11th November 2025
Live demonstrations and short talks programme for 2025
(Please note, we will be adding to and updating the programme over the coming weeks so please check back regularly for the latest info.)
Held throughout the day, experts demonstrated practical skills, conservation techniques and give short talks on issues including:
PRACTICAL DEMOS
SHORT TALKS
There will also be a free SPAB Technical Advice Surgery. appointments are available to visitors who once registered to attend the event can pre book a slot. So if you need free, friendly and impartial technical help with an old building, you can have direct assistance from the SPAB tailored to answer your query.
ON STAND DEMOS WITH Q&A
BAKER WILKINS & SMITH
Demonstrating their proprietary Project & Cost Management software, designed to ensure restoration projects remain on budget and on programme.
CLIVEDEN CONSERVATION
A Practical demonstration of how to protect historic statues and decorative stonework from frost and water damage with the application of Winter Shields.
EVENT PRO
Showing Software solutions for Venue Booking and Event Management at Historic Houses. How to manage your venue, event timeline, and critical path by using specialist software designed with the user in mind. 40 years of expertise in software development brings you a system which is highly customizable, efficient, consistent, and secure. Streamlining and simplifying a wide range of tasks, including event marketing, communications, and planning.
FINE ART RESTORATION
Amy Walsh, Decorative Objects Conservator, Preserving the Past: How Damp and Mould Threaten Art Collections in Historic Properties – and What You Can Do About It
Damp and mould pose a growing threat to valuable paintings and collections in historic homes — often causing damage before it’s visible.
In this session, we’ll explore:
Whether managing a private estate or public house, this talk offers essential insights to help protect your artwork, preserve legacy, and maintain value. Fine Art Restoration were recently featured in an article by The Telegraph which explores the potentially irreversible damage a strain of ‘mega-mould’ is causing art collections in several Danish museums. Mould-related deterioration is an increasingly urgent concern for conservators, so we are keen to raise greater awareness around this issue.
HARRIS BUGG STUDIO
Transforming Historic Landscapes with Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg
Every landscape holds a story. For award-winning landscape designers Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg, founders of Harris Bugg Studio, the starting point is always deep listening — to the land, its past, and the people it serves today.
In this short talk, Charlotte will explore how history can shape contemporary design, drawing on the studio’s work transforming The Kitchen Garden at RHS Bridgewater. Once the heart of a great estate, today Bridgewater is one of the RHS’s most successful visitor gardens — a thriving attraction that continues to inspire the public and will do so for generations to come.
Charlotte and Hugo will discuss how thoughtful planting, sustainable design and a deep respect for place can breathe new life into historic landscapes, ensuring they remain relevant and enriching for all.
HERITAGE POTENTIAL
Heritage Potential Quiz: Why Heritage Planning Matters – A quick-fire session to stimulate thought and discussion.
Heritage Potential is a specialist heritage consultancy, small in size but agile in nature. They are experts in the historic built environment and can help unlock the potential of heritage assets.
LOCKER & RILEY
Graham Stamp, a highly skilled and experienced fibrous plasterer whose craftmanship can be seen in Royal Palaces, Private Country Estates, Luxury Hotels and Showrooms, will be showing the casting of a variety of Fibrous Plaster Enrichment Decorations. These wall & plaster ceiling enrichments, enhance, add depth and charm to the finish of any project
ROSE OF JERICHO
Using Traditional Paints, a demonstration by Rose of Jericho on the use of Limewash and Distemper. Established in 1989, Rose of Jericho is a leading manufacturer and supplier of materials used for the conservation, repair and decoration of traditional and historic buildings. The demonstration will discuss the difference between these authentic traditional paints, their appropriateness for use in solid walled historic buildings. Application methods will be discussed and demonstrated.
THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS (SPAB)
Two of SPAB’s Fellows will be showing How Repairs Can Be Made to Sash Windows.
Sash window repair specialists Ross Harris and James Bull will demonstrate traditional craft techniques and modern conservation approaches to sash window repair. Demonstrations will run through the repair of a sash casement. Focusing on the best repair approach, where applicable the production of like for like components produced using traditional hand tools. The use of appropriate reversible adhesives and sympathetic paints with an emphasis on like for like repair and reversible conservation.
James Bull, heritage carpenter and millwright, 2024 Fellow. James has worked in historic building conservation and repair for the past six years, repairing listed Georgian buildings across London. In 2022 he gained a place on the Princes Foundation and earned an NVQ in Heritage Carpentry Skills.
Ross Harris, heritage carpenter and millwright, 2025 Fellow. Ross has nearly a decade of experience in the building trade, specialising in conservation carpentry. His passion lies in understanding the methods and philosophy behind repairing historic structures.
Douglas Kent, SPAB Head of Technical and Research will be giving a short talk on ‘Don’t Replace – Repair: Saving Old Windows‘. Every year countless old windows are lost because they are wrongly seen as beyond repair – stripping old buildings of character and history. In this talk, Douglas Kent, SPAB Technical and Research Director, shares practical advice on maintaining and repairing old timber and metal windows, showing how, with the right care, they can outlast many modern replacements.
WATES CONSTRUCTION
Apprentice Q&A: Building Futures in Heritage
A dynamic Q&A session with Chris Wright, Project Director and Josh Gale, Production Management Trainee, spotlighting the next generation of talent shaping the heritage sector. Hear directly from apprentices as they share their journeys, challenges, and aspirations. This session will also explore the specialist training received as part of Wates’ delivery on the prestigious Parliament project – offering a rare insight into how heritage skills are being preserved and passed on through real-world experience on one of the UK’s most iconic sites.
Meet the experts
The SPAB, The Victorian Society, William Morris Society, The Gardens Trust, Professional Gardeners Guild, and many specialist organisations, suppliers and professionals are on hand to help with all aspects of historic buildings, landscape and heritage conservation.
photo credit: Layton Thompson © Historic Houses