C O N T E X T 1 1 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 0 39 Director’s cut Busy bees @ IHBC: 1 Over the last few months the national office has been notified about a spate of service cuts, job threats, redundancies, project cancellations and the like. Given the economic circumstances across the UK, this is hardy surprising. By the time you read this, the update of the joint IHBC/ALGAO/EH research into local authority capacity will have been released, highlighting a near seven per cent reduction yearon-year in conservation staffing alone. This decline is additional to, and at twice the rate of, the decline registered in previous research. Even so, it was carried out nearly a year ago, and there is no indication that things have done anything but get worse. Sadly, the threats we see now are a development of problems faced before the new government took office. Our extensive consultation on the recently approved Corporate Plan 2010–15, adopted at the IHBC’s most recent AGM, has helped us develop the plan as a response to the current cuts. I propose to explore how we are helping the sector through our forward planning in a wide-ranging survey over this and the next Director’s Cut. In this issue I want to focus on how we are supporting awareness in the heritage sector of the professional roles and skills of our members. Advocacy, and communicating the benefits of our work, is a key issue. I will return to this at the conclusion of the two articles as well, but for now it is an important starting point. Our most urgent priority is to tell local authorities just how important our conservation services are, as they span responsibilities from general cultural aspirations for the historic environment to the design of great places. To do this we are producing a web-based resource for members threatened by cuts to their jobs or services. This is intended as a ready reference for cases to be made directly to employers, managers and elected representatives, to help maintain or even improve services. This reference is building on the work of recent years. Following research by the IHBC and others into local conservation services, largely generated as part of English Heritage’s modernising agenda, we now have a significant body of evidence showing how local authority conservation services deliver benefits and outcomes far in advance of their investment costs. We know also that reductions in conservation service undermine the sustainability of our valued buildings and places. Alongside the reduction in service, the problems that go with worse environments will increase: controversial planning outcomes – look to Ireland for disturbing exemplars and consequences in this area – as well as poor living standards, illhealth and economic instability. The evidence has been rehearsed in detail elsewhere – much is available on our website – but we need to make it more accessible in a single resource. Our first draft should be linked from the home page by the time you read this article. Conservation skills need their advocacy just as much as the public service itself. As skills are a fundamental concern to the IHBC (our charitable operations are focused first on conservation outcomes), we are working hard at their development and celebration. Undoubtedly, the biggest hurdle we face is the extent of uninformed perceptions of conservation skills and standards. There is an unacceptably widespread presumption that any professional skilled within a traditional discipline is inherently competent to advise on its historic values and future viability. Too many professionals advising on historic places remain blissfully unaware of even the basics (for example the 1993 ICOMOS guidelines on conservation training) and how these are exemplified in our own Areas of Competence. In response to this problem, the IHBC is highlighting the skills needs as well as celebrating their development. As real conservation benefits are delivered only through the application of real conservation skills, the IHBC, together with partners in the construction sector, is helping define the practical skills that underpin the new conservation National Occupational Standards (NOS), a scheme that frames future investment in training. Our work on the NOS is informed by our own membership criteria, so the outcomes will both underpin and build on our standards. The draft will be in circulation by the time you read this, with details on our website. We have joined the National Heritage Training Group (NHTG), the specialist traditional skills body for the construction sector. Enhanced links with the NHTG, now chaired by IHBC member Paul Simons, will revitalise the historic ties between professional adviser and trade practitioner, ties that had been lost in more recent government changes. I will help to lead the delivery of the wide-ranging outcomes identified in the associated NHTG Professional Action Plan (search our NewsBlog archive for details), including joined-up training course promotion and evaluation. Our annual Gus Astley Student Award celebrates burgeoning conservation-related skills. The 2010 award has had a record 41 new entries from across (and beyond) the construction, heritage and tourist industries. Nearly double the number of entries to our first year of the award in 2008, the response reflects not only the reach we are achieving across all sectors in our promotion of the award, but also the success of our new dedicated student website (linked from our home page). The generosity of the award’s judges over its short history has been especially welcome, as their senior positions across the UK’s heritage industry reflect the strength of employer support.With IHBC member Trefor Thorpe, Cadw’s chief architect, judging the 2010 award, and Baroness Andrews, English Heritage chair, having presented the 2009 awards, our early career professionals are now getting the recognition their sophisticated skills deserve. We will be celebrating skills in our
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