Our very first member. John found the Guild on his own — no invitation needed — and has been a pioneer within the community ever since. This week gave extra reason for pride: John received the Building Craft Award from the Sussex Heritage Trust for his reconstruction of the tower bay ceiling at Herstmonceux Castle. […]

Heritage across Europe: how each country treats what it has inherited — Part 12: Austria. Vienna is one of the great heritage cities of Europe — and one of the least discussed in the context of historic building restoration. The conversation tends to focus on the palaces, the museums, the opera house, the Ringstrasse monuments.

Heritage across Europe: how each country treats what it has inherited — Part 11: Switzerland. Switzerland does not shout about its heritage. It doesn’t need to. While other countries in this series have been navigating funding crises, bureaucratic complexity, and the consequences of decades of neglect, Switzerland has been quietly maintaining its historic buildings with

A personal reflection and a restoration question for the Guild They stand at crossroads, in the corners of fields, against the walls of farmhouses, at the edges of village squares. Some are no bigger than a letterbox. Others are small buildings in their own right — with a door, a pitched roof, a small window

Heritage across Europe: how each country treats what it has inherited — Part 10: Ireland Ireland’s relationship with its built heritage is complicated in ways that have no real parallel elsewhere in this series. In most of the countries we have visited, the challenge has been maintenance — keeping what exists in good condition, finding

Heritage across Europe: how each country treats what it has inherited — Part 9: Scotland Scotland is not England. This needs to be said clearly, because the two countries are frequently discussed as though they were interchangeable — particularly in heritage contexts where “UK” is used as a shorthand that erases real and important distinctions.

Heritage across Europe: how each country treats what it has inherited — Part 8: England England is, by most measures, the country in Europe that has thought longest and hardest about historic building conservation. The legislation, the institutions, the training infrastructure, the published guidance, the civil society organisations — all of it represents a century

Heritage across Europe: how each country treats what it has inherited — Part 7 There is a paradox at the heart of Bruges that most visitors never think about, because the city is so beautiful that thinking critically about it feels almost ungrateful. Bruges is extraordinarily well preserved. Its medieval centre — the canals, the

An intermezzo in the Heritage across Europe series — because this problem crosses every border! You walk through the streets and then you see it. A tag. Spray paint. You see it in almost every city, on public buildings, stations, subways, etc. But also on historic facades. Whether inhabited or not. Just because a facade

Heritage across Europe: how each country treats what it has inherited — Part 6: Italy Every city in this series has a heritage problem. Porto has too many azulejo façades and too few people who know how to repair them. Amsterdam is built on deteriorating wooden piles. Nancy’s Art Nouveau buildings are losing their decorative