Liz Campbell, CPD Coordinator
West Dean College
West Dean
Chichester
West Sussex
PO18 0QZ
Tel: 01243 818219
Fax: 01243 811343
Email: liz.campbell@westdean.org.uk|
Web: West Dean College |
West Dean College is run by the Edward James Foundation, a charitable trust based in a fine country house with an estate encompassing park and gardens, an arboretum, farms and forestry.
Under the careful supervision of the Trustees, West Dean House has been sensitively and carefully developed into a college dedicated to training in specialist conservation and restoration, visual and applied arts and a wide range of traditional arts and crafts.
The college itself is a unique residential centre, offering nine full-time postgraduate diploma programmes. It also offers a programme of courses in continuing professional development for the practising conservator, including its Building Conservation Masterclasses. In addition, it provides year-round short courses in the crafts, visual arts, music and gardening.
CPD at West Dean College
The programme of Building Conservation Masterclasses (BCMs) at West Dean provides training in technical and practical skills in the repair and maintenance of historic structures. These intensive short courses have been designed and are delivered by leading practitioners in the field of building conservation. Aimed at those who need to develop practical skills and those who need to understand, specify and supervise these skills; the BCMs are relevant for craftsmen, conservators, conservation officers, architects, surveyors, planners, construction managers, specifiers, specialist contractors and archaeologists.
West Dean's building conservation programme has its origins in the work of English Heritage. The organisation's training base at Fort Brockhurst in Hampshire was transferred to West Dean in 1997 following an agreement between English Heritage, West Dean College and the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.
The unique ruinette at West Dean - on which students can practise conservation and repair techniques - is a purpose-built structure exhibiting many of the problems found on historic buildings.
A new Professional Development Diploma in the Conservation of Buildings Interiors and Sites (PDD Building Cons.) can be achieved through the successful completion of 10 BCMs and the submission of a final essay. The 10 BCMs can be taken in any order but must normally have been completed within a maximum period of five years prior to the submission of the final essay. The final essay consists of a 3,000 word (minimum) statement that demonstrates the link between the candidate's overall experience gained from the BCMs and their past, current or intended professional practice as a conservator of buildings, interiors and sites.
Following the assessment and approval of the final essay, a recommendation will be presented to the College Assessment Board that the Professional Development Diploma in the Conservation of Buildings Interiors and Sites is awarded to the candidate. Holders of the Diploma may use the title PDD (Building Cons.)