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- IHBC updates members on Charter progress… IHBC Council review of draft texts due in coming weeks, details TBC 13/11/2026
- IHBC is planning for growth, with CP30 and more, so grow with us on Board, Committee, Branches, Panels or Groups and more as suits – just let us know! 13/11/2026
- IHBC Marsh Awards NOW OPEN: Nominate your ‘Successful learner’ (in Heritage Skills) or ‘Retired member’ (Community Contributions), to close 15 December 2026 13/11/2026
- IHBC Bursaries now open for IHBC Annual School 2027: Accessible, certified CPD on Climate Change & Significance 13/11/2026
- IHBC’s ‘Research’ CPD signpost: Home insulation schemes could be underestimating heat loss, new research finds 13/11/2026
- IHBC Director’s top pick from HESPR’s £68M+ works: BID seeks multidisciplinary team to study local retail areas, to 20/11 and £40K 13/11/2026
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the (maritime) doorstep’: Heritage Group explores cultural heritage and the historic environment within estuarine and coastal habitat restoration activities 13/11/2026
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the doorstep’: Grand Designs showcases London’s extraordinary Cloud House 13/11/2026
- ‘True scale of heritage’s role in Welsh jobs, economy and communities’ – 18000 Jobs + £738Mn 13/11/2026
- Historic England Reveals its Heritage at Risk Register 2026 13/11/2026
- The Reuse Policy Playbook: A Retrofit-First Guide for Local Authorities 13/11/2026
- HBC features ‘Heritage from the Global doorstep’: The roles of heritage when the world changes, from ICOMOS GA2026, Malaysia 13/11/2026
- IHBC takes key step forward in Parliamentary ‘5 Commitments’ delivery, joining National Federation of Builders’ National Heritage Skills Forum 10/11/2026
- IHBC Marsh Awards OPEN: Nominate your ‘Successful learner’ (in Heritage Skills) or ‘Retired member’ (Community Contributions), to close 15 December 2026 10/11/2026
- Save the Date for #IHBCBristolBath2027 – Accessible, Certified CPD on ‘Climate Change & Significance’, June 10-12 2027: IHBC’s Annual School, with online options, free pre-conference webinars & more… 10/11/2026
- Bursaries now open for IHBC Annual School 2027: Accessible, certified CPD on Climate Change & Significance 10/11/2026
- IHBC’s ‘Research’ CPD signpost: Deregulated housing conversions linked to poor health and wellbeing, from UCL 10/11/2026
- IHBC HESPR’s ‘News from the Sector’: The Guardian on Clifton Suspension Bridge… ‘A big responsibility’ 10/11/2026
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the doorstep’: Back on track as Leas Lift carriages return home 10/11/2026
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the doorstep’: New Visitor Levy fund to help futureproof Edinburgh’s cultural and heritage buildings 10/11/2026
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the doorstep’: National Railway Museum celebrates start of construction on… the Porterbrook gallery 10/11/2026
- Nominate a building for the 20th edition of the Victorian Society’s Top Ten Endangered Buildings list, before 4 January 10/11/2026
- National Trust: ‘Landmark act of generosity secures home of London’s oldest restaurant for the future’ 10/11/2026
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the Global doorstep’: ‘Preserving Legacies Climate Heritage Cohort Program’, open to 8 January, ‘…work with a place that is culturally significant to your community’ 10/11/2026
- IHBC offers advice and support in roll out of ‘Historic Environment Policy for Northern Ireland’ 06/11/2026
England’s ‘local heritage list’ campaign: call for expressions of interest – £700K, closing 13/11
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First 7 Town Deals – worth almost £180M – announced
Communities in 7 areas across England are set to benefit from up to £178.7 million in new Town Deals, with Barrow-in-Furness, Blackpool, Darlington, Peterborough, Norwich, Torquay and Warrington are the first of 101 places to be offered a Town Deal.
image: for illustration purposes only – Fiona Newton
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RSA report: Social and economic growth stunted by outdated view of heritage, report finds
The heritage sector should focus its growth efforts on telling the stories of more diverse parts of Britain as it reopens following Covid-19, according to a new report from the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).
