Future Proofing Heritage: Sustainability And Resilience

11th June 2024

Houchhauser Auditorium, V&A South Kensington

The London Festival of Architecture (LFA), the V&A’s Culture in Crisis Programme, International National Trust Organisation and World Monuments Fund are pleased to announce the upcoming event; ‘FUTURE PROOFING HERITAGE: SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE’.

As countries around the world are faced with the increased challenges caused by extreme weather as a result of the climate crisis, we are rethinking how we could restore, build and sustain heritage structures and buildings to withstand extreme weather.

This in-person event, hosted at the V&A  South Kensington, London, will explore different case studies and approaches to the risks that heritage structures face in the light of extreme weather changes. The event will take place on 11 June 2024, as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2024 programme.

Through this event we bring together the voices of heritage preservation specialists working around the world, each embarked on projects that deal with heritage buildings and structures at risk and what steps are being taken to preserve and sustain these important monuments to our past.

The event will be formatted as presentations followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A, followed by three breakout workshops examining the topics of Materials, Skills, Collaboration and Engagement.

Presentations and Speakers

• Climate and conservation at National Trust Blickling and Bayt al-Razzaz, Cairo: Heather Jermy (Blickling Estate, National Trust) and Omniya Abdel Barr (Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation)
• Past-proofing: traditional skills and new materials: Javier Ors Ausín Program Manager (World Monuments Fund) and Stephen Battle (Principal Project Director, Sub-Saharan Africa, World Monuments Fund) 
• How the past can inform the future – skills, climate and traditional building: Dr Louise Cooke Senior Lecturer in Conservation at the University of York
• Roundtable Discussion chaired by Imogen Sambrook Senior National Consultant – Heritage & Climate, National Trust

This event is hybrid and when registering you will be asked to specify whether you wish to attend in person or online. For online attendance, it will not be possible to participate in the workshops as they require in-person attendance, but the presentations, panel discussion and audience Q&A are open for online attendance.