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Contact | Apr 12 Regional News


Obituary: Douglas James Hague MCIOB 1930-2011


Douglas Hague was a builder of enquiring mind with a dedication to building education; a fighter for its standards and his students in particular, even if it caused problems with higher authority. Born in Yorkshire, but growing up


WALES


Major summit on heritage skills in Wales highlights training gap


Work on Tintern Abbey, one of Wales’s many heritage buildings


A total of 34% of buildings in Wales were built before 1919, compared to 22% in England, 20% in Scotland and 16% in Northern Ireland. This highlights why Wales may have some particular requirements and it needs to address these if it is to sustain its old building stock. “Much of this will come down to having the right


knowledge and skills,” said John W Edwards FCIOB, assistant director at Cadw, the official guardian of the built heritage of Wales. “It is widely recognised that new construction


Heritage experts from around the UK, including a number of CIOB members, attended a summit at Caerphilly Castle in March to debate the knowledge and skills required for the building stock of Wales. Wales has the oldest building stock in the western


world and it forms a rich part of its heritage, but this also has implications for the overall performance of its buildings and the knowledge and skills required for their upkeep and improvement. The summit, hosted by the Welsh government’s


minister for housing, regeneration and heritage, Huw Lewis, and joined by the deputy skills minister Jeff Cuthbert, focused on supply and demand issues concerning traditional building craft skills. Buildings that pre-date 1919 are commonly understood to be built using traditional methods.


comprises only just over 50% of UK construction industry output, but that is not matched by the training of crafts or professions, which are mainly focused on new construction,” added Edwards. “The issues to be considered are broad. For


example, recent research highlights that the energy performance of traditional buildings is much better than commonly understood, but that well-informed maintenance and repair is key. A damp wall will release up to 38% more energy compared to a dry wall. This highlights the need for correct methods of repair to be specified and the right craft skills used. “An approach based on solely new construction


technology and materials will not sustain the old buildings of Wales or indeed the UK as a whole, where it makes up nearly a quarter of the total building stock,” he concluded.


For more information visit www.cadw.wales.gov.uk Early Titanic tour for Irish members


The Titanic Signature Project in Belfast opened its doors to the members and guests of the CIOB in Ireland Northern Centre in February to offer an insight into this much-anticipated tourist attraction ahead of its opening in March. Noel Molloy, project director of Harcourt


Construction, led members through nine galleries and a museum for ship building, maritime Belfast, titanic builder Harland and Wolff and the industrial history of Belfast. As members toured the project, Molloy pointed out features of interest, such as the


Titanic slipways, which could be appreciated from the large windows of the building. Members were delighted to be among the


first to get a taste of the visitor experience as they were invited into the theatre, function rooms and banqueting space. This area is complete with spectacular views of the City of Belfast, the River Lagan and beyond. The Northern Centre thanks Noel Molloy and all those who have been involved in giving lectures and talks to CIOB members, students and guests over the past year.


in Watford, Hague completed his full- time education at The Polytechnic, Regent Street, achieving an HND in Building in 1949. “Continuing education” was built into his bones and on moving into the world of work as a surveyor/estimator he continued his studies part-time, achieving full membership of the Institute in 1960. In 1965 he became a lecturer at


the Leicester College of Art & Design and successively senior lecturer and principal lecturer at Leicester Polytechnic/De Montfort University (DMU). Always concerned with the wider industry, he became an avid contributor to the CIOB’s publications and continued to develop his own studies with a MSc from UMIST in 1977 and, in 1997, after retirement, a PhD from DMU on “The Automatic Classification of Building Maintenance”, with Dixon Maintenance as the collaborating organisation. As the course leader of the HND in Building at Leicester Polytechnic for over a dozen years, he fought hard to ensure its integrity as a challenging yet practical and academically stringent way for young people to enter the industry. His success was the inspiration that he passed on to those students, many of whom progressed to further studies and chartered status. Not limiting himself to Leicester, he was for many years the chairman of the Standing Committee for HNDs in Building. Always forward looking, some of his initiatives led to the subsequent Construction Technology & Management degree at DMU. His research focused chiefly on management, pricing and cost control for SMEs and in the course of a long career attracted both an Ian Murray Leslie Award Commendation and a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Scholarship from the CIOB. His final publication, jointly with Dr David Moore, was Building Production Management Techniques in 1999 — a CIOB education framework textbook. He was involved locally with CIOB activities, as a member of the East Midlands Regional Council and, nationally, for a while, a trustee of the CIOB Benevolent Fund. Doug was a thoughtful man with a


delightful sense of humour and a lifelong commitment to education — in the months before his death he was still involved with a local group learning Latin! His support for students and young academics was notable and his dedication to the industry wide ranging. He will be missed in many corners, where the industry spotlight rarely shines.


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