Building Conservation

MSc Building Conservation

Delivery method: Part-time
Course Reference: MSBC

Course Overview

Run in partnership with the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, West Sussex.

The Museum is well established as a centre of excellence in historic building conservation and is committed to the provision of training in this field. The Museum recognises the building industry’s need for well-rounded conservators who can look at a building, assess, survey, record its current state, write a report, specify repairs, execute or oversee those repairs and write a final report on the work undertaken and the state of the building after the repairs.

The conservation of historic buildings is a fast-growing sector of the building industry, both in the UK and overseas, leading to increased demand for specialist conservators. The course aims to influence practice in the industry by helping students to become all-round “conservators” with competence in areas that are normally split between “professionals” and “craftsmen”.

This course is delivered in partnership with the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, in West Sussex, a provider of specialist education in building conservation and historic building techniques. The partnership combines the expertise and resources of both institutions. The Museum’s beautiful downland site encompasses forty-six reconstructed historic buildings representing an unrivalled teaching resource in this specialised area. This resource is backed up by extensive scientific collections and libraries, both at the University and the Museum.

Delivery
Lectures and seminars play a vital part, together with visits to historic buildings and sites, contractors’ workshops and specialist conservation studios. Where appropriate, units will provide hands-on experience of materials and processes. All teaching is based at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum. There are also some visits off-site.

The course is run part-time with a series of six study units over around 18 months, followed by a dissertation phase. Candidates who do not complete the full Masters programme may leave with an interim qualification. Each unit runs over a long weekend, enabling students to remain in employment.

Assessment
Assessment for the six taught units will be based entirely on coursework. Assignments will address problems and simulate tasks of the kind likely to be encountered in the professional environment. As part of the MSc course, students will be required to submit a dissertation of 15,000 words based on research into an approved topic.