LETTERS AABCREGISTER Sir: I was disappointed to read in the September issue of Context the overall support given by John Preston to the setting up of the Register of Architects Accredited in Building Conservation (AABC Register). I feel that the Institute is missing an important opportunity here. We have progressed from the original Association of Conservation Officers and now have an Institute that should be the main professional body for those involved in the conservation of historic buildings. Membership is no longer determined by the job members carry out but by their qualification and experience. It is also available to a wider range of professionals than those involved in the planning process. We now have members, for example, who are structural engineers. Their membership of this Institute should give confidence to potential clients that they will have a good understanding of the special problems associated with historic buildings and will be able to use their judgement rather than merely quote codes of practice. Similarly, I would hope that we would welcome members of the heating and ventilating engineering professions as well as those of electrical engineering. Heaven knows, we do need professionals in those fields that respect historic buildings and do not act like Philistines. Quantity surveyors with special historic building experience should also be encouraged. We can all think of projects that have suffered from inadequate cost information clue to surveyors not having special knowledge of historic buildings. In the case of the proposed new architectural register, the persons setting it up have no official status even if it is supported by a range of conservation and professional bodies. The Institute, on the other hand, has spent considerable time obtaining official recognition. The architects' own professional institute, the RIBA, has indicated that it does not itself wish to be involved in setting up such a register and is at best lukewarm towards it. At present, Context65 March2000 LETTERS I understand that there is a considerable body of opinion among those in the architectural profession involved in historic building conservation that they do not want to be involved in this register for a number of reasons. Why, therefore, does not the !HBC take up the challenge and welcome architects with suitable qualifications and experience to be full members and effectively create its own register? Through monitoring CPD, the Institute would ensure that the professional abilities of those architects were being continuously enhanced and that they were keeping up-to-elate with current conservation techniques and philosophy. The professional qualifications RIBA + IHBC would then mean architect qualified to work on historic buildings. There would then be no need for an additional register and certainly not one organised by a group without proper official recognition. If the Institute were to take up this challenge, it would mean that it could itself be responsible for the professional standards of all professionals involved in historic building conservation. I realise that this would be a considerable responsibility for a new institute but surely one that it would welcome. It would not have to rely on other bodies with their own (often commercially driven) agendas and could set the standards of education for all historic building professionals rather than merely seeking to use its influence with other bodies. The initials IHBC will then come to mean something really significant. It is my view that the Institute should grasp the exciting opportunity which now exists and set out to become the principal professional body for all professionals involved in historic building conservation, membership of which will be recognised by the public at large as indicating the highest standards of professional competence in the field. 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