ABSTRACT
Conservation engineering, as stated by the components of the term, draws from both conservation principles and modern engineering practice in an attempt to balance the demands of both preservation values and comprehensive structural design. As such, the realities of the building industry and the principles of conservation practice, when not being hard to reconcile or outright contradictory, leave the structural engineer with very little room for envisaging and realizing creative and effective intervention proposals. Furthermore, structural engineers are often sidelined in the decision making process of intervention design, in essence playing but a small role in the strategic planning of architectural conservation projects. The additional constraints imposed by financial, temporal and administrative limitations generally leave but a narrow spectrum of workable and realistic choices to structural engineers involved in architectural heritage.
In this paper, several salient characteristics of the role of structural engineers employed in architectural heritage projects are outlined. These characteristics, assembled from practical experience in both the professional and academic spheres, as well as from their interaction, are contrasted against ideal practice in an effort to highlight obstacles yet to be overcome. Illustrating examples are drawn from relevant case studies, both from past as well as from more recent projects.
A number of possible workarounds to the challenges faced by structural conservation engineers are finally outlined. The advances in engineering technology, materials engineering and building life-cycle and construction management techniques open new possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration between all the design groups and stakeholders engaged in structural conservation projects.
