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Heritage and Conservation

Seeking to forge bridges between the critical philosophical and technical challenges of contemporary building conservation, our group addresses the future role of cultural heritage as an inclusive cultural resource that drives sustainable development through a principle of “do no harm”.

Our key areas of expertise are:

  • sustainable building conservation
  • vernacular architecture
  • heritage valorisation and digital documentation
  • heritage-led urban regeneration
  • heritage design management and public engagement
  • energy use in historic buildings
  • energy transitions in heritage buildings.

Aims

The Heritage and Conservation research group builds from its members’ established expertise in practice, research and advocacy both nationally and internationally.

These skills include specialist architectural conservation in theory and practice, energy and condition monitoring and measurement, digital documentation and augmented reality underpinned by architectural history and theory, heritage-led urban regeneration, and energy transition in heritage contexts.

Its research findings extend its remit into both policy and practice at both a national and international level, in an area closely aligned to Sustainable Development Goal 11.

Group leads

Research

Our UKRI-funded research includes AHRC, ESPRC and ESRC. Our members also have received funding from Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland, Cadw and the Vernacular Architecture Group and carried out consultancy for Historic England, Cadw, UNESCO and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The MSc Sustainable Building Conservation has connections with parallel programmes at Roma Tre University, The School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal and Delhi, as well as Athens National Technical University.

We have established international links with the National School of Architecture in Marrakech, The Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at Qatar University, the French NGO Architecture & Development, the Delhi based heritage NGO DRONAH, the US based Association of Preservation Technology International. These connections have enabled numerous research endeavours internationally.

Projects

Events

Monthly research forums

Schools

School of Computer Science and Informatics

Next steps