Inspire Heritage Services Ltd

03/06/2026

Trip to Swindon English Heritage archives today researching a property in Hertfordshire and its relationship with Essendon Place. A wonderful resource and saved me a trip to the local archives being able to view the sales particulars locally :)

14/05/2026

Hello. IHBC are attending the Surveyor Live event at the National Self Build and Renovation Centre in Swindon today, come and say hello if you are here :)

01/05/2026

And thats a wrap on lecturing at the RAU Cultural Heritage Institute for another year. Over the past two weeks MSc students have been onsite visits to Bath and today we enjoyed a tour of the Bath Assembly Rooms with hosts Fergus Devlin Connolly and Colette Wilson. Great to hear about the Nationals Trusts plans for the site and its £17 million transformation. Lots of discussion on DDA, funding, audience engagement, as well as introducing sustainability through ASHP and vacuum glazing to windows. Thank you both for a great visit.

Last Friday we enjoyed a tour of the River Line project with Gemma Annan from BANES Council. The project is creating a 10km linear park following the River Avon through the heart of Bath and we explored some of the works undertaken as well as its stakeholders and legacy plans.

In the afternoon we visited the Lockbrook Campus a former factory building for Herman Miller designed by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw of the Farrell/Grimshaw Partnership. We ended the afternoon with wander on the opposite side of the River Avon discussing design and placemaking and whether the new buildings springing up reflected Baths character.

If anyone has any exciting projects in the wider Gloucestershire/Bristol/Bath area which will be onsite Feb to May 27 for us to visit or you want to talk to students about any placemaking and heritage led regeneration projects do get in touch :)

29/04/2026

Great to be back in Wolverhampton for a day discussing NDHAs hosted by West Midlands Heritage at the Wolverhampton Arts Centre. Lots of discussions regarding research and new guidance by HE, what happens if your LPA does not have a list and consistency in decision-making. Interesting to hear of one LPA (not named) who refused a planning application relating to an NDHA based on internal alterations!! We also had a tour of the building and a discussion relating to grants. Thanks for a great day and good conversations.

17/04/2026

Friday fun with MSc students at the Cultural Heritage Institute today. Thank you to our guest speaker Nicola Dyer IHBC for a session on project management. Lots of discussion and questions throughout the morning. The afternoon session looked at the Tone Mill project in Wellington and how the works were approached and managed to enable conservation repairs to be undertaken. This was our last classroom session for the year, next two sessions we are out on site exploring:)

09/04/2026

Coln St Dennis House has received planning and listed building consent for works to the attached outbuilding/former annex application refs 26/00424/FUL and 26/00425/LBC. This project has been a while in the making; it's been 2 years since my initial site visit and receiving consent. The new owners took on this beautiful Grade II building and wished to update it to provide a family home. Previously refurbished in the 1990's. The main aspect was providing a space for the whole family to cook/dine and lounge together. Due to the core of the historic building being unable to be opened up, on my first visit, I made a radical suggestion to convert the current self-contained annex to provide this new space. There was much discussion and uncertainty as to whether this would leave the remaining house redundant. Following time living in the space, family members returning home from university with partners in tow and entertaining friends, it was decided to start making plans to enable this possible configuration. The walls were opened up to reveal historic stone work covered by stud work, ceilings reduced in height and domesticated openings. The scheme sought to reverse these 1990's changes and provide a scheme which enhances the building's original features, removing the first floor additions to provide a single open space, reinstating its outbuilding character and uses traditional materials. It's been a privilege to advise on this project and collaborate with Eastabrook Architects. Can't wait to see this one underway, watch this space for updates. If you are looking for advice on a heritage project, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

08/04/2026

Fantastic to see this publication Chiz Harward, amazing work, and a great team. The Dulverton House project feels like a lifetime ago, and one I spent a significant amount of time on in my previous role at Gloucester City. A complex historic building that was being refurbished to provide new sixth form accommodation for King's School. The works continually surprised us, uncovering some great features when stripping away the modern interventions. I look forward to taking some time to read through the publication!

08/04/2026

Great to see this project coming along in the Cotswolds. Another collaboration with Eastabrook Architects providing heritage advice in relation to proposed extensions to this traditional building.

08/04/2026

If you are interested in upgrading your home sign up to the below talk 👇

Hear Diane Hubbard talk about the importance of understanding the energy efficiency performance of old buildings, while challenging some common assumptions made about them.

Join us for the latest in our lunchtime CPD lecture series, Hot Topics in Building Conservation
https://www.spab.org.uk/whats-on/baselining-buildings-importance-understanding-building-performance

Online Wednesday 22 April, 1 - 2pm
£20 (£15 concessions)

Relatively few UK dwellings are currently benchmarked prior to energy efficiency improvements. This means assumptions are made by specifiers regarding how the building currently performs, which may - or may not - reflect the actual performance of the building. Older buildings can often be misjudged, and incorrect assumptions could result in unintended consequences and/or client disappointment.

Diane Hubbard, Founder, Green Footsteps Ltd will examine some of the assumptions made about existing dwellings, drawing on her wide experience of testing hundreds of buildings of all ages.

27/03/2026

A project update on listed outbuildings in the Cotswolds I provided heritage advice on in collaboration with Eastabrook Architects. Great to see the conversion works underway bringing life back to these beautiful redundant buildings.