considerably less than the overall increase in professional membership (3% ). Setting aside the issue of the conservation content of the courses in the the three professions, we must ask whether we might not be losing out in the short term in matters of conservation expertise. Issues Bearing in mind that a considerable amount of work needs to be undertaken to quantify the present situation, it would be useful if the Association of Conservation Officers could help establish a base for this. The following is needed as a start: Table2 1. a specification of the role of conservation work in Continuing Professional Development in the Environmental Professions local authorities; 2. guidelines for certification of CPD programme; Total Profession Membership New Members (1987) (1987) (A) (B) (C) RIBA 27,684 829 RIGS 80,002 2,204 RTPI 10,568 566 118,154 3,599 Increase (C) '¾ Duration (B) o (D) (E) 2.9% Unspecified 2.7% 20 hrs/yr 5.4% 25 hrs/yr Monitoring (F) Self Self Self 3. dialogue between English Heritage and COT AC; 4. a specification for common inputs at all recognised schools. In doing this, the Association can help the syllabuses of existing courses to evolve, and facilitate the attainment of continuing professional devlopment targets. The beneficaries of this assistance will be the role and status of conservation activity and of conservation officers, and, at the end, an environment that enjoys better protection. Roger Francelectures in conservation at the School of Planning at Oxford Polytechnic and is a member of COTA C. A British Standard for Historic Buildings as its chairman. Over many years the Institution has evolved a system of working that is slow but thorough. The problem of getting everybody together at one moment is difficult; there are thirty-five people on the sub-committee and they come from all over the country at their own expense. The opinion expressed is lively and varied, so the task of the chairman is one of particular skill. The pattern of operation is that the main subcommittee meets twice a year (on average), and a smaller technical committee deals with the production of the publication and with the consultant appointed to compile the document. The Property Services Agency is available for the formulation of the brief for the consultant. At an interim stage, the consultant's draft will be available for public comment, and it is hoped that the document will be ready for publication in 1990. At the moment it is proposed to title the publication the 'British Standard Guide to the Care of Historic Buildings'. by Roger France There are many times when a Conservation Officer wishes he could put his hands on some document of national standing in his endeavours to protect historic buildings. It may be that he has included some hopeful-sounding phrases in the district council's Local Plan; in this case he will make pointed reference to them in his endeavours to deflect a multimillion pound speculation. Alternatively, he may be sitting uncomfortably in a chair under public gaze as a barrister questions him closely on the meaning of the word 'conservation'. And to what document will the inspector be able to turn to to find the answer? In another case, the local planning authority will have produced a pamphlet showing the boundary of a conservation area and a pretty picture; here, the authors rely heavily on the use of the words 'sympathetic' and 'in keeping'. This is a good way of advertising future employment for barristers, and probably the death of another listed building. Conservation Officers do try to make the policy statements in district plans tight, but would nonetheless welcome improved and generally agreed criteria to which they could turn. 22 The need for some official publication in this matter was first recognised by Paul Davies, an architect in private practice. He had already been involved with the British Standards Institution on the compilation of several of the Institution's publications. He argued that statutory authorities often take different approaches in the way that they deal with restoration, maintenance and repair of historic buildings, and that some formal guidance would enable more consistent consideration to be given. The Royal Institute of British Architects took the matter up with the British Standards Institution in 1985 and the proposal was accepted. An important part of the proposal was that the proposed British Standards Sub-Committee should reflect the broad spectrum of interest that is already involved in the decision-making process where historic buildings are involved. The proposal consisted of twenty-nine organisations ranging from national amenity societies, academic institutions, and associations of public bodies, to the construction industry and the professions. The sub-committee began its work in 1986 with Robert Chitham Early Doubts At an early stage, doubts were raised about the need for such a standard; the arguments for this were put forcibly by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, an organisation that has for many years offered advice on works to Historic Buildings. The doubts raised by the Society were Continued .
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