56 C O N T E X T 1 3 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 4 Vox pop Robert Demaus is director of Demaus Building Diagnostics. Who has been your greatest inspiration? I spent 15 years based at theWeald and Downland Museum near Chichester: Richard Harris, research director, and Roger Champion, master carpenter, were an inspiring combination of academic rigour and practical skill. The most inspiring project is Guédelon Castle, currently under construction in central France, employing only the techniques and materials used in the middle ages. Inspired and initiated by Michel Guyot, it is a gloriously ambitious 30-year experimental archaeology project. What has been your best idea? I am pleased that I have done some pioneering work in introducing and developing quite high-tech technologies, such as thermography, micro-drilling and ultrasound to have practical applications in building conservation. Sometimes the transfer from those applications to conservation is tricky, not least because there is an innate conservatism in many of those working in conservation. I am currently working on developing survey techniques using small unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). What would you like to have been if you had not become a conservationist? I like working with my hands, and by happenstance started my serious working life learning the skills of a millwright, and subsequently earned a living repairing (mainly) watermills and timber machinery for several years, but craft skills are massively under-appreciated and underpaid in this country. I have always been drawn to mechanisms of all sizes, and could imagine being a watchmaker or restorer of Bugattis. How do you reply when at a party someone asks what you do? Something a bit vague such as ‘I carry out specialist investigations of old buildings’. Building diagnostician is an instant eye-glazer. What is the biggest frustration in your job? Perhaps the biggest is the massive amounts of money that are wasted or misdirected in unnecessary works to old buildings. The great majority of those involved in the industry are incentivised to make projects as What do you do in your spare time? My wife and I have spent far too long working on a 14th-century, timberframed farmhouse and barns while trying to live there with young children. They were babies when we started but have left home now. She is an architect, and the combination of her approach and mine means that progress is very slow. Inevitably, it has also become a research centre for ideas, techniques and materials. I have three vintage cars languishing in a barn which I am certain I will have time to get back on the road next month.Well, soon anyway. What organisations are you a member of? SPAB, IHBC, ICOMOS,Vintage Sports Car Club. Which one issue would you particularly like the IHBC to campaign on? Bridging the gap. I am often asked to act as go-between where the relationship between a conservation officer and the other side has become difficult, and each side views the other with thinly veiled contempt. A listed building application must include a reasoned explanation of, and justification for, the proposed works. If an application is refused, it is surely reasonable that the refusal be accompanied by an explanation and justification at least as detailed and considered. expensive as possible. There is also a form of competitive conservation snobbery, where only the most expensive specification is considered good enough. What would you like to be doing in five years’ time? I would be happy to continue to be doing much as I am now. I would like to set aside more time for research, and perhaps get involved in more projects overseas. I think I have skills and experience that could be valuable in many parts of the world, but just as (or more) importantly, they have skills and experience that I am keen to learn. What is your favourite building? Any number of medieval barns, not necessarily the grand ones.Walk into a 15th-century barn, and the combination of confidence and competence exhibited at every stage of construction never ceases to amaze and delight. The masterpieces such as Westminster Hall and Ely Lantern are astonishing and wonderful, but these are clearly intended to be showily impressive. Barns are quieter and more unassuming. Your favourite book? The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico seems to have been consistently on the list through my life. It is sentimental tosh really, but I first read it at a very impressionable age.
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