ABSTRACT
Project management is a discipline required for the planning, organizing and managing of resources for any sized project, a practice becoming increasingly relevant to conservators when managing time and budgets and working to tight deadlines, or when treatments are phased over time. This case study outlines the questions that a project manager and team need to consider, from defining the required outcome to identifying resources and individual responsibilities. It also discusses the importance of clear communication within the team and with wider stakeholders, and of post-project reviews to identify good practice and lessons learnt. Three case studies are presented, based on work undertaken by the National Trust Textile Conservation Studio. The first describes the complex treatment of a seventeenth-century tapestry from Cotehele, requiring risk assessments and an awareness of health and safety issues. The second details a large-scale, multi-disciplinary and collaborative packing project of some 25,000 items at Snowshill Manor, and the third describes the planning and teamworking required to dismantle, treat and reassemble a seventeenth-century state bed from Knole. The success of each relied on careful project management, flexibility, teamwork, clear communication and detailed documentation.
