The winner of the IHBC Gus Astley Student Award for 2022 has been selected by guest judge Clara Arokiasamy, President of ICOMOS-UK, as Caitlin Osborne, from Birmingham City University’s IHBC-recognised MA course, for her dissertation, while Martin Whelehan of the Building Crafts College (BCC) is ‘Highly Commended’ and Catherine Jack, also of BCU, securing the IHBC Bird-Booth Award for a Conservation Management Plan.
Bob Kindred, IHBC’s lead adviser on the Institute’s Annual Gus Astley Student Awards, said: ‘This will be the fifteenth year we have run these prestigious conservation awards and we are very pleased yet again to have received submissions to an impressively high standard.’
Caitlin Osborne’s dissertation – ‘By people, for people, meaningful public engagement & participation in heritage conservation’ – also secured a distinction on the BCU course. For the IHBC’s Gus Astley Award she receives a £500 cheque, a certificate, and a free place at the IHBC’s Annual School 2023 to be held in Swansea on 22-24 June.
… a timely critical exploration…. More importantly, she provides a matrix to measure success and offers recommendations for the future…
Judge for the 2022 Awards, Clara Arokiasamy, ICOMOS-UK Chair, said: ‘Caitlin Osbourn’s study is a timely critical exploration of this issue and provides some clear examples of the differences and benefits between the two models here and abroad. More importantly, she provides a matrix to measure success and offers recommendations for the future for funders and all involved in small and/or largescale building conservation.’
‘Her research promotes a holistic approach to conservation which takes account of the people who inhabit the settings as much as the buildings located within those places and recommends local people’s involvement in high level decisions as much as in conservation work and stewardship which is key to the sustainability of buildings and achieving value for the money that is invested in them.’
BCU Course Director Katriona Byrne said: ‘I am delighted that one of our recent students has been awarded the Gus Astley Prize for 2023. Caitlin tackled the issues of community engagement in heritage conservation, particularly in relation to the iconic Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings which lay on her doorstep. She investigated what type of engagement activities were carried out by English Heritage/Historic England and The Friends of the Flaxmill, how they were received and what people felt at the end of them and about the redevelopment of this ancestor of the skyscraper.’
‘There are big questions here – how do we reach out to people and how do we ensure that the engagement is meaningful and is taken on board.’
‘Caitlin now works for TDR Heritage, a heritage consultancy based in Shropshire that provides consultancy support on heritage statements, conservation area appraisals, grant applications and the regeneration of historic high streets’.
… excited to have been given the opportunity to attend the IHBC Annual School…
Caitlin said: ‘I am so grateful and honoured to have won the IHBC Gus Astley Student Award, and I’m excited to have been given the opportunity to attend the IHBC Annual School in Swansea later this year.’
‘My dissertation explored what meaningful community engagement with heritage conservation looked like, comparing case studies such as the Rehabilitation of Birzeit in Palestine to the Jubiliee Colliery in Oldham. ‘This allowed me to fully evaluate and assess Historic England’s approach to community engagement with their flagship project, the Ditherington Flaxmill Maltings in Shrewsbury.’
‘The dissertation concluded that despite the status and money involved with the Flaxmills conservation, meaningful community engagement and participation was often lacking, and, when it did exist, it was the community volunteer group The Friends of the Flaxmill who truly provided it. Of course, I am indebted to Katriona Byrne and Tim Lewis for their enduring support and belief in me throughout my research and time on my MA at Birmingham City University.’
Martin Whelehan secured a ‘Highly Commended’ citation on the Gus Astley Award for his Elective Project on the Building Crafts College (BCC) course, Historic Building Conservation. Entitled ‘Research Through Making – Medieval Inlaid Tiles run by Building Craft College, Stratford’, the citation brings with it a £200 cheque, a certificate, and a free place at the Annual School 2023 to be held in Swansea on 22-24 June.
… masterful demonstration of the power and impact of a Research Through Making project…
BCC Foundation Building Conservation Course Director Steve Houchin said: ‘Martin’s work – an in-depth study of the practicalities of recreating medieval inlaid tiles – was a masterful demonstration of the power and impact of a Research Through Making project. The methodical and meticulous account of the process of identifying and sourcing appropriate materials and of the manufacturing techniques required to reproduce inlaid tiles was exemplary. Above all, Martin’s work provides a paradigm for the specification of materials.’
Martin Whelehan said: ‘It was a very pleasant surprise to receive the news that I had obtained Highly Commended on the IHBC’s Gus Astley Awards programme for my second-year project. I considered medieval two-colour inlaid floor tiles and incorporated both practical and written elements. The hands-on experience of producing a set of tiles was an enriching process that enhanced my learning and gave me a better understanding of the complexity of tile making, demonstrating to me just how skilled medieval floor tile makers actually were.’
‘Undertaking the Foundation Course in Historic Building Conservation at the Buildings Crafts College, Stratford was a rewarding, enjoyable, and enriching experience. I would like to thank my course leader Steve Houchin and all my other tutors for their help, encouragement, and enthusiasm. I have since gone on to complete a BSc (Hons) in Historic Building Conservation at Kingston University.’
Catherine Jack, also of BCU, won the IHBC Booth-Bird Student Award for a Conservation Management Plan (CMP), an award offered through the Gus Astley Student Award programme. Catherine’s ‘Conservation Management Plan for New Mill’, was also recognised with a Special Merit citation under the BCU’s Conservation of the Historic Environment PGDip. Her success with the IHBC’s student awards programme brings with it a £200 cheque, a certificate, and a free place at the IHBC’s Annual School 2023 to be held in Swansea on 22-24 June.
Bob Kindred said: ‘This submission was very thorough & comprehensive, while operating to established CMP methodology. I thought this was exemplary so I’m delighted it has been identified for special merit in this relatively new IHBC Student Award category.’
Catherine’s Course Director Katriona Byrne said: ‘I am particularly pleased that one of our current students has been awarded the IHBC’s Booth-Bird Award for a Conservation Management Plan. Catherine Jack looked at the Cross in Hand Windmill, East Sussex. It is a post mill dating to around 1806 and is on the Heritage at Risk register because of its bad and deteriorating internal and external condition. Its significance lies principally in its remarkably complete interior and surviving machinery. Through extensive research including engagement with key stakeholders and Mills specialists and a visit to a similar, but restored, mill she considered hypothetical options for its reuse, including restoration to working order with a heritage skills centre and holiday accommodation. A comprehensive set of policies was compiled to safeguard its significance and sustainably manage it.’
Catherine said: ‘I am so pleased to have been awarded the Booth-Bird Award for a Conservation Management Plan in this year’s Gus Astley Student Awards. This assignment gave me an enjoyable opportunity to research the mill’s fascinating history and consider its heritage significance in-depth, as well as to explore different ways in which a redundant industrial building such as this might be conserved and brought back into use.’
See more on the Gus Astley Student Award, with the next round of submissions closing 31 August 2023
See more background to the previous Awards
See more on submitting online
For more on the IHBC’s Annual Schools HERE and on the 2023 Swansea School HERE
See more on ICOMOS-UK
