On the European Stage: Preserving by Maintaining conference, Bratislava

SCHT had been invited to participate as part of the network of organisations across Europe who promote the care of their traditional buildings. These include Monumentenwacht in the Netherlands and Flanders, Pro Monumenta in Slovakia and Fixus Mobilis in Lithuania. Around 120 delegates from 18 European countries were there, all hosted in the fascinating modern building of the Slovak National Gallery.

Each organisation operates in a slightly different way, but all have the common goal of supporting building owners to care for their traditional buildings through improved maintenance and having a ‘stitch in time’ approach.

Over 2 days, there were talks from a variety of organisations including panel discussions which Lindsay and Chris participated in. Topics covered everything from running maintenance schemes, to technical and access issues and the ways that new technology such as drones and AI can improve services. Technical lectures also provided new insights into care of materials and issues such as tackling mould, a very topical concern in the UK.

Trust Manager Lindsay speaking at the panel event on operating maintenance schemes © Pamiatkový úrad SR

The TBHC stall at the Expo event

TBHC Inspector, Chris, speaking at the panel discussion on technical issues of access and materials © Pamiatkový úrad SR

There was also a fascinating talk from Sanne De Koning of Netherlands Monumentenwacht Noord-Brabant on 50 years of their service. The TBHC model learned much from the experiences in Netherlands and Flanders and based the scheme on their approach when set up in 2013/14.

Surveys of their members have shown a very high level of satisfaction with what they offer but they continue to try to improve. Sanne shared a number of lessons learned from their 5 decades including:

• They have a vital role within the heritage ecosystem in supporting the economy and the attractiveness of cities
• The independence and impartiality of the scheme is highly valued
• Support through public funding is essential to help keep the service affordable for all but other sources of funding are also required to do everything they want to achieve
• Innovation has helped to improve the service including use of digital inspections and development of energy efficiency advice

Visiting the Pro Monumenta workshop at Trnava

Conference delegates at the ‘Preserving by Maintaining’ conference, Bratislava 11-13 March 2025 © Pamiatkový úrad SR

On Day 3, there was a visit to the Pro Monumenta offices including at the very interesting town of Trnava just north of Bratislava which has many churches and medieval fortifications. The Slovakian service has workshops and fully kitted out vans to allow them to undertake repairs, sometimes using rope access to reach high areas of buildings.

The 3 day conference allowed SCHT staff to network with European colleagues and to share knowledge and experiences through participation in the panel discussions. While the services in each country vary, there are many common issues and goals. Being able to talk with people who are also trying to encourage the better care of traditional buildings was incredibly useful for Chris and Lindsay and they have built up contacts and connections with other organisations which will be invaluable. Already there are plans to meet with staff from the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage when they are on a visit to Scotland later this year and to make connections with staff in Ireland and Northern Ireland who were keen to learn more about the TBHC.

Thanks go to Branislav Reznik of the Department of Preventative Maintenance of Monuments in Bratislava and Dalia Stabrauskaite of the Lithuanian National Commission for UNESCO for organising such a useful and successful event.