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REMINDER: IHBC supports CIOB’s ‘Future Skills for Traditional Buildings’: 05 November, online
The IHBC is co-sponsoring the ‘Future Skills for Traditional Buildings’ virtual conference from the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) on 5 November, with speakers to include IHBC members Rory Cullen and John Edwards, and with IHBC officers hosting a digital booth for delegate engagement.
image: for illustration purposes only Continue reading
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IHBC’s MATE update & recap for NewsBlog readers, from our Yorkshire Branch
The IHBC’s Professional Development Officer Ramona Usher has notched up another successful MATE with the Yorkshire Branch, again with positive feedback from delegates: friendly, approachable, personable and helpful and also demystifying!
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IHBC’s HESPR ‘Special Interest Sector News’ pick of the week: Queen’s birthday honours list includes Purcell (HESPR company) partner and IHBC Member Jane Kennedy
The IHBC’s heritage business register HESPR – our Historic Environment Service Providers Recognition quality assurance scheme for heritage services – emails members weekly ‘News and Tender Alerts’, with notices from across the development sector’s publications, and this week features Building’s report the Queen’s birthday honours list that includes Purcell (HESPR company) partner and IHBC Member Jane Kennedy.’
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IHBC features ‘Heritage from the doorstep’: £800K scheme to ‘transform’ Longton’s historic town centre buildings
The regeneration project in Longton, repairing and restoring historic town centre buildings backed by Historic England and Stoke-on-Trent City Council, follows a similar project in Stoke, reports the Stoke on Trent News.
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IHBC’s ‘Out of Context’ CPD boost from the Isle of Wight, via Ireland: Walled kitchen gardens – use and history
If you need to know more about the challenges of researching and understanding historic parks and gardens Issue 163 of Context, the IHBC’s member journal, Helen Thomas writes about the study and use of historic kitchen gardens by following a 12 month project by the The Isle of Wight Gardens Trust – and why not research the gardens in your local area and see if they share any of the 10 Isle of White walled garden features?
image: Context 163, p40 – Helen Thomas
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Power to Change report: Community ownership key to revival of high streets’ empty buildings
The Impact of Community Businesses on People is a new report from Power to Change – an independent charitable trust for community businesses in England – that urges Councils to help local communities take ownership of empty buildings in order to secure the future of Britain’s high streets.
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Protecting Scotland’s marine environment
The Scottish Government has announced a new deep sea Marine Protected Area to be established in Scotland.
image: for illustration purposes only – Fiona Newton
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Pride in place: RSA Heritage Index 2020 now out –How local heritage can unlock a better future
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has published its Heritage Index – ‘Pride in Place’ – for 2020, a unique tool designed to support data-led decision making on heritage at the local level.
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Scotland’s draft Infrastructure Investment Plan, closing 19/11
The Consultation on the Scotland’s Draft Infrastructure Investment Plan closes 19 Nov 2020, as it sets out to offer ‘a clear vision… to support and enable an inclusive net zero emissions economy.
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THA launches free webinars: ‘Heritage Dialogues’
The Heritage Alliance (THA) has announced the launch of a new series of free webinars exploring ‘important, complex and engaging heritage topics… for heritage professionals’.
