About Sprecomah
Within the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission two seminars will be organised on preventive conservation and monitoring of architectural heritage.
What is preventive conservation?
Similarly to medicine, prevention in conservation works on two main levels. On a general level, preventive approach implies an appropriate heritage management. Since risks occur at different scales, on a second level, the purpose of preventive conservation consists in an early identification of possible damage, in avoiding the progression of a damage or in reducing of negative effects caused by damage. In these actions time and frequency is crucial.
In order to make such approach operational, it needs to be guided by the assessed importance of the risk. It thus implies:
- analysis and diagnosis of damages and degradation,
- documentation, which develops into monitoring over time,
- maintenance,
- minor compatible and durable interventions.
The seminars aim at :
- increasing the interest for maintenance management and preventive conservation strategies;
- directing researchers to address needs expressed by the field of preventive conservation (monitoring, damage prevention and maintenance);
- sharing and analysing good practices based on many years of professional experience with preventive conservation developed by MONUMENTENWACHT in Flanders and The Netherlands;
- sharing past EC research results (eg. Damage Atlas, Masonry Damage Diagnostic System) that address issues of which preventive conservation strategies can benefit to understand their actual importance and the need for further development of them.
- identifying research strategies promoting preventive conservation and strengthening preventive conservation oriented organisations to improve their effectiveness.
- generating and publishing reference materials on preventive architectural conservation based on the outcome of the seminars.
The output includes:
- publication (on internet, hardcopies and in journals) of conference materials for researchers, for professionals and authorities on preventive architectural conservation based on the outcome of the seminars;
- guidelines to promote preventive conservation and monitoring oriented research for the architectural heritage;
- identification of fields and scope of interest where stakeholders and researchers can collaborate to stimulate and develop good practices of preventive conservation and monitoring;
- the use by restoration professionals of new tools like MDDS, developed in 6th FP projects.