This modular online course will introduce the SPAB Approach to living with your old house – to undertake home renovations and surface redecoration, explore your home’s history or retrofit your building for energy efficiency.

This introductory-level course will be delivered through a combination of pre-recorded presentations (x6), for you to view in your own time during October – November 2021, and a live online Q&A panel session, led by experts in their fields, to conclude the course on Saturday 13 November 2021. The course will offer advice on building regulations, planning permission and listed building consent, working with professionals, sources for house history research and inspiration for new design extensions or adaptations to your old building. This modular course totals approximately 6 hours of learning. 

‘Living with Your Old House’ will be relevant to those who live in or manage period properties, as well as interested building conservation professionals. CPD certificates will be available on request.

Topics covered by this introductory course will be:

• The SPAB Approach to Living with Your Old House
• Exploring your Home’s History: a beginner’s guide  
• Historic Surfaces: paints and papers  
• Retrofitting Old Houses for Energy Efficiency
• The Legal Framework and Working with Professionals
• New Design for Old Houses: extension and adaptation

The live online Q&A panel will be chaired by Roger Hunt, author and journalist. Roger is co-author of the SPAB publications Old House Handbook, Old House Eco Handbook and New Design for Old Buildings. Roger will also present three pre-recorded lectures. Other speakers include Ellen Leslie, heritage consultant and historian, Phillipa McDonnell, architectural paint researcher and conservator for Lincoln Conservation, and Christina Emerson, SPAB Head of Casework. Phillipa and Christina will join Roger for the live Q&A panel, together with a SPAB technical advisor.