Conservation standards

A resource for standards in conservation

Standards are everywhere, from domestic equipment like hairdryers and light bulbs to professional items such as humidifiers or cameras. Standards have been in use in heritage conservation for many years and are still evolving today. A standard offers guidance to good practice - an agreed way of doing something - and combines the distilled wisdom of people with expertise in their subject matter.

Icon’s own professional standards require members to “be conversant with national and international principles, philosophies and guidelines relevant to your practice.”  So awareness of the full range of published conservation standards is essential.

What is a standard?

A Standard is a guide to best practice. Standards are designed for voluntary use – no-one is forced to follow a set of rules that makes life harder - they offer ways to do things better. They are not legally binding but they can be used to underpin contractual arrangements. Standards keep on evolving as new solutions develop and demonstrate to clients, colleagues and stakeholders that you are up to date with your area of the profession . 

The conservation standards listed below set down best practice in a concise way, summarising current approaches to the conservation of cultural heritage collections and buildings, for the benefit both of professional conservators and of those employing, commissioning or working alongside them. They have proved really useful for informing colleagues and clients about their work. The standards do not specify how conservation is to be carried out; this is down to the conservator’s professional judgment. Some of them do however describe tests or investigations, for instance for the effectiveness of materials and processes, or a measure of the outcomes of interventions; while others suggest best practice for environmental conditions.

Who writes the standards?

Conservators, conservation managers, scientists and architects from the UK, alongside those from many other European countries, have been compiling the suite of BS EN Conservation standards listed below. They contribute to the working groups (one working group for each proposed standard) and report to Committee  B/560 of the British Standards Institution Conservation of tangible cultural heritage on which Icon and about ten other UK heritage conservation bodies are represented. 

The published documents have been agreed after a rigorous drafting process and voting system. Although developed collaboratively across Europe, under the auspices of CEN – the European standards organisation, each standards body (e.g. BSI) publishes each standard nationally. They are revised every five years, in the light of their proven usefulness and changing practice. Because of varying practice across different parts of Europe, the standards sometimes offer a compromise, and when this happens there is generally a note drawing attention to this.  Despite Brexit, the UK is expected to stay within the CEN framework at least to the end of 2023.

There are other conservation standards particular to the UK, i.e. not under the auspices of CEN and so without EN in their title. They have been compiled solely by conservation and other relevant professionals within the UK. These are listed separately below.

How to get involved

There is a continuing need for UK conservators to take part in the compilation of new standards and the revision of existing ones. If you would like to be involved do please volunteer. There is often funding to help attend overseas working group meetings, when these resume. BSI provides training to explain the process and on how to take part, if required. In the first instance contact admin@icon.org.uk

It is intended that Icon will establish a Focus Group early in 2021, to explore the effectiveness of the standards.  If you would like to contribute please contact Isobel Griffin at IGriffin@nationalgalleries.org 

How to get hold of the standards

University libraries and other institutional libraries have online access to the standards, both the European-based ones ( BS EN…)  and the UK ones (BS…), where they can be read online and often printed out without charge. In institutions that belong to the National Conservation Service access is free for eleven of the standards.  organisations which subscribe to BSI can obtain them all at half-price.

The standards can all be bought from the BSI Shop, where many of the most relevant BS EN standards are offered at a special discounted rate to members of Icon.

To order one of the discounted standards, find the relevant code here (members only), search by BS EN number in the BSI Shop and apply the code during checkout. Please note the codes are only valid for digital copies of the standards, not for the hard copies.

*Download your discount code here (members only).

UK conservators are invited to collaborate in the preparation of new standards and the revision of existing standards. Please email admin@icon.org.uk

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Image: Bianca Harvey