Building recording, here the (photo)graphic capturing of data showing a historic building or site’s physical configuration, condition, and evolution at a point in time, is integral to understanding and conserving the historic built environment.

Suvey here: Decision-making in Recording Historic Buildings (qualtrics.com)

I am a PhD researcher interested in understanding how specification for historic building recording is thought about by different professions and in different building project contexts. The aim of this questionnaire is to assess how current recording processes and protocols impact the creation, management, and reuse of historic building records. You can find out more about me and my project here.

Questionnaire closing date: 31 August 2021

Vacancy – Chair of The Board of Trustees

The Heritage Alliance is looking for a Chair to lead the Board of Trustees and staff from Autumn 2021, to be formally appointed at our AGM in early 2022. The Chair is an important public face of The Heritage Alliance, representing its work in a range of forums and to key decision-makers and influencers in politics and Government.  

The Heritage Alliance is the largest coalition of independent heritage organisations in the UK, with over 160 members. We are a charity. We embrace some very large organisations and many smaller ones; the unifying factor between them is a love of our diverse built, natural and created heritage. We are passionate about promoting the importance of heritage to prosperity, wellbeing, our environment, creativity and social resilience. We promote new thinking and conversations. We have active programmes aimed at building capacity and capability amongst our members and the wider sector. We promote partnerships, host events and debates and offer practical support and information. We are committed to being recognised for achieving the highest standards of inclusion, diversity and equality of opportunity in our work and activities. 

The Board of Trustees set the overall vision and strategic direction for The Heritage Alliance, and we are looking for a strategic leader as Chair who can be a powerful advocate for the organisation and its work. At the same time, we are looking for someone who will prioritise the business of running a successful advocacy charity, ensuring effective governance and supporting the work of the executive. In the face of significant ongoing challenge and change, the Alliance will play a key role in shaping future outcomes for the sector, and will need to reflect and respond to the needs of our membership and a diverse society through delivering new fundraising and sector resilience activities. We are therefore looking for a Chair with passion and vision who can work with us to shape how the organisation could develop and progress in the coming years. 

The Chair serves a three-year term, which is renewable. The role is not accompanied by any financial remuneration, although reasonable expenses are payable. The Heritage Alliance is currently based in Southwark.

To apply, please send your CV and a covering letter to Ingrid Samuel, the Deputy Chair of The Heritage Alliance to ingrid.samuel@nationaltrust.org.uk by Sunday 15 August.

If you would like to discuss the role further, please contact Ingrid via email or call 07919 419999. Interviews will be held on 17th September.

Ahmed Khalil is a PhD researcher at the University of Greenwich, working on the digital documentation of heritage buildings. As a part of his PhD project, he has prepared an online questionnaire concerning digital building data longevity and interoperability.

The questionnaire can be accessed through this link: https://forms.office.com/r/vMEZ2vuE13 

The online questionnaire is composed of two parts, the first part is exploring potential problems of digital data storage and re-accessibility as well as potential issues of data interoperability in the architecture and construction industries. the second part is specific to the heritage buildings sector. The questionnaire is relevant to professionals and academics working in the architecture and construction industries who deal with digital building data.  

All of the information collected will remain confidential. All information will be kept on secure encrypted devices. As soon as data is collected, all personal data will be anonymised. Any personal data will be deleted after the study. Anonymous answers will be used for research purposes only. Only anonymised questionnaire data will be kept for two years for further analysis and publications. 

Closes November 2021