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IHBC’s IMHO: Solving the town centre regeneration puzzle – ‘take stock and re-establish… USP’ with a new roadmap
The new Use Classes Order has opened the door to the more rapid re-configuration of commercial premises within town centres, but ‘Now more than ever, towns need to take stock and re-establish their USP’ – their Unique ‘Selling’ Point – and a new dedicated ‘roadmap’ could help!
image: LocalGov
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IHBC supports CIOB’s ‘Future Skills for Traditional Buildings’: 05 November, online
The IHBC is co-sponsoring the ‘Future Skills for Traditional Buildings’ virtual conference from the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) on 5 November, with speakers to include IHBC members Rory Cullen and John Edwards, and with IHBC officers hosting a digital booth for delegate engagement.
image: for illustration purposes only
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IHBC welcomes new AHF-HE Covid-19 recovery grants initiative: £1M for post-COVID business planning for ‘small heritage’, closing 9/11
The IHBC has welcomed the announcement that the Cultural Recovery Fund to include smaller charities and social enterprise, assisted by the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) tandem with Historic England (HE), as £1M has been allocated to ‘charities and social enterprises occupying historic buildings to develop new business plans and strategies in light of the COVID-19 crisis.’
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IHBC joins 27 leading planning-linked bodies to explore National Planning Forum’s 2020 Vision
England’s newly launched National Planning Forum (NPF) ‘2020 Vision’ explores ‘Planning in a post-COVID world’, featuring contributions by 28 leading planning-linked bodies – from the Woodland Trust and Historic Houses to the Home Builders Federation and Natural England, alongside IHBC Chair David McDonald calling for a ‘structured rebellion’ against demolition, previously reported to NewsBlog readers.
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IHBC’s HESPR pick this week from £202M+ costed works: Service provision for NI programme, closing 25/11, valued £121K
The IHBC’s heritage business register HESPR – our Historic Environment Service Providers Recognition quality assurance scheme for heritage services working to the IHBC’s standards – emails its members weekly ‘News and Tender Alerts’, and the IHBC Director’s top pick this week features a charity seeking qualified and experienced individuals or organisations for projects with heritage-linked works in Northern Ireland (NI), closing 25 November, valued £121K.
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IHBC features ‘Heritage from the (industry’s) doorstep’: Traditional skills to the fore as Nairn Courthouse restoration works complete
Scottish Construction Now has reported on the successful strategy in the recently completed Highland Council-led restoration works on the Category B-listed Nairn Courthouse.
image: Inverness Courier
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IHBC’s ‘Out of Context’ CPD boost from London, via Ireland: Case study insights to Heritage Partnership Agreements (HPAs)
To expand your technical legislation knowledge of Heritage Partnership Agreements (HPA) see Issue 163 of the institute’s member journal Context where Claire Brady of Historic England explains how a HPA works in practice: as a legal agreement setting out how routine works can take place without the need to apply for listed building consent, using the HPA for London’s King’s Cross Station.
image: Historic England, article by Claire Brady, Context 163, p39
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Scotland’s NLHF-funded Business Support Programme applications now open: Closes noon 03/12
Applications are now open to the NLHF-funded Business Support Programme, ‘Surviving to Thriving’ – developed by Built Environment Forum Scotland (BEFS) and partners – with applications due by noon, 3 December.
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‘Greatest threat in a generation’ faces UK’s heritage buildings: Vic Soc Director Joe O’Donnell
Britain’s architectural heritage is facing a ‘once-in-a-generation’ threat, The Guardian reports, as Joe O’Donnell – Director of one of the country’s foremost conservation groups – warns that Government’s planning reforms will favour new builds over repurposing old structures.
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Historic England Chair warns against removing statues: ‘Recontexualise’ instead
Removing controversial statues risks the past being ‘torn away’, and we should ‘recontextualise’ instead, said Historic England’s chair, Sir Laurie Magnus, in non-Inquiry oral evidence to the Parliamentary Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee on Physical Heritage, on 6 October.
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Museums Association response to Oliver Dowden’s letter on contested heritage
The Museums Association (MA) has welcomed the UK Government’s support for museums in England to date, but is ‘Urging the UK Government to respect the arm’s-length principle for museums.
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CLC issues new guidance ahead of Brexit
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has published new guidance for the industry ahead of Brexit at the end of the year.
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