COTAC INTERNATIONAL
 CONFERENCE 1999
Supported by the European Union Leonardo da Vinci Programme, ‘Transfusion’ Project

Summary of Conference papers read by:

Introduction

Conference Chairman Geoff West (English Heritage)

The buzz word of the construction industry these days is sustainability. Those in conservation believe that is good news for them. However, sustainability can be seen from various perspectives, as became clear at the COTAC International Conference.

Approaches to conservation are becoming more formal. Perhaps it is the result of Conservation Plans, developed two years ago to help the Heritage Lottery Fund assess applications for grants. Perhaps the plans were a response to an already intellectually maturing attitude towards conservation.

Either way, what was once seen as essentially a series of craft techniques has developed into an increasingly coherent philosophy encompassing a much broader range of professional skills, as well as crafts.

The philosophy is still developing, and helping it on its way are events like the COTAC International Conference held at the Building Research Establishment premises at Garston, Watford. in November 1999.

The title of the conference was ‘Profiting from Heritage Buildings’, although it might have been ‘sustainability’ as the subject was included somewhere in most presentations.

Sustainability is supposed to meet the needs of the pre-sent without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. But since the Government introduced the aim of sustainable development, those supposed to achieve it have debated what it means in practical terms.

As far as the conservation sector is concerned, it means more conservation and less new build, although not all the speakers at the COTAC event, in broadening their views of conservation beyond the simple preservation of building fabric, were quite as unequivocal about that as they might have been even a couple of years ago.