Stone industry says farewell to Scottish stone champion Ingval Maxwell
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In almost 40 years with Historic Scotland and its predecessor Ingval Maxwell became a friend and champion of the stone industry, and those from the industry, as well as his colleagues from Historic Scotland, joined him to mark his retirement at Edinbugh Castle last month.
Ingval was the force behind the creation of the Scottish Stone Liaison Group that became the model for first the Welsh Stone Forum and more recently the English Stone Forum.
Ingval joined Historic Scotland’s predecessor, the Ministry for Public Buildings & Works, as an architect in 1969. He was appointed Director of Technical Conservation, Research & Education at Historic Scotland in 1993 and initiated a wide variety of projects, many of which resulted in publications.
His membership of professional bodies includes conservation committees, accreditation panels, and the international ICOMOS UK Executive and International Scientific Committee on Stone.
As well as the Scottish Stone Liaison Group – which was so successful because it brought together a diverse range of interests, from quarries and contractors to architects, planners and property owners – Ingval created a number of other conservation networks, including the Scottish Historic Buildings Fire Liaison Group and the Scottish Conservation Forum in Training and Education.
He represented the UK on the European Commission COST Action programme ‘Urban Heritage, Building Maintenance’ and was Chairman of the European Science Foundation’s COST Action ‘Fire Loss to Historic Buildings’.
He was made an OBE in the 2003 Birthday Honours List for his work in building conservation.
Ingval was concerned that conservation should not become elitist, which was why he always wanted to involve the stone industry, not just professionals, in the conservation of the built environment.
As he said at the international COTAC conference in 1999: “Conservation is becoming a difficult word to use. It is beginning to smack of elitism… A better way of expressing the physical requirements of heritage buildings might be to refer to the need for repair and maintenance.”
Stone Federation Great Britain was represented at Ingval’s farewell gathering by Chief Executive Jane Buxey.
She said afterwards: “Stone Federation would like to put on record its thanks to Ingval for all the help he has given us over the years, even if we didn’t always see eye to eye, especially over the issue of stone cleaning. But his advice was always helpful and he always consulted the Federation on all matters pertaining to stone.
“Ingval will be a hard act to follow and will be sorely missed.”
At the retirement party, Historic Scotland Chief Executive John Graham poke of Ingval’s achievements and Ingval himself paid a moving tribute to his many friends and colleagues over the years.
Ingval was the force behind the creation of the Scottish Stone Liaison Group that became the model for first the Welsh Stone Forum and more recently the English Stone Forum.
Ingval joined Historic Scotland’s predecessor, the Ministry for Public Buildings & Works, as an architect in 1969. He was appointed Director of Technical Conservation, Research & Education at Historic Scotland in 1993 and initiated a wide variety of projects, many of which resulted in publications.
His membership of professional bodies includes conservation committees, accreditation panels, and the international ICOMOS UK Executive and International Scientific Committee on Stone.
As well as the Scottish Stone Liaison Group – which was so successful because it brought together a diverse range of interests, from quarries and contractors to architects, planners and property owners – Ingval created a number of other conservation networks, including the Scottish Historic Buildings Fire Liaison Group and the Scottish Conservation Forum in Training and Education.
He represented the UK on the European Commission COST Action programme ‘Urban Heritage, Building Maintenance’ and was Chairman of the European Science Foundation’s COST Action ‘Fire Loss to Historic Buildings’.
He was made an OBE in the 2003 Birthday Honours List for his work in building conservation.
Ingval was concerned that conservation should not become elitist, which was why he always wanted to involve the stone industry, not just professionals, in the conservation of the built environment.
As he said at the international COTAC conference in 1999: “Conservation is becoming a difficult word to use. It is beginning to smack of elitism… A better way of expressing the physical requirements of heritage buildings might be to refer to the need for repair and maintenance.”
Stone Federation Great Britain was represented at Ingval’s farewell gathering by Chief Executive Jane Buxey.
She said afterwards: “Stone Federation would like to put on record its thanks to Ingval for all the help he has given us over the years, even if we didn’t always see eye to eye, especially over the issue of stone cleaning. But his advice was always helpful and he always consulted the Federation on all matters pertaining to stone.
“Ingval will be a hard act to follow and will be sorely missed.”
At the retirement party, Historic Scotland Chief Executive John Graham poke of Ingval’s achievements and Ingval himself paid a moving tribute to his many friends and colleagues over the years.