Repair of Old Buildings course

Welcome to the Society for the Protection of Ancient Building’s Repair of Old Buildings Course.

Presented by leading building conservation professionals, the Repair Course considers British and international approaches to the conservation of old buildings. The SPAB philosophy of repair and maintenance – established by William Morris in 1877 and clearly set out more recently in The SPAB Approach – underpins the course programme of case studies, presentations and site visits. 

Here you will find a series of lectures and virtual site visits, including two of the SPAB’s own repair projects – The Old House Project (St Andrew’s, Boxley) and Kibworth Harcourt Post Mill.  These projects demonstrate the range of philosophical and practical conservation issues that arise when undertaking historic building repairs and alterations, and will allow you to witness the SPAB Approach in action. 

In addition to this core course content, you also have access to four additional lectures – covering Slating in Wales and the Marshes, Thatch in Scotland, Stone Deterioration and Retrofit – which can be found in the Bonus Content section of the Repair of Old Buildings course website. 

This popular short course has been presented by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings since the 1950s. During the pandemic the course continued and was delivered in a virtual format. All delegates had access to an extensive programme of pre-recorded lectures and site visits and attended a week of live Q&A sessions with the lecture speakers and site visit hosts. Owing to the success and popularity of the online course, and in line with the SPAB’s ongoing commitment to accessibility and sustainability, the decision was taken to continue offering it in this format once a year.