, primarily, a re-organisation of our existing Articles. The main tasks will be a ‘tidy-up’ of the current Articles, updating on areas where we have learned lessons and to help clarify their respective hierarchy and roles of both Charter and Byelaws.
Charter documentation will also include a set of ‘Regulations’, to frame more detailed processes of governance. Regulations can be adjusted more easily by the IHBC and our Board, as they are not a formal part of the Privy Council’s oversight. As such, the Regulations will be designed to offer more flexibility to adapt and evolve, as the IHBC itself expands, but following texts sufficiently solid to underpin any final Charter arrangements. These Regulations will also be rooted in our current Articles, and again tidied up based on lessons learned. Some existing ‘regulation-level’ texts will be supplemented by or adapted to more generic terms, to allow for change and adaptation by the Board. All will be advised and drafted for consultation, in the first instance by newly appointed legal advisers.
There is much to be done yet, including, as and if needed, measures to support and underpin any transition to a Chartered body – from branding and corporate re-registration to the ongoing review and cross-check of our current Articles. Our Petition for Charter Working Group has been advising on those steps where we have made to date, reporting to our Board as needed. However at this point the lead in drafting Charter texts will pass to our new legal advisers as noted above, in advance of the further review and full member consultation later this year.
At the same time, we aim to make sure we are fully prepared for any further evaluation or needs, regardless of Charter outcome. Indeed at the start of this Charter journey, few would have guessed how the very process of Charter exploration would focus our corporate mind so well on delivering our highest ambitions for conservation. Not least of these is the requirement, at the heart of the Charter process, to consider ‘Public Benefit’. That is a measure that highlights the real synergies with our Branch and voluntary networks, and represents another thread we will build on in the future. Charter compliance has, clearly, served us well as the standard we want to meet – shaping our most recent achievements as noted above – while our Charter ambitions guided the way, encouraging us to look higher and more critically.
‘CP30’ progress
Our forthcoming Corporate Plan for 2026-30 (‘CP30’) reflects the synergy between Charter, charitable objectives and member services, building on the huge lessons learned to date. CP30 has been under consideration for some time of course, building on initiatives ranging from our IHBC@COP26 CPD-led service to Covid, as well as our Charter consultations. All that culminated most recently with our light-touch member query on shaping CP30 itself, HERE.
The consultation draft will be issued soon, and should capture well just how the Charter focus has helped move us forward. It should also highlight the long-standing aspirations, all built on the legacy of Corporate Plans that has seen us through some 20 years of scrutiny, management and evolution. As the current DRAFT CP30 reports:
‘CP30’ aims to secure sustainable compliance with all aspects of a Charter standard, as both a charity and a professional body, all as specified in formal Charter guidance [from the PCO]:
- ‘Uniqueness’: ‘The institution concerned should comprise members of a unique profession, and should have as members most of the eligible field for membership, without significant overlap with other bodies.’
- ‘Excellence’: ‘Corporate members of the institution should be qualified to at least first degree level in a relevant discipline.’
- ‘Sustainability’: ‘The institution should be financially sound and able to demonstrate a track record of achievement over a number of years.’
- ‘Public Benefit’: ‘Incorporation by Royal Charter is a form of Government regulation as future amendments to the Charter and by-laws of the body require Privy Council (i.e. Government) approval. There therefore needs to be a convincing case that it would be in the public interest to regulate the body in this way.’
… Charter compliance underpins the IHBC’s plans to enhance support for conservation practice, advocacy and outcomes. These expanded ambitions demand expanded investment, member support and sector engagement.
… success was underpinned by consistent progress in the IHBC’s corporate planning and delivery since our first Corporate Plan in 2007. Today, the IHBC’s aims remain unchanged:
- To serve in our historic, core and charitable role as the ‘Home of the Conservation Professional’, the lead professional body for interdisciplinary built and historic environment conservation specialists, today’s ‘Conservation Professional’.
- To deliver public benefit through our support for the Conservation Professional and the promotion of sustainable conservation outcomes.
- And, to maintain leadership in these aims, support continuous improvement across our core strengths: Unique communities of Branches and volunteers; Pan-sector, cross-discipline networks; Accessible, low-cost digital services; Career support for all stages of learning and practice, and a Council, Board and National Office that help tie these threads together.
These aspirations might be so familiar that they are hard to scrutinise, but their impact under CP30 is well captured in how we are advancing with the IHBC’s 5 Commitments.
[NOTE: TO BE CONTINUED in ‘Branch Committee Bulletin, from the IHBC’s Director’ NewsBlog Part 3…]
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