The impact of climate change on cultural heritage: evidence and response

This paper presents the first broadbased research on the impact of climate change on historic buildings, buried archaeology, parks and gardens. Research coincided with the publication of the UKCIP02 climate change scenarios and other studies assessing regional climate change and the impact on nature conservation and gardens. The methodology consisted of an assessment of climate change and adaptation literature, a questionnaire, site visits, regional and policy workshops. It conflated evidence from climate and heritage specialists, pointing to physical changes in cultural heritage and concluding with several policy recommendations

Representation and intervention: The symbiotic relationship of conservation and value

Physical and intellectual access to heritage is shaped by conservation through a longterm, cyclic and symbiotic relationship of representation and intervention (or lack of it). This informs future use and representation. Value (which may be assigned for different reasons) makes heritage. All heritage is valued for varied reasons. Some argue that heritage has inherent value; this is not covered in this paper. Some values are preferred over others in decisions on what to use or conserve. The process below describes a number of different recurring phases in this relationship, which differs with different kinds of heritage: 1. Various agents change heritage; 2. Change affects valued elements of heritage; 3. Valued elements affect how change is perceived; 4. What is perceived as damage affects decisions about conservation interventions; 5. Conservation affects which valued elements are most likely to be preserved; 6. Preserved elements influence how heritage is represented; 7. New forms of representation will affect future conservation decisions. Historically, how heritage has been represented has affected how an object is preserved. This affects later representation and use, making the relationship symbiotic

Development of a Web-based software tool for predicting the occurrence and effect of air pollutants inside museum buildings

22-27 September 200

Dependency Modelling for Cultural Heritage

May 31st - June 3rd, 200

Air pollutant levels in air-conditioned and naturally ventilated museums: a pilot study

An air-conditioned and a naturally ventilated museum in a highly polluted part of London were compared for effectiveness of pollution control. Nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide concentrations were measured inside and outside using diffusion tubes. Airborne particles were measured using a Grimm laser counting device. It was found that the benefits normally attributed to air-conditioning with filtration were not as great as might be thought. Only nitrogen dioxide and particle levels were significantly lower in the air-conditioned museum than in the naturally ventilated museum