Conservation of the Historic Environment

Entry requirements

Candidates require a good honours degree (2.1) plus some built environment experience or practical construction experience in heritage and conservation.

Entry at Diploma Level may be considered with those with a skills background eg Bricklayer – City and Guilds, or NVQs.

Candidates who wish to transfer with existing credits from other institutions must contact the Academic Director in the first instance to see whether these are transferable and acceptable against part of the Conservation of the Historic Environment degree.

Months of entry

September

Course content

This Conservation of the Historic Environment course will help you obtain key knowledge in the conservation of buildings and the historic environment with practical skills-based workshops and lectures.

Our alumni find employment as conservation officers, and can apply via their professional body to become accredited conservation architects, engineers and surveyors, as well as skilled conservation contractors.

The programme is recognised as having the biggest cohort in the country (Conservation Course Directors Forum 2016). Accredited by the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC), if you need to understand a building or landscape in order to apply appropriate conservation techniques managing change in the historic environment, this course is for you.

It is based on the modern campus of Parkside in Birmingham where new meets old, with access to historic campus buildings such as the wonderful School of Art, the first municipal College of Art in the country, and the School of Jewellery in the world-renowned Jewellery Quarter.

Through introducing a range of different skillsets and disciplines, our course gives you the skills to become a professional within the field of historic building conservation.

The foundations of conservation are introduced through firstly establishing the basic concepts, understanding philosophical, legal and historical aspects of British buildings. During a series of site visits, such as to the conservation areas of Digbeth, the Jewellery Quarter and Bournville, this learning is applied to the real environment.

You will experience an emphasis on practical learning within the course as you attend a series of workshops focussing on building materials. You will explore and acquire a range of specialist industry skills in areas such as the use of lime, stone, timber, ceramic building materials, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and twentieth-century design.

As well as instilling the fundamental skills needed to be a professional in the field of conservation, the course also prides itself on producing professionals that are able to manage and lead a project from visualisation and design, through to implementation. The second year provides insights into the realities of a project, such as ensuring sustainability and financial viability, encouraging forward thinking professionals that are able to see a project through to completion. There is a particular emphasis on climate literacy.

The second year also focuses on building elements and the historic environment, including working in a range of environments from historic interiors, parks and gardens to exploring the heritage of canals. Traditional and advanced techniques of recording buildings including laser scanning and photogrammetry are taught. The course has its own thermal cameras which students are encouraged to experiment with.

A dissertation at the end of the second year culminates all of the knowledge, perspectives and practical skills that you have developed whilst on the course, and provides the opportunity to specialise in an area of conservation that you have found most stimulating.

Information for international students

Sorry, this course is not available to International students.

Fees and funding

Learn more about postgraduate fees and funding.