Conservation and heritage experts to gather in Clare for National INStone Symposium
CONSERVATION and heritage experts from academia, government, local government and the private sector will gather in County Clare this Wednesday to discuss the need to improve the traditional skills which, they say, is required to prevent ongoing damage being caused to the country's heritage buildings.
The inaugural National INStone Symposium is being hosted, in Boston, by Burren-based Irish Natural Stone (INStone), the company responsible for delivering the Irish Hunger Memorial in New York City, the restoration of the Four Courts in Dublin, St. Mel's Cathedral in Longford, St. John’s Cathedral in Limerick, the O'Connell Monument in Ennis, the Irish Cultural and Learning Foundation in Phoenix (USA) and Hope House in Bath (UK).
Company founder Frank McCormack says the event will highlight the urgent need to educate public bodies about bringing vernacular buildings and derelict housing back into use in “a proper and correct manner with sensitivity towards their heritage aspect, ensuring the use of natural materials.”
The conference will hear the preservation of historic stone buildings across Ireland is under threat unless urgent and efficient action is taken to develop standards of procurement, training and apprenticeships.
Mr McCormack added: “All stakeholders involved in the preservation of our built heritage need to know and understand about what natural materials should be used and their appropriate application, whilst ensuring best conservation practice is adhered to and achieved. Unfortunately, we are at a concerning stage where there is a widening gap in traditional skills within the heritage sector."
He says traditional skills once commonly deployed in the conservation of old buildings are being lost and that intervention, at national level, is required to ensure the heritage value of Ireland’s vernacular properties is not undermined.
The daylong event will feature keynote addresses from a range of experts, including Dr. Patrick Wyse Jackson, Associate Professor of Geology and Curator of the Geological Museum at Trinity College Dublin;Barry O’Reilly of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; Hugh Kavanagh, coordinator of the All-Ireland Heritage Skills Programme for the Prince's Foundation; Dr John Treacy of Clare County Council and Alan Micklethwaite, a renowned stone carver with many years of experience in the conservation of historic monuments and sculpture.
Masonry tools at the workshop of Irish Natural Stone in County Clare
Mr McCormack, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) who has more than 50 years of experience working as a master stone mason; sculptor; businessman and entrepreneur in Ireland; across Europe and in the United States pointed to the need for a significant increase in the resources available under various government-funded schemes to refurbish Ireland’s old buildings.
See irishnaturalstone.com for more on the first National INStone Symposium which takes place this Wednesday, September 6.