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Historic Building Conservation

Historic building conservation is a branch of building surveying. Specialists in this area work with iconic, prestigious and heritage buildings covering everything from day-to-day maintenance to the delivery of multi-million-pound redevelopment projects.

Practice Area	Historic Conservation
What skills are required?	Report writing Good communication skills including negotiation nd influencing skills Ability to work well with clients and other professionals. Technical skills and a practical mind set. Good IT skills The ability to drive is usually required
What qualifications are required?	An RICS accredited degree is often required, most building surveyors will work towards chartered status with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS) Surveyors in this area may also study for a postgraduate or specialist qualification.
What is it like in practice?	Like other building surveyors, historic building surveyors provide professional, technical, expert advice to clients and need an excellent level of technical knowledge as well as the ability to work with clients and other professionals. Work could include historic building condition surveys, analysis and interpretation of historic structures and historical research. The job can be an active one, visiting and inspecting buildings, climbing into roof spaces etc so you may need a level of physical fitness. Surveyors can cover large geographical and rural areas and so a driving licence is usually required.
Work Environment	Split between office and site work.
Employment opportunities	Employers include private practices, charities and government organisations. There may be opportunities for building surveying graduates to train in this area employers such as the National Trust and English Heritage. There are also degree apprenticeships in building surveying available
More information	Visit RICS (opens new window) Visit Prospects (opens new window) Visit IHBC (opens new window)
Relevant UCEM programmes	BSc Building Surveying MSc Building Surveying

You might like this role if you enjoy:

Using science, technology and design to assess the condition of land and buildings and identify solutions
Researching, explaining and using data to protect, restore or repurpose historic real estate

See more skills used by historic building conservation surveyors:

Using perceptual and visual intelligence skills to interpret maps, charts and diagrams
Creativity and problem solving
Using technical or practical skills and cutting-edge technology
Working with different people such as clients, colleagues and the general public
Using verbal and written communication skills