The Historic Buildings Parks & Gardens Event and Historic Houses

[edit] Historic Buildings, Parks and Gardens Event

The Historic Buildings, Parks and Gardens Event (HBPGE) has been running for over 35 years. It is an event about the care, repair, conservation, maintenance, preservation and restoration of Historic Buildings including interiors, historic landscapes, parks & gardens. The all-day exhibition consists of companies and organisations offering advice, solutions, guidance and support, as well as a wide and diverse range of products and services. Ranging from the traditional to cutting edge technology and across all areas of historic building and landscape conservation.

The Historic Buildings, Parks and Gardens Event (HBPGE) is held annually alongside related talks and speeches (see below). In parallel the Historic Houses Association (Historic Houses) also holds its AGM during the event.

[edit] Historic Buildings, Parks and Gardens 2025 Event

The programme includes the all-day exhibition, keynote speeches and awards as well as live demonstrations and short talks. The organisers will be announcing the full demonstrations programme later in the summer but they already include a short talk by Douglas Kent, Head of Technical & Research at the SPAB and demos by Locker & Riley Artisans in Plaster and Fine Art Restorations. There is free entry to the HBPGE available to everyone in the historic buildings, landscape conservation and heritage sectors. Owners, guardians, volunteers, professionals management staff and advisers involved with historic buildings (private, commercial, industrial, Grade I listed buildings, cathedrals, churches, manor houses, windmills, historic town centres), parks, gardens and historic landscapes.

The IHBC webnews site notes that the HBPGE writes:

"This year, we have another full day planned and you will be able to listen to the address by Jason Lindsay, President of Historic Houses*, and hear from their guest speakers The Baroness Twycross, DCMS* and Dr Anna Keay OBE, Director of The Landmark Trust*. More details of the programme will be announced shortly, but throughout the day you can enjoy a selection of live demonstrations and short talks by experts about practical skills and conservation techniques. This year we have demos by SPAB Guardians, Fine Art Restoration, Locker & Riley Artisans in Plaster and short talks by Douglas Kent, SPAB Technical & Research Director, Harris Bugg Studio Landscape Design and many more. (*By kind permission of Historic Houses and subject to seating availability)"

"You will find information, advice, solutions, guidance and support, as well as products and services ranging from traditional, to cutting edge technology, covering all aspects of the historic buildings, landscape conservation and heritage sectors. Exhibitors have specialist knowledge of repair, conservation, maintenance and preservation of historic buildings, their contents, historic landscapes, and parks and gardens, both private or commercial. The SPAB will be running a free Advice Surgery, The Victorian Society, The Gardens Trust, The William Morris Society, Professional Gardeners Guild, and many specialist organisations, suppliers and professionals are on hand to help with all aspects of historic buildings, landscape and heritage conservation."

"Including demos by SPAB Guardians, Fine Art Restoration Preserving the Past: How Damp and Mould Threaten Art Collections in Historic Properties, Locker & Riley Artisans in Plaster and short talks by Douglas Kent, SPAB Technical & Research Director, Harris Bugg Studio Landscape Design and many more. Listen to the Historic Houses President’s address (by kind permission of Historic Houses and subject to seating availability) enjoy talks from their guest speakers, the Savills lecture and the Historic Houses awards presentation and a Q&A session with the Director General and Technical Advisor.

The 2025 HBPGE event will be held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster, London, SW1P 3EE on the 11 November 2025, for more information visitor and registration details visit https://hbpge.hall-mccartney.co.uk/

[edit] The Historic Houses association

The Historic Houses Association is now known simply as Historic Houses, and began life as a sub committee within the British Tourist Authority and became a fully independent association in 1973. Its earliest members were some of the first to open to the public and included estates such as Beaulieu, Longleat, Knebworth, and Woburn Abbey. Today it is largest association of independent historic houses and gardens, in the UK representing over a thousand independently owned member properties.

The organisation was originally formed in response to widespread loss of country houses through demolition, neglect, and prohibitive taxation, through a movement catalysed by the V&A’s 1974 exhibition The Destruction of the Country House. The organisation quickly established itself as a political force, lobbying successfully to secure tax relief in exchange for public access to privately owned heritage.

Over the ensuing decades, Historic Houses (renamed in 2018) represents members that include privately owned homes as well as sites managed by trusts, businesses, and institutions. By pooling expertise and resources, the organisation supports its members in navigating conservation, regulatory, and financial challenges.

Today, Historic Houses continues its work advising members on areas ranging from diversification approaches and maintaining a visitor offer such as weddings, filming, tours, to technical heritage care. Despite public perceptions often associating heritage sites with large bodies like the National Trust, Historic Houses advocates that independent ownership when supported by fair fiscal and regulatory frameworks is the most effective custodian model for Britain’s heritage. It continues to speak up for independent owners to ensure the best possible conditions for the running, care, and preservation of historic houses and gardens.

This article is based on a news item from the IHBC, with further background information from the HBPGE website and from the Historic Houses website at the time of writing; 5 August 2025.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Are works to listed buildings demolition or alteration?
• Building Preservation Notice.
• Certificate of immunity.
• Certificate of Lawfulness of Proposed Works.
• Charging for Listed Building Consent pre-application advice.
• Compulsory purchase orders for listed buildings.
• Conservation area.
• Conservation officer.
• Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and listed buildings.
• Fitness for purpose in listing considerations.
• Forced entry to listed buildings.
• Guidance on Alterations to Listed Buildings.
• Heritage partnership agreement.
• IHBC articles.
• Listed buildings.
• Listed buildings insurance.
• Local Listed Building Consent Orders.
• Local interest list.
• Locally listed building.
• Minimalist listing.
• Negotiating listed building consent.
• Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act.
• Reactive listing.
• The history of listed buildings.
• Thematic listing.
• Town and Country Planning Act 1968.
• Use of direct action in heritage enforcement cases in England..
• VAT - Protected Buildings.