SAHGB - IHBC Heritage Research Award
About
This award - a joint venture between the SAHGB and IHBC - recognises and celebrates the quality of architectural-historical research produced by colleagues in heritage and conservation practice, as private consultants or on behalf of Non-Governmental Organisations, public bodies or comparable clients. Research undertaken for statements of significance, conservation management plans, listing, other forms of statutory protection, and to directly inform decision making in the planning and wider heritage sphere makes a significant, but all too often under-recognised contribution to the discipline and indeed to the quality of the historic environment. Moreover, methodological reflection on this work, and on heritage and preservationism more widely, adds much to the practice of architectural history. Our Heritage Research Award will provide an opportunity to understand better the diversity of this work, celebrate the very best of the research that goes into it, and make it better known to other professionals and the public.
The Award celebrates research and critical reflection. It excludes specifically consideration, assessment or endorsement of any plans, projects, sites, advocacy or arbitration etc. linked in ANY way to the research, or the success, merits, demerits or otherwise of resulting advice, decisions or interventions. This separation between research and conservation outcomes mirrors the separation that the IHBC recognises between the advice given by an IHBC member to a client or employer and the potential decisions and outcomes that ultimately may be associated with that advice.
Winning work will receive a medallion, to be presented at the SAHGB’s Annual Awards Ceremony. Winners will also be offered a free place at the corresponding IHBC Annual School. Additionally, we may contact winning researchers to request a feature for publishing on the Society’s website or members’ magazine.
Judging Panel
John Cattell FSA IHBC (Retired, former Head of Research, Historic England (Chair)
Kathryn A Morrison FSA (Independent scholar and former joint head of Historic Places Investigation with Historic England and Former SAHGB Chair)
Henry Russell OBE (Programme Leader, MSC Conservation of the Historic Environment, University of Reading)
Matthew Saunders MBE (IHBC representative), Former Secretary of the Ancient Monuments Society; Former Director of the Friends of Friendless Churches
Sally Stradling (Heritage Consultant, Trustee of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings)
Eligibility and Research Categories
Independent researchers, practices, heritage consultancies, amenity societies, relevant departments of religious bodies, and non-departmental public bodies are all invited to submit or nominate work that demonstrates significant and original work and that develops our understanding of the built environment.
We are looking for two broad categories of research:
CATEGORY 1: Research carried out for specific projects in support of the planning process, e.g.:
Heritage statements
Statements of significance
Listing proposals
Heritage/conservation management plans
CATEGORY 2: Thematic and/or reflective work, e.g.:
Thematic/typological/topographical studies
Critical/reflective/propositional essays on conservation/heritage theory and practice
CATEGORY 1
For Category 1 (research carried out for specific projects), submissions can be up to 10,000 words long and should include images where appropriate with suitable captions. Illustrations must be legible when viewed in .pdf format. Submissions can be substantially redrafted and should in all cases include a concise preface (no word limit, but to form part of the 10,000 maximum word limit for the submission). The preface should aim to set out:
Details of the author and the research project team, as appropriate
Client details and local authority
The purpose and nature of the research proposal / project
The approach and methodology employed
A short summary of the statement of significance of the building or site in architectural historical terms
Methodological reflection on the research process as appropriate
Details of the impact (or likely impact if the planning case is ongoing) of the research on the protection and conservation of the building
Additionally Category 1 submissions must be accompanied by a supporting statement (of up to 1000 words) summarising the significance of the building or site in the planning context in England and in terms of comparable systems in the home nations. Guidance on how to structure the statement is provided on the pdf download below. This element is a separate statement with a word limit of 1000 words. It is not included within the word limit of the 10,000 word research entry.
NB – entries submitted without the required preface and a separate supporting statement of up to 1,000 words will not be accepted.
CATEGORY 2
For Category 2 (critical/reflective/propositional work) submissions must be a minimum of 5000 words and maximum of 10,000 words in length. Details of the purpose of the research and its outcomes must be included in submissions in this category.
Essays should be properly referenced (according to the editorial guidelines for submission to Architectural History) with a proper critical apparatus).
NB: Our Award celebrates research and critical reflection; we are not assessing or endorsing particular projects or sites, or arbitrating on success or demerits of resulting planning decisions or architectural interventions.
The Award is open to UK-based researchers and practitioners and/or work on UK sites/subjects. We are seeking original research: work should not have been produced as coursework for degrees or professional accreditation, been published as a book, or substantially published elsewhere. It should be research undertaken and/or written up within the last 2 years (i.e from 1 January 2022).
Criteria
Work will be assessed by the following broad evaluation criteria:
Significance - including relevance and contribution to knowledge/understanding
Quality - research should be original and of high quality
Communication - clarity and efficacy of communication
Value - long term contribution to the understanding of architectural history
Usability and impact - the work should relate directly to, and enhance, the planning application and/ or Listed Building consent
Process
The entry period for 2024 closed on 1 September.
Entrants should submit the work and any supporting documents (if requested), using our online form. Please include the name and contact details for the author if you are nominating a piece of research. For information relating to the desired format of the research, please read all guidelines relevant to the category 1 or category 2 entry. The judging panel will assess all eligible submitted work.
The winner will be publicly announced at the Annual Awards Ceremony in December.
Submissions must be between 5000 and 10,000 words in length, not including footnotes/endnotes, captions and bibliography. Word count of the preface, if the category requires it, should be included in this limit.
Category 1 entrants submitting research related to a listing proposal, heritage statement, statements of significance or conservation management plans must be accompanied by a supporting document of up to 1,000 words. Research submissions in both categories must include a preface containing the information stipulated above (see under ‘Eligibility and research categories’)
The work can be research extracted from an already submitted heritage document, such as a heritage statement, statement of significance, listing proposal or heritage management plan, or it can be significantly redrafted for submission to this award.
The outcome of the case related to the research does not need to have been successfully granted to be eligible for the award.
Submitted work should be focussed on heritage research. Entrants are encouraged to remove details of policy, regulations or conservation elements from substantive submissions to ensure they are within the designated word limit.
Research must have been carried out in the last two years.
A work may not be entered for consideration more than once.
If nominated by a third party, the author/s of the research must consent to the submission of their work to the award.
The research should have been produced for the purpose of heritage protection or conservation, and should not have formed part of academic coursework, a published article or book.
The Society reserves the right to award a commendation for suitable work/s which meet the criteria but are not awarded the prize.
Entries must be written in English.
Diagrams or illustrations should be included and should be captioned and embedded alongside the relevant essay text. They may take the form of scans, provided they can be easily viewed. Sources of diagrams and illustrations must be acknowledged.
Candidates entering research in either category, 1 or 2, may be asked to provide a supplementary abstract once the full submission has been received.
In the case of any dispute about the award, the decision of the Society shall be final. The Society reserves the right to make no award if none of the entries is considered worthy.