MSc Conservation and Management of Historic Buildings

at Royal Agricultural University

The course has two main strands: The first focuses on the investigation and understanding of historic buildings: How they relate to the wider environment and historical context, understanding their structure, construction & history and how they might be recorded. There is a focus on understanding the value and significance of historic assets. The second looks at the conservation of buildings: The ethical issues surrounding building conservation, practical methods of building conservation and restoration, and how the built heritage can contribute to regeneration and the enhancement of public value.
 

The programme is delivered in Swindon where you will have access to the Historic England Archive and Library, the National Collections Centre and the Swindon Museums. Teaching is based around intensive day-long blocks supported by distance and self-directed learning; you can take the course full-time over one-year or part-time over two to six years, giving you flexibility around your working life.
 

You will complete four taught modules with varied assessments which take a pragmatic approach to building conservation and are designed with employment in mind. You will also produce either a dissertation focusing on a particular topic of interest to you or a professional product of comparable standard such as a detailed building study or building conservation management plan. For those in employment the professional product can be built around a negotiated work output.

Modules

• 4732 Conservation Planning
• 4733 Understanding Buildings and Landscapes
• 4734 Practical Conservation, Regeneration and Place Shaping
• 4735 Managing and Sustaining the Historical Environment
• 4700 Dissertation
   

Applicants should usually possess a degree in a relevant subject area at 2:2 level or higher. If you have no formal qualifications it may also be possible to join the programme based on extensive relevant work experience corresponding in level to a relevant undergraduate honours degree. In all cases entry is subject to an interview either in person or via Skype/Zoom or similar platforms.

£15,950 per year
 

Please note: International students can study on a part-time basis only if they are in the UK with a different type of visa (other than Student Visa/Tier 4 General) that allows them to undertake part-time study and their visa does not expire prior to the end date of the proposed course of study.
 

There are no additional fees for any activity conducted during the teaching days. Expenses (travel and admission) incurred during self-directed visits will however fall to the student – all activities are structured so they can be undertaken at any heritage location near to the student and either free or at minimum cost.

Career prospects include:

• Investigation, recording, analysis and protection of historic buildings
• Conservation and restoration of historic buildings
• Management of public engagement with, and access to, historic buildings
• Advising on the interpretation and display of historic buildings 
• Development, adaptive reuse and regeneration of historic buildings
• Management of heritage-led regeneration and place shaping