Field trip to Canterbury Cathedral

The stewardship of the historic environment requires heritage practitioners with special skills in understanding, investigating, enhancing and communicating the legacy of the past. It is the ambition of this programme to inspire the participants to build upon their existing knowledge and skills to become more effective, competent and confident practitioners.

This two-year part-time programme takes place on 32 Fridays over each of the two academic years and is designed to offer a comprehensive and innovative approach to the conservation of historic buildings. It attempts to address the need to conserve, the artefacts that require conservation, and the methods of conserving. Philosophical issues and craft techniques are explored and modern value systems of assessing significance are investigated. The programme includes site and craft workshop visits that are connected to current conservation issues of interest.

The First Year engages the students in developing their own conservation philosophies, allied with the study of early and medieval building types. Students learn about causes of defects to buildings, as well as their diagnosis and repair. Amongst the required pieces of written work are a materials essay/investigation, a church development study, a conservation statement exercise and a fabric condition survey of a building.

The Second Year extends the scope of these studies including the issues associated with the development and repair of historic interiors and the introduction of services into historic buildings, further developing the students’ philosophies. The principal work for the student is a thesis of 15–20,000 words on a subject of their choice to be approved by the staff. This is developed with the assistance of a specialist external tutor for submission to external examiners.

Those directing the programme benefit from the expertise of its advisors, Richard Halsey, Elain Harwood, Frank Kelsall, John Redmill, Clive Richardson and Robert Thorne. Many former students show their continuing commitment to the course by returning to lecture to current students.

For 35 years the AA’s Conservation of Historic Buildings programme has been recognised as one of the leading courses of its kind. The course is designed to meet the ICOMOS Guidelines for Education and Training and is informed by current developments in conservation best practice. The course is accepted by the RICS and IHBC, meeting the standards for members involved with conservation works.

Programme Director

Andrew Shepherd is an architect and has run a practice specialising in conservation work for over 30 years, principally in the ecclesiastical field. He is also involved in various international training programmes.

Programme Staff

David Hills is an architect with a major conservation practice and has a special interest in the conservation of modern architecture with heritage significance.

David Heath was latterly Chief Conservation Architect to English Heritage and is the current Chairman of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. He is the course thesis tutor.