C O N T E X T 1 2 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 1 3 at the park, which is regarded as one of the most important 18th century landscapes in the UK. The grant will also be used to improve access to the grotto and its interior for visitors and create two apprenticeships in gardening and building restoration and an education post to expand Painshill’s education and community outreach programmes. Some 158 acres in size, the Grade I listed Georgian landscape at Painshill Park was created between 1738 and 1773 by aristocrat Charles Hamilton out of his passion for plant collecting and the new fashions for naturalistic romantic landscapes of the period. Situated on an island on the lake at the centre of the park, the Crystal Grotto is one of the last historic follies at the park to be restored. Originally created by grotto maker Joseph Lane in 1760 for the sum of £8,000, the spectacular folly was described by German landscape designer Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell (1750–1823) as ‘the finest of its type ever built’. Restoration works will include the reinstatement of theWoollett Bridge, the appearance of which is preserved in an engraving dated 1760 byWilliamWoollett but which has since been completely lost. The grotto itself is to have its main chamber restored, which will include lining it with calcite, gypsum, quartz, fluorite, and other minerals and stones. It will complete the framework of inverted wooden cones plastered with lime mortar and embedded with crystals to create dazzling stalactites. The 24-month restoration programme is due to be completed in 2013. Modernist of the suburbs Kingston University is to receive £81,000 in funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to study the work of modernist architect KennethWood who recently donated archival materials, including models, plans and drawings, private papers and personal photographs, to the university. ‘While there has been a lot of research into, and comment on, London’s urban architecture of the 50s and 60s,’ the researcher Fiona Fisher says, ‘the outer boroughs have been largely neglected. The suburbs were a growth area, an arena in which a generation of modernist architects could establish their reputations.’ The research has attracted interest from the Twentieth Century Society, which hopes to draw on the work to help persuade local authorities to safeguard properties from this era. Wood’s practice designed private houses, small housing schemes, churches, offices, schools and recreational buildings. The firm’s most significant private commission was a home and private gallery, built in Kingston for the managing director of Gala Cosmetics, Stanley Picker. Its other commissions included Hampton House, winner of Ideal Home magazine’s ‘House of theYear’ award in 1961. Since 2000, two of Wood’s houses have been demolished and others are now under threat. As pressure has grown on land in the suburbs, developers have identified the large sites on which many of Wood’s properties were built as having the potential to be divided up. seven years. Its aims are to ensure that registrants have demonstrated a high level of competence and understanding of historic structures; to provide lists of engineers who have the ability to deal sympathetically with historic structures; and to encourage engineers to improve their conservation education. The conservation engineer’s function is not simply that of a protector of heritage assets. It involves integrating new with old, and developing reasoned arguments for proposed construction works. CARE seeks to test the skills and values in its accreditation process, providing clients with a universally recognised level of competence. An engineer on the register will have had to prove that they have a sound conservation philosophy, are up to date with CPD and are able to show their competency through five case studies. In view of the huge amount of work that relates to conservation, repair and maintenance (reported in the IHBC Yearbook as being worth £5 billion a year), there is a clear need for wellqualified structural and civil engineers who understand old structures. There are various other lists where it is possible to find structural and civil engineering practices which claim to have experience in dealing with historic structures. But only those engineers registered with CARE have been able to prove their competency to the CARE assessors. This is not to say that many of the others are not competent, but how are owners and those in other professions to know who has a proven track record? CARE registers individuals, not practices. CARE is of value to IHBC members when searching for engineering advice. Presently there are 33 engineers on the register. If you know of a competent engineer, ask if they are accredited. Of the 33, 12 are members of IHBC (the IHBCYearbook tells us there are 34 engineers who are IHBC members). The 22 engineers who are not accredited should seriously think of applying to register with CARE. Registrants report that they are getting an increasing amount of work as a result of being on the register. The register and further information about it are available online (on the Institution of Civil Engineers website: type CARE into the search box). CARE registrants will be happy to talk to groups of IHBC members about the register and engineering in conservation. Contact me or Jon Avent, chair of the CARE panel, both listed in the IHBCYearbook and on CARE. KennethWood in the 1950s Wood’s house and gallery for Stanley Picker The Crystal Grotto and its stalactites The right sort of engineer Ian Hume writes: The Conservation Accreditation Register for Engineers (CARE) has been running for just over
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