John Ashurst, who, through his books and lectures, was one of the most influential authorities on stone conservation in the UK, has died. He was 71.

Last year he became the first recipient of the Marsh Award for Traditional Building Skills, presented to him for his outstanding achievements in promoting standards and skills of conservation and repair of historic buildings.

Bill Martin, Conservation Director of English Heritage and one of the judges of the Award, said: "John Ashurst has made a lasting and vital contribution to the understanding, care and conservation of the built heritage."

He co-authored books with his wife at the time, Nichola, and with Frank Dimes of the Geological Museum in Kensington wrote Conservation of Building & Decorative Stone. His advisory notes for English Heritage staff were published at the end of the 1980s as a five-volume set of Practical Building Conservation. At that time he also established English Heritage\'s Building Conservation Training Centre at Fort Brockhurst, near Gosport, Hampshire, with its famous \'ruinettes\'.

When the centre closed in 1996 John transferred his ruinettes (facsimiles of ancient monuments constructed within the casemates of the Palmerston Fort) to West Dean College, a private foundation near Chichester, where he continued to teach until his recent illness.