SPAB Scholar

SPAB Scholarship 2019

I am delighted to announce that this year I will embark on the SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) Lethaby Scholarship!

My interview was on Wednesday 23 January 2019, and I received the offer the following day. I am thrilled to have been awarded this incredible opportunity.

The SPAB Scholarship is a unique nine-month, hands-on education programme for young architectural and building professionals. I will undertake this prestigious and long established training scheme alongside my fellow 2019 Scholars - Christian Montez, architect; Daniel Shemming, surveyor; and Holly Spilsbury, architect.

There is no parallel in the architectural conservation world to the annual SPAB Scholarship. Since 1930 the Lethaby Scholarship has offered an unrivalled training opportunity to architects, surveyors and engineers in the early stages of their career to travel countrywide together, learning on site from architects and specialist craftspeople working in building conservation.

The first six months will follow a programme arranged by the SPAB, predominantly undertaken on site through visits guided by experts. The final three months (the Plunket Scholarship) give us Scholars the opportunity to explore in depth a theme of our choosing relating to the history, arts and allied crafts of the country house.

We will observe and experience traditional techniques and sympathetic repair in situ and visit structures of every age, size and style. The SPAB favours a hands-on approach, giving Scholars the chance to try a variety of traditional craft skills.

My passion for historic buildings and places developed from my first undergraduate placement at Harrison Brookes Architects, through postgraduate study and now in my current role at Caroe Architecture (from which I will be taking a sabbatical period to undertake the Scholarship). I have a great interest in the story of historic places, enthusiasm to learn traditional crafts, and eagerness to understand how to appropriately care for historic fabric.

Following the completion of the nine-month programme of site, workshop and studio visits across the UK, I am excited that I will be returning to Caroe Architecture to put my learning into practice.

More information about this unique opportunity can be found on the SPAB website:

https://www.spab.org.uk/learning/scholarship

Photo of me at the SPAB Working Party at Sullington Manor Farm; I will gain similar hands-on experience during the Scholarship, and much more besides!