Conserving Concrete Heritage Experts Meeting Report
Alice Custance-Baker and Susan Macdonald
The Getty Conservation Institute
2015
In June 2014, the GCI convened a meeting of experts in the conservation of historic concrete buildings and structures to identify the knowledge gaps and consider key areas where research, education and training, and the creation and dissemination of literature on the subject will serve to advance the field. This meeting was an outgrowth of the 2013 Colloquium to Advance the Practice of Conserving Modern Heritage, which confirmed the need to focus attention on the conservation of a variety of typical twentieth-century building materials, including concrete.
Conserving Concrete Heritage Experts Meeting Report provides a summary of the meeting’s presentations, discussions and outcomes, as well as a proposed plan of action.
Included in the report is the background paper, “Conserving Concrete Heritage: An Experts Meeting to Identify Research Needs to Advance the Field,” Circulated in advance and presented on the first day, it outlines the state of the concrete conservation field and identifies some of the issues faced by those involved in its conservation. It also identifies areas where targeted research could provide potential solutions to these dilemmas.