In an effort to mitigate the devastating impact of fires on Europe’s cultural heritage, the European Union funded Cost Action C17 from 2002 to 2006, reports Fire Risk Heritage.
Fire Risk Heritage writes:
The 2019 Notre-Dame fire and the 2018 Glasgow School of Art disaster revealed a troubling reality: despite decades of advancement in fire safety engineering, Europe’s historic buildings remain critically vulnerable…
Recognizing this crisis, the European Union funded COST Action C17 from 2002 to 2006, creating the first—and to date, only—European research network dedicated exclusively to fire loss in historic buildings… Nearly two decades later, C17’s frameworks continue to define how professionals approach heritage fire risk—a testament to both the Action’s foresight and the persistence of the challenges it identified.
1. Why COST C17 Still Defines the Field…
2. Objectives, Scope and Working?Group Architecture…
3. Data, Loss Statistics and the Heritage Fire ‘Visibility Gap’ (WG1)
4. Technology for Historic Buildings: Minimally Invasive but Effective (WG2)…
5. Cultural and Financial Value, Insurance and Ethics (WG3)…
6. Property Management, Performance Plans and Human Factors (WG4)…
7. Publications, Associated Outputs and Network Legacy
C17’s tangible outputs go far beyond a single report. The Action produced:
- A three?volume Final Report (Parts 1–3)…
- Four volumes of conference proceedings…
- A CD/DVD compilation…
According to the overview now hosted on FireRiskHeritage, at least 16 new publications produced by members can be attributed directly to the influence of C17’s activities. These include the development of Historic Scotland’s TAN 28..
8. Position of C17 in the Last Two Decades of Research…
Objectives achieved…
