Context 161 - September 2019

54 C O N T E X T 1 6 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 Notes from the chair In the hot seat on the breakfast show As you will no doubt be aware, I was voted in as chair of the IHBC at the AGM in July in Nottingham. As I said at the time, I consider it to be a real honour and a privilege to be taking over the reins from James Caird. Moving into a new role always means a degree of excitement, but also trepidation. I believe that I will be able to meet the challenges that such responsibility brings. I have three priorities for my three-year tenure. The first, and most obvious, is to take forward James Caird’s proposals for modernising the governance of the institute. His excellent report, which was approved at the AGM, sets out how to update the way in which the IHBC operates, including paving the way for possible chartered status. This has already been subject to extensive consultation with the branches, with which I was able to assist James. The draft proposals are currently with our solicitors for a legal check before being worked up in detail. Consultation will continue, and readers will see more detail in newsblogs, e-letters and Context . My second priority, which has been mentioned a number of times in the governance consultation, is to raise the institute’s public profile. For a first stab, see my reflections on the Nottingham annual school below. My third priority will be to continue and develop the institute’s record on CPD. I could not describe a better example of CPD than the 2019 annual school in Nottingham. My own CPD was given a boost on the Thursday when I elected to go on the regeneration tour of the city centre. For me that was an obvious choice as it hit three of my interests: building conservation, urban design and regeneration. On the big scale I was impressed by the major works taking place to cut a route through the rather ill-designed Broadmarsh Shopping Centre and to give a better connection between the railway station and the main part of the city centre. The refurbishment of Nottingham Railway Station was to a high standard, as was the improvement of the Old Market Square in front of Nottingham Council House. However, I could sense the potential conflict between providing a lively and active public space, and the need to preserve a dignified setting for the Grade II* listed building. At a smaller scale, the visual benefits of the shopfront improvement grants were there to see. What did I learn in terms of CPD? I could tick off a whole range of IHBC competencies, but one specific learning experience was seeing how a heritage action zone (HAZ) operates on the ground. Like many practitioners, I had been rather sceptical about the value and benefits of such initiatives. What, after all, could they add to conservation area and listed building designation, policies and grants? Here, I could appreciate how the HAZ could effectively set out a strategy to connect up a number of different heritage assets. As we shall see, the tour of the city centre architecture served me well the following day. Moving from the macro to the micro level, it was a pleasure to view the city improvements in Nottingham’s Urban Room, and to take advantage of short lectures in retrofitting by John Edwards and John Preston. The urban- room concept was one of the early recommendations of the Place Alliance, a group which the IHBC has supported since its inception. And so to the reception at St Mary’s Church, which included an entertaining whistle-stop history of the city by architectural historian Elain Harwood. However, my capacity to enjoy the reception was tempered by the knowledge that early the following morning I would be interviewed about the annual school on BBC Radio Nottingham’s Friday Breakfast Show. I was a little nervous when I arrived at the BBC Studio at 8 am. Having never been interviewed on live radio before, there was something of the fear of the unknown, particularly as there was no advance warning of the questions that might be asked. I had prepared as well as I could and had answers ready relating to the contents of the annual school and what the IHBC was all about. I felt just a little wrong-footed by the introduction to the interview, which was a recording of an eyewitness account of the terrible fire at Notre Dame. Fortunately, I knew enough about the event to comment on it (intelligently, I thought), and I even managed to mention that part of the roof and fleche were not medieval, but the work of Viollet le Duc. The conversation moved on to the annual school and to much safer ground. The last and possibly embarrassing question was what was my favourite building in Nottingham? Rather than stating something obvious such as St Mary’s Church, I picked the original Boots department store (now Zara) in the town centre. I have a real fondness for terracotta buildings and