The IHBC welcomed the two new professionals responsible for bringing forward the UK’s Association of Preservation Trusts (APT), following on from the hard work of retiring Chair Colin Johns. David Trevis-Smith has been elected Chairman and Dr. James Moir has been appointed as the new Director.
The new post-holders issued a joint statement: ‘We know these are challenging times for Building Preservation Trusts (BPTs), but we cannot afford to lose the momentum that has been building up over the past 20 years since UK APT was formed. Building Preservation Trusts deserve far more recognition for the role they have played and will play in helping to rescue and repair damaged parts of the historic environment. UK APT looks forward to working with its partners to raise the profile of Building Preservation Trusts as key delivery vehicles for regenerating local communities.’
IHBC Director Seán O’Reilly said ‘I’m delighted that the UK APT has been able to invest in more support for one of the most important community-based regeneration initiatives that our historic places have ever known, the Building Preservation Trust, and of course we’re particularly proud that an IHBC member has been appointed as Director, reinforcing our mutual interests in putting the BPT movement at the heart of the government agenda in the 21st century.’
David has been Midlands Area representative on the UK APT national committee since 2008; his day job is as a Project Organiser working on a project-by-project basis for several Building Preservation Trusts, and he also provides mentoring support via both Architectural Heritage Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund mentoring programmes. Beginning with canal restoration schemes, then with regeneration schemes centred upon the repair and viable re-use of historic buildings, David’s introduction to building conservation came about as a volunteer member of the West Midlands Historic Buildings Trust. Born into a traditional manufacturing family business in the Black Country, he has a particular interest in industrial heritage. David is a Chartered Director and has an honours degree in Business Studies from the University of Bradford.
James is an IHBC member and has worked in the built historic environment for 25 years, with experience of the pubic, private and third sector. Commencing his career as a fieldworker for the Resurvey of Listed Buildings in Devon, he moved back to the Home Counties, where he was Director of the Chiltern Open Air Museum for 15 years. Since 2000, he worked as an historic buildings consultant, re-trained as a Buildings Surveyor and for the past two years has been in post as a Senior Conservation Officer.
James has been a Trustee of a Building Preservation Trust for over ten years, and is keenly aware that a key role for UK APT is to help steer its members, of which there are 300, to an increasingly sustainable future.
