Jane has played a key role in securing the future of some of the finest historic buildings in the country. Few conservation architects working today can match her breadth of experience, knowledge and skills built up over a career spanning more than 30 years. Her reputation for scholarship, creativity and superb organization primarily stems from her close involvement with Ely Cathedral. As Surveyor to the Fabric since 1994, she has overseen a period of major restoration within the Cathedral and its precincts. Elsewhere, her work has encompassed Selby Abbey, Kew Palace, several Oxbridge colleges and Stowe, one of England’s finest country houses for which the practice received the RICS Conservation Award.
For Jane, architecture is in the blood. She is the third successive generation of her family to take up the profession. Having worked as a conservation officer for local authorities, she joined the practice’s Norwich office in 1988 and, to her delight, found herself working on Ely Cathedral at what was to be the start of a continuing engagement with this great building.
Jane relishes the opportunity to get under the skin of old buildings and really understand them before enhancing and adapting them in line with her clients’ needs. Her involvement with historic structures has also entailed adding sympathetic modern interventions, and she is particularly proud of the Processional Way, a new building she designed for Ely Cathedral which has opened up the medieval route between the Lady Chapel and the Choir.
At Ely and elsewhere, Jane has acquired vast experience of planning and managing major programmes of work. Working closely with her team of conservators and craftspeople, she has developed a detailed knowledge of specialist repairs, with masonry being a particular interest. She has also been involved in fundraising and has played a key role in persuading English Heritage to commit to substantial grants for Ely. Jane has a reputation for listening sensitively to the needs of complicated client bodies and sustaining their long-term faith in her abilities.
‘I always look for the creative possibilities within the conservation field. While the technical aspects are important, aesthetic judgements are needed too. I am constantly aware that the survival of historic buildings is bound up in their ability to adapt to changing needs and uses’.