Donald Insall Associates

A conservation architecture practice founded in 1958, working to repair and reuse historic buildings across the UK.

About Donald Insall Associates

Donald Insall Associates is a firm of architects, surveyors and historic building specialists. Its work is conservation: caring for, repairing and finding new uses for old buildings so they stay useful. The practice has been involved in college buildings, cathedrals, country houses and city landmarks, and it has links with international heritage bodies including the Getty Foundation, the Council of Europe and the European Commission.

Donald Insall founded the practice in 1958 and it marked its 60th anniversary in 2018. Insall wrote Living Buildings (published in 2008 and reprinted in 2018) on the thinking and practice of architectural conservation, and he was a founder-Commissioner of English Heritage. In 1968 the practice produced the Chester Report, a national pilot study for the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. Its work as conservation consultant in Chester in 1971 led to the UK's first Conservation Officer post, an early step in creating a new profession.

The practice has a London base and other studios around England, and Donald Insall Associates also appears as a member of New London Architecture, the capital's built environment forum. A Building Design article reported the opening of a studio in Edgbaston, Birmingham, as its seventh UK office, after a merger with Christopher Thomas Architects, which was based in Smethwick; the article is dated, so check the current list of offices on the practice's own website. It also has a base serving Trinidad and Tobago.

The firm's own ethos centres on Insall's wish for every place to be truly more itself. Its publications and its history of helping create English Heritage show a strong tradition of research, writing and teaching, and the practice talks publicly about how public views on heritage have changed. These are the firm's own descriptions. We did not find staff numbers or benefits. The practice's long record of reports and teaching means staff can expect to read, research and write as well as draw.

Jobs in conservation practices include architects, building surveyors, historians and heritage consultants, technical drawing staff, and project managers. Many people in this field first studied architecture, history, history of art or building surveying, and some start by training as technicians. If you like old buildings, history, art or maths, and enjoy working out why a structure is failing and how to mend it, this is a field to look at. The practice lists vacancies on its own website.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Repairing and caring for listed and historic buildings.', 'title': 'Historic building conservation'}
• {'desc': 'Researching what makes a building important so changes respect it.', 'title': 'Conservation plans and appraisals'}
• {'desc': 'Giving old buildings new uses with sensitive design.', 'title': 'Adaptive reuse'}

Key facts

• Founded in 1958 by Donald Insall; 60th anniversary in 2018
• Produced the Chester Report in 1968
• Its Chester work led to the first UK Conservation Officer post (1971)
• Seventh UK office opened in Edgbaston, Birmingham (dated Building Design report)

Website: www.donaldinsallassociates.co.uk