C O N T E X T 1 7 4 : D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 11 T H E I H B C A T 2 5 Opposite: A 1926 design for a house on Warwick’s Bench Road, Guildford, Surrey, by Nicholas and Dixon-Spain (1879–1955) for a private owner (Copyright: The Blower Foundation) See page 22 Editorial A matter of survival The best-known statement about professions is probably that made by the character in one of George Bernard Shaw’s plays: ‘All professions are conspiracies against the laity.’ The barb is remembered because many people suspect that professions seek to empower their members by making everyone else dependent on them, and sharing their skills and knowledge only at an exorbitant price. Every professional institute claims to be working in the public interest, but whoever heard of an institute sanctioning one of its members for working within the law but against the public interest? As the IHBC celebrates its 25th anniversary, some of its confidence comes from being an unusual sort of organisation. The institute recognises that, partly because historic building conservation is a collaborative process involving peoplewith awide range of skills, many of its members have more than one professional affiliation. They may expect to change the focus of their work significantly throughout their careers, developing new knowledge and skills. It seems likely that other built environment professional institutes of the future will be more like the IHBC: multidisciplinary, flexible and light on their feet. For a professional institute, defining the public interest is both a professional and a political matter. Nationally, we have just been through a period when the government told us that the only value worth pursuing was economic growth, and that everything else that we valued would be secured if the nation was successful according to that single measure. But the world is more complicated than that. Where historic buildings are concerned, difficult decisions have to be taken and compromises made. Good decisions depend on the skilled and knowledgeable professionals guiding decision-makers to understand what is of value, and what options for managing change are both sensible and viable. Becoming a respected professional institute that punches above its weight has been a considerable achievement of the IHBC’s first 25 years. In the next quarter century one of the institute’s biggest challenges will be to work with the public andwith politicians to identify the public interest, and to build public and political commitment to achieving it. The IHBC’s work with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Conservation, Places and People will be a significant part of this. One of the most important messages to the world outside the profession will be that conservation and development can be complementary, not opposed to one another: the value of historic places is, among much else, an economic value. And the most important message of all: action on climate change is urgent, and building conservation can and must be part of it. We must hope that in 25 years’ time, today’s younger readers of Context will be writing about how the IHBC has played a leading part in making the most of the potential of historic buildings and places to minimise the use of non-renewable resources. Who would have thought 25 years ago that the test of the institute’s success would relate to the survival of the planet?
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