Construction Management & Surveying

Building Conservation (Technology And Management) MSc/Diploma/Certificate

Overview

Building conservation is a combination of social, historic, philosophical, technical and legislative processes. The MSc in Building Conservation (Technology & Management) has been designed to encapsulate these core areas. The distance learning nature of the course offers a flexible education experience that can accommodate the demands placed upon students whilst in the work place.

A three day summer school is run annually, consolidating the knowledge from the core modules via group work and debate. In addition, one of the days is comprised of a series of lectures from experts within the building conservation sector. A site visit is also incorporated into the summer school. Modules are supported by experts in the respective fields.

Course Content

The course structure follows the International Council on Monuments and Sites’ (ICOMOS) education and training guidelines. It is also closely aligned with the recently introduced accreditation schemes for building conservation within the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Chartered Institute of Builders) CIOB. The course is built around five core modules and a choice of three specialist modules.

Module Choice - mandatory

· Building Conservation Philosophy and Practice

· History of the Built Environment

· Building and Contextual Investigation

· Conservation Technology and Materials

· Building Pathology

Module Choice - optional

· Contracts and Procurement

· Structural Engineering for Conservation

· Services Procurement and Provision (formerly Facilities Management 1)

· Asset Maintenance Management

· Building Services in Historic Buildings

· Project Management Theory and Practice

The MSc course is ideally suited to those individuals wishing to attain an accredited degree recognised by the RICS and CIOB. The MSc qualification can act as the starting point for those candidates entering into career as a Chartered Surveyor or Chartered Builder / Construction manager.

Innovation in delivery of the MSc in Building Conservation (Technology & management) is offered via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

About the Course Director

Dr Alan M Forster is lecturer in Building Conservation and Construction Technology at Heriot-Watt University, is course leader for the MSc in Building Conservation (Technology and management) and is a member of the Higher Education Academy. He is a Building Surveyor by profession with specialist knowledge of the repair of masonry structures and conservation materials. He has worked for conservation contractors, in public practice and consultancy. In addition, he worked for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments for Scotland (RCAHMS) within the survey and graphics department.

Forster, is an elected member of the RICS Building Surveying faculty (Scotland) and is a committee member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in Scotland (SPAB’iS). He was awarded a Lethaby Scholarship (2001) by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB).

He has industrial experience in the practical application, design and specification of lime based materials and natural stone for the conservative repair of historic buildings and masonry bridges, and is a trainer and assessor for (SVQ) masonry craft skills in the conservation sector. He has recently written the distributed learning materials and lecture presentations for the National Progression Award in the Conservation of Masonry on behalf of Historic Scotland, focusing on the influence of environmental exposure and deterioration of traditional materials for masonry construction.

In addition to his practical experience, Forster’s research initially focused upon the correlation of water vapour permeability and hydraulicity of hydraulic and non-hydraulic limes and cements, using conduction calorimetry. His PhD (2002) confirmed the correlation between the degree of hydration of hydraulically reactive components within a binder and the ability of the material to transmit water vapour and established a new definition of breatheability which established a context for those specifying repair mortars for traditional masonry structures.

Forster has published numerous papers on lime including; ‘Binder loss in traditional mass masonry: a cause for concern?’ (Forster, 2007: Journal or Structural Survey), and ‘Hot lime mortars: a current perspective’ (Forster, 2004: Journal of Architectural Conservation), ‘The Scottish experience of lime mortars’ (Forster, 2004: International Journal for Restoration).

He is member of the RILEM Technical Committee on Repair mortars for historic masonry. He is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Architectural Conservation, Building Research & Information and has written articles for the RICS and SPAB on the subject of specification of lime based materials. Forster acted as consultant for the EPSRC funded Engineering Historic Futures research project ‘adapting historic environments to moisture related climate change’ with responsibility for materials specification and oversight of the design and construction of the laboratory walls for the testing of moisture transfer mechanisms.

In addition he wrote a report on the issues of carbonation in lime based materials for the construction of the mass masonry walls. He was co-investigator for a Knowledge Transfer in the Built Environment project on Cob construction in Scotland, focusing on materials and performance under flood conditions, funded by the Centre for the Built Environment (£5000), (Forster et al, 2008) and published a paper entitled ‘Traditional Cob wall: response to flooding’ (Forster et al 2008: Journal of Structural Survey). He is supervisor to one PhD student investigating historic building maintenance.

Other research interests include the practical implementation of building conservation philosophy.