International

The Institute wishes to promote the international exchange of conservation information and good practice. We welcome contacts with other professional and academic bodies, and with individuals working in building conservation. Subject to scrutiny of content, we will post on our site; international news items, course and conference information, reviews of publications, requests for information and professional or biographical details.

Items for inclusion should be submitted to Rob Parkinson, International Secretary IHBC, international@ihbc.org.uk

Applications for membership from outside the UK and Ireland can be made to Lydia Porter, Admin Information Officer, membership@ihbc.org.uk

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Built Heritage - CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Slovakia

For university graduates with an ambition to work in the field of heritage conservation and development. AlNova provides an international one-year study programme.

Full details PDF download
Application Form MSWord doc
Admission requirements PDF download

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The main focus of FIDAS Foundation is on architectural research and diffusion, offering technical and professional training advice in all the fields of this discipline, in order to improve the technical quality of both architectural design and the resulting building work.
Details (PDF download)
Full details (PDF download)


An approach to Sevillian Ephemeral architecture
Full details (PDF download)

The IHBC in Romania

The Built Heritage Conservation Training Project

Transylvania Trust Web Site
Built Heritage Consevation Training Centre - Bánffy, Castle Bontida, Romaina Web site

Introduction
The first involvement of the IHBC in Romania was at the invitation of the British Council (Bucharest) and the Romanian Ministry of Culture during the Autumn of 1998. The initial invitation was to help develop a project to re-establish traditional building craft skills in Romania, in partnership with the Transylvania Trust.


The Prince of Wales in the Restored Bastion Cafe of Banffy Castle receiving a copy of the 2002 IHBC Yearbok from David Baxter IHBC European Secretary Full Story






The Project
Through the partnership of the Transylvania Trust and the IHBC a long term project has been developed to revive and disseminate traditional building craft skills in Romania following the devastation of the Ceausescu years, (when repairs to historic buildings was actively discouraged and many buildings were actually demolished) to promote high quality historic building conservation in order to preserve the country’s unique and valuable built heritage. The initial project – The Aiud Conservation and Trans-national Training (ACTT) Project was seen as a first step in developing a built heritage training strategy at a national level in Romania. Its goal is the creation of a National Crafts Skills Training Centre at Banffy Castle , Bontida, which will also serve neighbouring Eastern European countries.

The work in Romania has involved a direct partnership between the IHBC, the Transylvania Trust, The Oxford Brookes University and The Technical University of Cluj. It has incorporated training workshops jointly led by British and Romanian craftsmen teaching skills in traditional rendering, carpentry and joinery, stone repairs, masonry consolidation and roofing. In the four years since its inception over 140 students have attended the courses. The courses combine the formal teaching of conservation philosophy with practical workshop sessions on historic buildings in Romania thereby achieving a restoration of the building through the project.

The aim of the project is to Teach the Teachers, and it has already achieved that success in that several students from the 2000 Project returned as teachers for the 2001 project.

Who are the Transylvania Trust?
The Transylvania Trust is a charitable organisation established in 1996 with an unrivalled reputation for conservation work in Romania. Since its inception it has won a Europa Nostra Award for the restoration of the Calvary Church in Cluj-Napoca, and a Europa Nostra Medal for its excellent grant scheme in the historic village of Rimetea.

Bontida 2001 and Beyond
The project moved to Banffy Castle, Bontida, during the summer of 2001. The castle is one of the most important buildings in Transylvania and is currently under the guardianship of the Ministry of Culture and Religion. With their permission the project concentrated on the restoration of the former kitchen block which dates partly from the 19th century but also incorporates a drum tower/bastion which formed part of the 16th century defences. In parallel with the work at Bontida a second site was used at the village of Maiad where the restoration of the church oak roof was undertaken. The normal philosophy used in Romania is to replace completely defective elements rather than repair. The work at Maiad was therefore very much a pioneering approach and one which had never been achieved on this type of structure in Romania.

Support for the Project
The Project has received the support of The British Council (Bucharest), The Ministries of Culture and National Education (Romania), The British Embassy (Bucharest),The European Union (Romania), PHARE (Romania), ICOMOS (Romania), The Ministry of Culture (Hungary),The British Council (London), English Heritage, ICOMOS (UK and Europe), the Councils of Herefordshire and South Shropshire, and of course the patronage and support of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

Current Situation
The BHCT Project, based at Bánffy Castle, Bontida, Romania achieved a number of landmarks during 2002. The first few months of the year were concerned with fund raising to ensure the success of the Project for the year, and in developing relationships with other Organisations. Consequently by April a strategy for the restoration of the Parkland had been agreed with The Pro Patrimonio, who under the guidance of Sherban Cantacuzino will undertake the work. Also in early April we received confirmation of the success of our fund raising efforts with an award of funds from The Getty Grant Programme.




Contacts
For further information, or if you are interested in becoming involved in the project contact;
Dave Baxter, IHBC European Officer Email: dbaxter@cluj.astral.ro
Csilla Hegedus, Financial Director, Transylvania Trust E mail: cshegedus@transylvaniatrust.ro