{"id":46120,"date":"2026-03-24T16:14:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=46120"},"modified":"2026-03-25T10:16:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T10:16:36","slug":"draft-ihbcs-2025-gus-astley-student-award-winners-and-prizes-announced-jack-parker-oxford-brookes-receives-top-award-with-500-and-booth-bird-award-to-bcu-both-winning-newcastle-school-p","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=46120","title":{"rendered":"IHBC\u2019s 2025 Gus Astley Student Award winners and prizes announced: Jack Parker (Oxford Brookes) receives top Award with \u00a3500, and Booth-Bird award to Andrew Pettifor (Birmingham City University), both winning Newcastle School places"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The winner of the IHBC Gus Astley Student Awards for 2025 has been selected by guest judge, IHBC\u2019s Vice President Torsten Haak<\/a>, as Jack Parker, (Oxford Brookes) for work on \u2018Hewing\u2019, while the IHBC\u2019s Booth-Bird award winner is Andrew Pettifor (Birmingham City University), as both secure places at our 2026 Newcastle School<\/a> alongside cash prizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Torsten Haak said of the process that: \u2018It was an honour to be invited to judge this year\u2019s awards.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Given my long-standing involvement in heritage, I was eager to see how fresh ideas, collaboration, and purpose are shaping the sector\u2019s future.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018As anticipated, I was delighted to be inspired by the innovation and integrity shown in this year\u2019s entries.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jack Parker of Oxford Brookes University and the University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education (Historic Conservation MSc) has taken the top award with a prize of \u00a3500 for his Capstone Project, \u2018SQUARING THE CIRCLE: What is the Role of Hewing in UK Historic Conservation?\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Torsten said of Jack\u2019s work: \u2018This was an outstanding and highly engaging piece of work (including author\u2019s own explanatory drawings). Hewing was a technique I had not previously encountered in the UK context, and the dissertation offered a clear, well-structured, and convincing exploration of its relevance. The contemporary significance of the topic is evident, particularly in light of recent high-profile conservation projects in France, such as the restoration of Notre-Dame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jack’s supervisor on the project, Dr, Karl Kropf, said: ‘It was a pleasure and privilege to work with Jack.  His energy and enthusiasm were central to bringing together his direct, hands-on skills and experience and his intellectual curiosity to produce such an outstanding project .  We’re particularly pleased that Jack took full advantage of the wider remit for research opened up by the recently introduced Capstone Project and for his efforts to be recognised by the judges and IHBC\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jack said: \u2018I am delighted to receive the Gus Astley Student Award. My research explores how hewing, as a traditional method of timber conversion, can contribute to more sustainable and informed approaches to contemporary historic building conservation practice. It is heartening to see that craft-based research, focusing on traditional skills in relation to current challenges around sustainability, material understanding, and heritage skills transmission, is valued by the conservation sector. I am very grateful to the IHBC, and the award is a real encouragement at an early stage in my career.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IHBC\u2019s own Booth-Bird Prize for a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) or Conservation Options Appraisal was won by Andrew Pettifor of Birmingham City University (MA Conservation of the Historic Environment).  Andrew secures a prize of \u00a3150 alongside his place at the Newcastle School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew\u2019s CMP was titled \u2018Conservation Management Plan – The People’s Hall, Nottingham\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew\u2019s tutor, Katriona Byrne, said: \u2018I am delighted that my student Andrew Pettifor, studying the PG Diploma in Conservation of the Historic Environment at Birmingham City University, has received this year\u2019s Booth-Bird prize for his Conservation Management Plan on The People\u2019s Hall, Heathcote Street, Nottingham. This is an eighteenth-century building which is Grade II* listed and is highly significant as a rare surviving Nottingham Georgian townhouse, displaying mid-eighteenth-century ideals of classical architecture and with much retained original internal fabric and decoration. That the building was constructed by a wealthy businesswoman, Ann Morley, adds further national significance, alongside the adaptive re-use and extension of the building through the Victorian era, first as the first School of Art and Design opened outside London and then, as The People\u2019s Hall, a place dedicated to the temporal wellbeing and happiness of the working classes.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The condition of the Hall had deteriorated after years of vacancy and is again at risk following the collapse, due to Covid-19, of a 2019 part-HLF-funded, proposed conversion to a Business Hub. Andrew explored options such as residential and office use and devised policies for its protection.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew said \u2018I am delighted and honoured to have received the Booth Bird Prize in this year\u2019s Gus Astley Student Awards for my Conservation Management Plan for The People\u2019s Hall in Nottingham. The Plan set out policies and guidance for the building\u2019s future management, repair, and use. A 2019 Heritage Lottery Fund\u2013supported scheme unfortunately collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic and, as with so many historic buildings, the continued long-term vacancy of The People\u2019s Hall now poses a real threat to its conservation. The building urgently needs a sustainable new use. Given the Hall\u2019s substantial scale and layout, identifying a viable adaptive re-use presents a significant challenge. The Plan was therefore designed as a practical tool to support informed decision?making about the building and its heritage significance, reviewing realistic options and proposing potential new uses to help secure a viable long?term future.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I would like to express my sincere thanks to my tutors at Birmingham City University for their guidance and support, and to my colleagues at Aspbury Planning Limited for their commitment to me as we continue to strengthen our Heritage Consultancy services. Finally, I am deeply grateful to the Nottingham Historic Buildings Trust for granting me access to this remarkable building\u2014one whose walls, if they could speak, would tell a rich and fascinating story of Nottingham\u2019s social history\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the IHBC\u2019s Gus Astley and Booth-Bird award winners, three students have been Commended under the Booth-Bird programme for their Conservation Management Plan-linked submissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They include Rosemary James for her CMP \u2018Conservation Management Plan: Granary Approximately 5 Metres West of Tanners Farm, Church Lane, Capel, Kent\u2019 <\/em>andSteve Saunders for his work on \u2018The Sustainable Reuse of a Place of Worship: St Giles Church, Carburton, Nottinghamshire\u2019.<\/em>  Both are students of the Conservation of the Historic Environment course at Birmingham University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sian McGuirk was also Commendedfor her \u2018Conservation Management Plan for the Alterative Adaptive Reuse for Bath Cornmarket\u2019.  <\/em>Sian\u2019s work was undertaken as part of her MSc course on Sustainable Building Conservation at Cardiff University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IHBC would like to congratulate all the winners and thank those unsuccessful applicants for entering their work for the Gus Astley Student Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a very high standard of submission this year and all entrants have again been offered a free \u2018taster\u2019 year of IHBC membership (applies only for those not already members) and a free place at the IHBC\u2019s 2026 Virtual School, to be broadcast from Newcastle on 19 June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See more on the Gus Astley Student Award<\/a>, with the next round of submissions closing 31 August 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See more background<\/a> to the previous Awards<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See more on submitting online<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more on the IHBC\u2019s Annual Schools HERE<\/a> and on the 2026 Newcastle School HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The winner of the IHBC Gus Astley Student Awards for 2025 has been selected by guest judge, IHBC\u2019s Vice President Torsten Haak, as Jack Parker, (Oxford Brookes) for work on \u2018Hewing\u2019, while the IHBC\u2019s Booth-Bird award winner is Andrew Pettifor … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[42,18,33,29,43,333],"class_list":["post-46120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog","tag-awards","tag-conservation","tag-education","tag-heritage","tag-research","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46120"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46152,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46120\/revisions\/46152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}