Three one-day courses from English Heritage
and RIBA in the East Midlands
Each session 10.30 a.m. – 4.30 p.m.
Course 3:
Working with historic buildings:
Design, repair specification and procurement
5 March 2015
Heritage Skills Centre, Lincoln Castle
Assembling the right mix of skills for a historic building project is a skill in itself. It
requires not just a grasp of the client’s brief, but a holistic understanding of the
building. Once you have this ‘big picture’ you can design a solution which works with
the structure and fabric, and then home in on the mix of expertise, crafts,
technologies and materials which will realise its full potential.
This course illustrates these stages of understanding, specification and procurement
in historic buildings, visiting two projects of international significance in Lincoln. A
major programme is nearing completion to develop the Castle as a world-class
attraction. Our course venue is the celebrated new-build Heritage Skills Centre in the
heart of the ancient castle, adjacent to which a new home for the Magna Carta is also
about to be built. Our speakers will include some of the interdisciplinary team involved
in this ambitious programme of design, build and repair. The Cathedral next door is
home to one of the UK’s leading craft workshops, where you will witness at first hand
many of the skills historic buildings need.
Objectives
By the end of this course you will know how to:
 form an understanding of a historic building or site’s significance and how it works
 use that understanding to inform:
o detailing and specifications appropriate to the building and the brief
o the mix of advice, skills and expertise, both professional and craft
which you will need for the project.
Draft programme overleaf
Guest speakers invited so far:
Andrew Arrol & Rob Green – Arrol & Snell
Kathryn Banfield – Lincoln Heritage Skills Centre
Carol Heidschuster – Lincoln Cathedral Workshop
Ed Morton – The Morton Partnership
Naomi Atherton – Summers Inman
Provisional programme
10.00 Registration
10.30 Welcome
Valeria Passetti, RIBA
Anthony Streeten, English
Heritage
10.35 Introduction – Understanding historic
buildings
Practical Building Conservation
Clive Fletcher, English
Heritage
Getting the measure of your building and assembling your team
10.45 The architect
Andrew Arrol, Arrol and Snell
11.05 The structural engineer
Ed Morton, Morton Partnership
11.25 Short break
11.35 The craftspeople
Carol Heidschuster, Lincoln
Cathedral Workshop (tbc);
Valeria Passetti, Conception
Architects
11.55 Commissioning craft skills
Kathryn Banfield, Lincoln
Heritage Skills Centre
12.10 Building and managing your project team:
Questions & panel discussion
Naomi Atherton, Summers
Inman (tbc)
12.40 Lunch
1.30
The Lincoln Castle experience: meet the
team
 New Heritage Skills Centre
 David P J Ross Magna Carta Vault
 Lift Tower
 Wall repairs
Rob Green, Arrol & Snell
With Andrew Arrol, Naomi
Atherton and Ed Morton
2.00
(1) Lincoln Castle, Heritage Skills Centre
(2) Lincoln Cathedral workshop
Two tours swapping at 3.00 pm
Andrew Arrol/Rob Green
Carol Heidschuster
4.00
Conclusions, evaluation
4.30
Close