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46 C O N T E X T 1 7 9 : M A R C H 2 0 2 4 New member profile Verity Ramsden I work as senior development surveyor for Historic England. I had a bit of a roundabout route into conservation: I had always been fascinated by historic buildings and sites from childhood, having been taken to visit National Trust houses by my parents, and was addicted to ‘Time Team’ as a child. After a degree in history and French, I almost signed up for a master’s in conservation, but was talked out of it and I ended up taking a more conventional route into real estate, becoming a chartered surveyor and valuer instead, working in London, Oxfordshire and Myanmar (Burma). meant I could not continue my surveying work, so I got stuck into the course while volunteering three days a week for a Ugandan cultural heritage NGO – the Cross- Cultural Foundation of Uganda. It does amazing work to promote and preserve some of Uganda’s historical buildings and cities and I was privileged to be involved in a project to create an app, some maps and a beautiful coffee-table book about these places. I also helped with research and early preparations for the Uganda Railway Museum, which is now open and well worth a visit. I finished my studies in 2019, and around the same time I saw that Historic England was advertising for a chartered surveyor who understood and was passionate about heritage. It seemed the perfect combination for me and I was lucky enough to be offered the job, so we relocated to the UK (just in time for the 2020 Covid lockdown) and in 2021 we moved up to Cumbria. My work at Historic England involves advising on any cases – be it grants, development advice, or policy – where real-estate issues such as valuation, viability, development appraisals, marketing and disposals come into play. I love the variety of places and cases I get to experience, and I am always impressed by the passion and expertise of my colleagues. I joined the IHBC as an affiliate member while I lived in Uganda and was studying for my master’s degree because I wanted to be more involved in the heritage world. I worked on my full application from about 2021 onwards, finally submitting earlier this year. I already had MRICS after my name for my surveying profession and I wanted to add the IHBC to reflect that I had both strings to my bow – real estate and conservation. I am looking forward to attending more events in 2024 and getting to know more IHBC members in the region. Verity Ramsden is a new full member of the IHBC. The urge to work in the heritage sphere never really went away, though. My job in Oxford brought me into contact with a lot of historical buildings, while in Myanmar I was surrounded by amazing heritage both vernacular and colonial in style, much of it neglected and crumbling; I wanted to be able to help bring it back to life. I signed up for the ‘flexible’ MSc in conservation of the historic environment at Henley Business School, and started studying for that alongside my surveying work. Not long afterwards, my husband’s work relocated us to Uganda, where visa regulations