We are independent consultants who work as a team, bringing together a unique blend of multi-disciplinary skills, experiences, expertise and talent. We essentially advise and negotiate the management of change to the historic environment - especially with regard to buildings. We work with a number of other professionals who contribute valuable expertise in more specialist areas such as historic landscapes, structural engineering and planning.
As independent third party advisors on all matters heritage-related, we are fully committed to the conservation of heritage assets, and our assessments are therefore honest and unbiased. We are fully aware of the variety of different conservation philosophies adopted by those in the world of heritage and planning. We subscribe to the approaches favoured both by Historic England and by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (“SPAB”) in terms of balancing the management of change with conservation and repair on a case-by-case basis.
Dorian Crone
BA BArch DipTP RIBA MRTPI IHBC
Heritage and Design Consultant
Dorian has been a Chartered Architect and Chartered Town Planner for over 30 years. He has also been a member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation for 25 years. Dorian is a committee member of The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings ("SPAB"), the International Committee on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), ICOMOS UK and Institute of Historic Building Conservation. He has been a court member with the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects and a trustee of the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust. He is currently a trustee of both the Dance and Drake Trusts, and a scholar of SPAB.
Dorian has worked for over 30 years as Historic Buildings and Areas Inspector with English Heritage, responsible for providing advice to all the London Boroughs and both the City Councils. Dorian has also worked as a consultant and expert witness for over 20 years advising a wide variety of clients on heritage and design matters involving development work, alterations, extensions and new build projects associated with listed buildings and conservation areas in design and heritage sensitive locations.
He is a panel member of the John Betjeman Design Award and the City of London Heritage Award. He is also a Design Review Panel member of the South-West region; as well as the London Boroughs of Islington, Lewisham, Wandsworth and Richmond-upon-Thames and of the Design Council (CABE). In addition, Dorian has also been involved with the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition Architectural Awards and the Philip Webb Award along with a number of other public sector and commercial design awards.
Melisa Thomas
BA PGDL LPC MSc IHBC
Heritage Consultant
Melisa studied English and History at university. She then pursued a career in the law for some years while also working as a specialist guide, researcher and lecturer at Strawberry Hill House, Richmond-upon-Thames.
Melisa has completed a Master's degree in the Conservation of the Historic Environment, and has been working in the heritage industry for a number of years on various complex cases involving heritage planning, design and townscape matters. Her specialist subjects include Georgian and Victorian house architecture, London history, and urban townscapes. Due to her background in the law, she keenly follows developments in the regulation of the conservation and heritage industry through legislation, policies and case law.
Nick Chapple
BA (Hons) Dip Cons AA
Heritage Consultant
Nick has over twenty years’ experience in historic environment conservation, working at English Heritage for several years before moving into private-sector consultancy. He specialises in places of worship and in twentieth-century architecture and design.
He has considerable experience in researching buildings, assessing their significance and advising clients on new design in historic contexts. Heritage assets he has worked on include churches and cathedrals, private houses, museums, castles and fortifications, stations and other railway structures. He has written conservation plans for several complex sites, for clients including the National Trust and English Heritage.
Nick studied the conservation of historic buildings at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and graduated with distinction in 2011. He is the editor of Ecclesiology Today, the journal of the Ecclesiological Society and a trustee of the society. His published work includes chapters in Lived in London (Yale 2009), Neo-Georgian Architecture, a reappraisal (Historic England, 2015) and three volumes of A History of the National Heritage Collection (English Heritage, 2014).
Dr Daniel Cummins
MA (Oxon) MSc PhD IHBC
Historic Environment Consultant
Daniel is an historian with a BA and Master’s degree in History from Oxford University and a doctorate from the University of Reading, where he specialised in ecclesiastical buildings and estates and had his work published in leading academic history journals.
Daniel has a Master's degree in the Conservation of the Historic Environment and is a member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. He provides independent professional heritage and design advice to leading architectural practices and planning consultancies, as well as for private clients. He has an excellent working knowledge of the legislative and policy framework relating to the historic environment.
Daniel has extensive experience in projects involving interventions to listed buildings and buildings in conservation areas, providing detailed assessments of significance and heritage impact assessments required for Listed Building Consent and Planning Permission. He has been closely involved in projects which cover a wide range of heritage assets, including vernacular agricultural buildings, Georgian townhouses, Victorian country houses, and major coastal regeneration projects.
Dr Kathryn Davies
BA (Hons) MA DPhil Dip TP FSA MRTPI IHBC
Heritage and Planning Consultant
Kathryn is a heritage consultant who has been a Chartered Town Planner and qualified in conservation for over 35 years. She is a founder member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation and was recently its Vice-Chair.
Kathryn has over 35 years’ experience of working in planning and conservation in local authorities and for Historic England (formerly English Heritage) as a Historic Buildings Inspector, Team Leader and as the Principal Historic Places Adviser in the South East. She is currently an independent consultant undertaking work in both the private and public sectors. Kathryn has been appointed by CABE as a Built Environment Expert to sit on design review panels and is a member of the BOB-MK design review panel.
Kathryn is a Visiting Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford. She has lectured widely on conservation and her specific area of research, early modern secular wall paintings, on which she has published a book and several papers.
David Edwards
BA (Hons)
Heritage Consultant
David is an archaeologist with a BA in Ancient History and Archaeology from the University of Manchester. He has worked on archaeological projects in England and Cyprus and is currently working towards membership of the Chartered Institute of Archaeologists (CIfA).
David has worked with a number of local planning authorities to provide advice on the historic environment and has a detailed understanding of the planning system. He is skilled in historic building analysis and research providing advice to clients on managing change within the historic built environment.
David is formalising his experience in the heritage environment and working towards an MSc in Historic Conservation from Oxford Brookes University and The University of Oxford.