30 Y e a r b o o k 2 0 1 1 Oddfellows Hall, Plymouth clearly demonstrates the need for a sensitive approach to conservation, repair and maintenance. Taking a broad perspective, the site built upon the 14 explicit criteria of the ICOMOS Guidelines for Education and Training in the Conservation of Monuments, Ensembles and Sites dating from 1993, and recast them into five relevant subset units against which accreditation submissions could be made based on a range of appropriate experiences. The units address the following topics: • cultural significance • aesthetic significance • investigation, materials and technology • social and financial issues • implementation and management of conservation works. Set out in the form of structured CPD, the website offers assistance and guidance to practitioners who wish to seek accredited status. The site is not a formal course as such, nor does it provide an easy route to accreditation. What it does seek to achieve is to influence the way individuals think about conservation issues, and it encourages the adoption of a self-assessment regime to assist in the process of compiling an appropriate body of evidence for peer-review. Now administered by the Conference on Training in Architectural Conservation, the site has received more than 600,000 hits in its first four years and is clearly meeting a demand that is not being fulfilled elsewhere. UK building conservation accreditation schemes Since 1992, six professional body accreditation schemes have been set up in the UK, and another in the Republic of Ireland. With the exception of the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland, all have participated as active members of the Edinburgh Group. They are listed below with the years in which their respective schemes were established: • Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), 1992 • Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), 1995 • Architects Accredited in Building Conservation (AABC), 1998 • Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI), 2001 • Conservation Accreditation Register for Engineers (CARE), 2003 • Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT), from 2008 • Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), 2010. The Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA), and the Royal Society of Architects in Wales (RSAW) have also formally adopted the recent RIBA scheme which, unlike the others, offers an incremental accreditation route at three levels: Conservation Registrant, Conservation Architect, and Specialist Conservation Architect. In creating this approach, these three professional bodies have followed the lead of others in recognising the significant value of the entire CRM sector to the profession’s work portfolio, and the challenges that it creates. A stone cleaning project in Glasgow 30 years on: will accredited status help to ensure correct specification in future?
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