2009 Yearbook

r e v i e w 13 Chairman’s Review Dave Chetwyn, IHBC Chair The past year has been a very good one for the IHBC. It has seen an increase of some 15 per cent in the number of members across the UK. Our profile in Northern Ireland has been raised. We held the Autumn Council in Belfast, had dinner with the first minister, a reception at Hillsborough Castle attended by the environment secretary and culture minister, and a seminar with the Planning Service. The IHBC has been increasingly successful at getting its voice heard and influencing the political agenda. We gave evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Parliamentary Select Committee, responded to a range of consultations, and attended a range of government steering, stakeholder and advisory groups. The IHBC prepared a detailed response to the draft Heritage Bill , working jointly with the Royal Town Planning Institution, Royal Institute of British Architects, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Planning Officers Society and Chartered Institute of Building. There was also close involvement with the Planning Bill . A trading arm of the IHBC, IHBC Enterprises Limited, was set up. One of its first initiatives was the HESPR trade listing programme. We ran a successful and well-attended Annual School in Guildford, with a keynote speech from Baroness Andrews, and numerous other regional and Annual School 2008 delegates visited the Watts Gallery, Surrey. This purpose-built art gallery was constructed in solid concrete in an Arts & Crafts style, and is now being restored. (Photo: Robert Walker)