BUILDING CONSERVATION SERVICES

CONSULTANCY FOR CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT 

 
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Welcome to Building Conservation Services  and the Consultancy for Conservation and Development Website

Tel/Fax:                                    +44 (0)1924 277552

Horbury Hall                           Church Street                         Horbury Wakefield                                WF4 6LT                                 UK

Also at:

9 Rue de Pontoise                75005                                   Paris                              France

Büyük Hendek Cad. 53/5 Şişhane                               34420              Istanbul                           Turkey

525 Lakhechaur Marg           Kathmandu                              Nepal

2A Masinsinan Street Teachers Village            Quezon City 1100             Metro Manila                          Philippines

We have received a contract from the UNESCO Iraq office to prepare a Master Plan for the Citadel of Erbil, a 7,000-year-old city standing on a 32-metre-high archaeological tel and probably one of the oldest continuously-inhabited settlements in the world.

We have been asked to be part of the conservation design team for the restoration of the Sitnyakovo royal hunting lodge in Bulgaria , a timber complex remarkable for retaining its original art nouveau interiors and most of the original furniture and movable objects.  The complex has been affected by a severe outbreak of dry rot and general lack of care during the communist period.  Following initial assessment, our Principal, David Michelmore, presented our findings to King Simeon of Bulgaria at an audience in the Tsarska Bistritsa Palace (see photo).

Our principal, David Michelmore, has represented ICOMOS on both the 2006 and 2008 UNESCO-ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring Missions to the Historic Areas of Istanbul World Heritage Site, to whom the Mayor of Istanbul, Mr Kadir Topbaş (right), explains his concept design for a new metro bridge across the Golden Horn at a breakfast in Topkapı Palace.  Representing UNESCO was Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre (centre).

  We are contributing to the Strategic Development Plan for Palmyra, part of a major project funded by the European Commission. One of the most spectacular sites of classical antiquity, the oasis city was the capital of the redoubtable warrior queen Zenobia, until she was captured in A.D. 272 and taken to Rome in golden chains. Palmyra is a World Heritage Site in Syria.

The Consultancy for Conservation (in a joint venture with ARS Progetti srl and SPC srl) is implementing a project Inventorisation and Multi-Hazard and Earthquake Performance Evaluation of the Cultural Heritage Buildings in Istanbul in the custody of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, funded by the World Bank.  This includes on-site investigation and survey and archive and library research on 168 buildings, including such world-class monuments as Haghia Sophia and Topkapı Palace.

  Realistic and economic proposals have been prepared for restoring the Villa Tarabya, the Summer Embassy of Italy in   Istanbul, a major work of the art-nouveau architect Raimondo d’Aronco, completed in 1906.

 We specified and supervised the exemplar restoration of a timber house in Zeyrek, Historic Areas of Istanbul World Heritage Site, implemented by ICOMOS Turkey with technical assistance finance from the World Heritage Fund.

A project for improved urban management and tourism development in the walled city of Xingcheng, Liaoning Province, China, has just been completed with funding from the Asia Urbs Programme of the European Union.  

We are providing expertise for improving the conservation management of historic cities in Syria, including the Old City of Damascus, part of a €20,700,000 project of the European Commission.

We provided the technical solution to UNESCO for rehanging the mirror-mosaic ceiling of the Shish Mahal palace pavilion, Lahore, built in 1641 by Moghul Emperor Shah Jehan for his beloved Mumtaz Mahal (later buried in the Taj), part of a project funded by Norway, budget US$ 890,000.

We drafted the nomination dossier and improved management proposals for the Imperial Palace and Imperial Tombs of the Qing Dynasty, Shenyang, China, resulting in their successful inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Electronic mail:

home@buildingconservationservices.com

          david@buildingconservationservices.com

  Some of our clients and project funders

Last modified: July 28, 2008