REVIEW AND ANALYSIS 17 DIRECTOR’S UPDATE STRENGTHENING STANDARDS, SERVICE AND IMPACT SEAN O’REILLY, IHBC DIRECTOR SINCE MY last Yearbook update, as readers will be aware, the institute has continued its focus on those activities that make most difference to tangible conservation outcomes across our built and historic environment. Most notably, the sectorwide consultation on a potential Royal Charter continues to add weight to all the IHBC does. The exploratory work required was, it transpires, essential for much of what we do anyway, providing an ideal framework for reviewing who we are, what we do and how we move forward. Our progression also chimes well with the narrative in our Shrewsbury School in June, ‘Heritage in Context’, where we reflected on the model process for forward looking conservation outcomes: value, plan, change. In 2024 discussions around a Royal Charter gained momentum. Following the overwhelming support it received from our membership at our 2024 AGM, we submitted a formal memorandum to the Privy Council Office in May 2025 asking for their views on a Royal Charter for our institute. Hopefully, we’ll have initial feedback soon (at the time of writing) or already (at the time of reading). Meanwhile, our examination of charter status has not distracted us from our other services, as requested by our members. Indeed, charterlinked reflections, surveys and datagathering have added invaluable perspectives to our corporate planning priorities, often unexpectedly, but always usefully. It has provided a hugely welcome endorsement of our work to date. And it has given us new inspiration as we raise new service initiatives – from digital engagement in learning to more nimble approaches to fundraising in our CREATIVE Conservation Fund. Moreover, it has acted as a spur to our hopes and ambitions, based on a better ‘valuing’ of what we do, and the perfect foundation for any future ‘planning’ for informed ‘change’. One key criterion for any charter application is public benefit. For the IHBC, our outcomes in conservation practice speak for themselves. But perhaps less obvious is the energetic volunteering culture that we cultivate, inspire and rely on, particularly through the work of our branches, committees and boards, which helps us bring public benefit in spades. This is not least because, as a low-cost, high-skilled and reliable resource, our volunteers support services that offer, among other things, expert conservation learning and guidance that is accessible to all walks of life. Our charter investigation has reminded us of just how valuable our progressive and often innovative work in volunteer-framed conservation education and guidance is, both to the IHBC and to society at large. A recent example was our first blended Council, which was held in the London Charterhouse. In addition to welcoming in our new President Rebecca Thompson and Vice President Torsten Haak, and thanking Mike Brown as he took on the new role of Immediate Past President, that event also saw IHBC volunteers from branches across the UK joined together to benefit from new networks and learning. Alongside those headline opportunities we offered informal, technical advice for volunteers on hosting low-cost hybrid events, extending the reach of their programmes to engage with new audiences and to deliver even greater public benefit. Our charter discussions have highlighted the values our branches add, precisely because they extend the IHBC’s charitable outreach and work, so our investment in expanding volunteers’ skills and local services brings direct public benefit through our volunteers. Through the charter process, this improved valuing allows us to plan accordingly and, of course, invest resources with more confidence to support progress and change. The charter work also required that we specify the ‘unique’ expertise attached to the IHBC’s conservation practice. This has helped us crystallise new guidance based on our core practice model, The Conservation Cycle which underpins our assessment and regulation of personal, interdisciplinary historic built environment conservation practice. Although long embedded in our accreditation process, the cycle is now being brought to the forefront and featured in publications, CPD guidance and communications. For those who want more context to their professional journey, our forthcoming elevation of the cycle will only help. For example, it frames why the first step towards IHBC accreditation for emerging and early career conservation professionals might be as an Affiliate member: someone who has demonstrated a rounded, holistic ‘awareness’ of all aspects of the conservation process across all our eight Competences. It also makes explicit how those Competences, developed by conservation officers and adopted by the IHBC, align so well with international practice standards and models. Director Seán O’Reilly with David McDonald addressing virtual and in-person delegates at the IHBC Annual School in Reading 2024
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