65 CATHEDRAL COMMUNICATIONS THE BUILDING CONSERVATION DIRECTORY 2025 BUILDING CONTRACTORS 2 THE PRESERVATION OF MEMORY An introduction to working on international heritage at risk MATTHEW AMIS WHEN ROBERT Bevan’s 2007 book, The Destruction of Memory was brought to a wider audience by Tim Slade’s documentary in 2016, its impact was gut-wrenching. The film recounted the widespread and often targeted destruction of heritage assets around the world. Since then, little has changed, despite the evolution of international legislation and growing public awareness of the importance of conserving and protecting cultural heritage, and despite the plethora of governmental and non-governmental organisations and charities doing important work in this field. While their efforts to preserve memory and cultural assets around the world should be commended and supported, more needs to be done, not least in Ukraine and the Middle East. So, what can we do as practitioners within the heritage sector to contribute to this ongoing struggle? And what can we do as speciality contractors and conservators to provide aid and assistance in our speciality or craft where it is needed most? This article will outline the process of conducting fieldwork as a conservation professional in hostile environments and describe methods of mitigating and managing risk so that site work can be carried out as safely and effectively as possible. But first, a disclaimer: it should be noted that this article is not an appeal for companies to travel to active war zones or to put themselves or their employees at risk in dangerous places. On the contrary, our aim is simply to introduce some of the key considerations so that, where needs must and the difficult decision has been made to journey to a vulnerable area, heritage professionals could refer to this article as a starting point to aid the decisionmaking process. As described further below, meticulous planning and careful consideration is required to undertake any such project. It would be to the detriment of the country one is trying to assist to travel there ill-prepared and on a whim, despite good intentions. Before we begin, it would also be useful to outline what we mean by ‘hostile’ and ‘heritage at risk’. Hostile For the purposes of this article, the term is used to describe situations or conditions where individuals or groups are subject to or vulnerable to dangerous or intimidating environments, such as a country at war. It could also be a country with an unstable government where there is a lack of or restricted access to public services. Heritage at risk Here the term is used in the context of buildings or property with historic value; those contributing to local, national and/or international identity which are at risk of damage, loss or destruction within the ‘hostile’ environment. All heritage is inherently at risk of damage or loss. However, deterioration in places such as the UK is managed and monitored with repairs and maintenance carried out as necessary. GETTING STARTED There are two lines of questioning that should be asked at the onset of any project involving heritage in a hostile or dangerous place. The first series of questions should always be: – am I (we) in a position to help? – is my (our) service something that is required? The old saying you can’t help others if you can’t help yourself certainly rings true in this instance. Furthermore, although many of us in the conservation industry choose to work in this field because we are passionate about conserving and protecting the historic built environment, this is not a universal feeling. Some tradesman or craftsman came to their professions out Bomb damaged building in Western Ukraine during winter, 2024 (Photo: Lviv Heritage Bureau)
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