Narro are proud to announce that Katie Hood, a Project Engineer based in our Edinburgh office, has been selected to participate in the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) annual Scholarship program.
The SPAB Scholarship Programme, which is open to building professionals and limited to three or four Scholars each year, is an intensive nine-month full-time commitment. For the first six months, the Scholars travel around the UK visiting ongoing conservation and heritage projects. During that time, they observe, experience, debate and in many cases actually practice traditional techniques and sympathetic repairs in situ across projects of a broad range in age, size and styles, all guided by building conservation specialists.
The Scholarship runs in combination with the SPAB Fellowship – a similar period of study open to craftspeople. Scholars and Fellows are required to keep detailed and graphic records of all work under study. Understanding and respecting the role played by craft skills, assisted by the close interaction with the Fellows, is a fundamental aspect of the SPAB approach. The hands-on element of the Scholarship gives Scholars the chance to try for themselves a wide range of craft skills such as timber framing, blacksmithing, stone masonry and thatching. The final three months allows the Scholars the opportunity to pursue their own individual interests by choosing their own subject and theme of study with focused visits to associated buildings and places.
Katie, who joined the Narro team in 2018 following completion of a Masters degree in Civil Engineering with Integrated Design, explained her reasons for applying for the scholarship program; “I’m incredibly excited to have been accepted as a SPAB Scholar. One of the great things about working at Narro is the fantastic experience the practice has in conservation engineering. It’s an area I really enjoy, particularly the opportunity to work with traditional materials and designs. It’s going to be a really rewarding nine months which will broaden my conservation horizons and help me consolidate my ethos in conservation engineering going forward.”
Narro Technical Director, and former SPAB Scholar, Steve Wood, added; “This is a fantastic opportunity for Katie and a real testament to her passion for the conservation and preservation of the built environment. I found participating in the program thoroughly worthwhile and I’m confident Katie will excel over the nine months and beyond. As a past Scholar, I’m also really looking forward to getting involved with this year’s group as they tour projects around the country. We have so many ongoing conservation projects that would be fantastic case studies for the Scholars.”
For more details on the SPAB Scholarship Programme, please visit the website here. To find out more information on Narro conservation expertise, visit their website here.
