The Conservation Works Team

We currently have a team of 40 specialists dedicated to the maintenance of our State Care monuments. This includes regionally-based work crews, joiners, blacksmiths and stone carvers.

The team aims to carry out conservation schemes on a number of historic monuments each year (12 monuments during 2008 – 2009). Works are prioritised through a range of criteria including:

1. condition
2. age and importance
3. public demand for access
4. health and safety issues

Examples of our recent conservation schemes can be found in our Conservation Case Studies.

All work to State Care monuments conforms to best conservation practice, namely minimum intervention, maximum retention of historic fabric, clarity of new work, reversibility and sustainability. These best practice guidelines can be found in the Burra Charter (.PDF 4.7Mb).

The Traditional Building Craft Skills in Ireland (2009) report has identified a serious skills and knowledge gap in the built heritage sector. To address this issue we are working with the National Training Group to research the skills base currently existing in Northern Ireland. A Traditional Building Skills Working group has also been established to deliver flexible training and skills development. As part of this, over the next few years NIEA: Built Heritage aims to develop a training apprenticeship scheme, based at our Moira headquarters, targeting the specialist conservation skills needed for working with irreplaceable historic structures.