A desire to visit Belfast was satisfied when I learnt that the 2026 Heritage Network Conference was to be held there in September. Leeds Civic Trust are members of Heritage Network, so I signed up to attend the conference where I was to learn about Belfast, Armagh and Lurgan from Heritage professionals.
The most impressive and memorable part of Belfast was the wonderful range of heritage buildings that were in really good condition. The city’s public areas were clean, designed for pedestrians, and felt inviting and safe to walk around. Of course, there were whole streets that would benefit from regeneration, funding, or just the removal of graffiti tags and buddleia growth, but the challenge was there and during the conference I met and learnt so much about the passion of many to rise to them.
On Sunday, our initial reception was at a Community and Cultural Hub, 2 Royal Avenue.
This two-storey building was designed by William J. Barre for the Belfast branch of the Provincial Bank of Ireland. It was built by Henry Fulton 1864–1869. Another bank took it over, then it became a Tesco shop, and since 2021 the council has run it as a ‘meanwhile space’. It was perfect for a gathering of over 200 delegates and the architectural ‘wow factor’ was just a sign of things to come. From there we found our way to our chosen walks, talks and visits around the city. I selected a guided walk around the Cathedral area, knowing some of the oldest city buildings would be presented, many of which had been beautifully restored. Then on to The Crescent Art Centre a Grade II Listed building (1873) to learn about their challenges of transforming an old college into a vibrant community space.
The main session was in The Assembly Buildings Conference Centre, an old Presbyterian Church with yet another most impressive double-height domed and galleried space. Here, we had the main plenary sessions and access to a warren of rooms for breakout groups on our chosen topics and stalls from heritage consultants, banks, digital services and funders.
I was happy to see at least a dozen Building Preservation Trusts represented, which would be why one of the sessions on offer was ‘From Vacant to Vibrant: Models for Trusts to Retrofit Historic Buildings …’.
A quick freshen up at our hotels, then over to the most impressive City Hall built in 1906: a Baroque Revival masterpiece symbolizing the city’s industrial prosperity and civic pride.
A warm evening welcome to the marbled halls from a harpist, whilst drinks were served and we were able to mingle with those like-minded folk we’d met over the past two days. Then ushered to our tables where the most efficient conference organisers had done their best to seat us with people we may not have already met. (this is about networking after all).
Tuesday was a 0900 hrs start to get onto allocated coaches whisking us off to various locations in and around Armagh. I elected to visit Lurgan en route, where we were dropped off at Brownlow House, designed in the Elizabethan Revival style, by William Henry Playfair (1790-1857) a Scottish Architect, so that was a pleasant surprise in Ireland. Then a walk through the town of Lurgan to learn about some smaller Georgian properties that had been given plenty of tlc. It was great to be shown around by one of the local builder/developers, who admitted he’d not worked on heritage properties before and his project had been a huge learning curve, but he’d had excellent support from the local council and an experienced architect as part of Lurgan Townscape Heritage.
His greatest headache was finding good builders. Looking for those with conservation accreditation wasn’t even a goal, as so few exist. He claimed it was learning on the hoof for all. This skills shortage was one of the most flagged concerns throughout the conference, with apprenticeship schemes, heritage craft skills, and people who could teach such skills in rare supply.
There are many shared passions and problems in the world of heritage buildings. The conference was exhausting and inspiring, and well worth attending, and I managed to see and learn about a side of Belfast and environs that I would never have gleaned from a book or a guide on top of a tour bus.
Here are the details for the 2027 Heritage Network Conference, in case you are tempted: Heritage Network announces Medway as conference 2027 location
