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Building a future for the past

Making a career with the National Trust

The National Trust’s Rory Cullen FCIOB tells us about the career opportunities on offer for its Building Surveyors

AS HEAD OF BUILDINGS for the largest building conservation organisation in Europe, I’m often asked what the job entails. Whether the question comes from casual or professional curiosity, I fi nd the assumptions behind it are generally that the National Trust has pots of money provided by government, which it spends on the conservation of Downton Abbey-style mansions under the indulgent eyes of surveyors who

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never set foot in anything less than a grade II-listed property. Although it’s true that we spend a lot of time and money conserving some of the fi nest historic buildings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, we can’t afford to do everything that needs to be done. And the Trust is a charity that relies on the goodwill and generosity of people, not the government. We employ more than 5,000 staff who are supported by 50,000 volunteers and 4 million members,

and our sites welcome many millions of visitors a year. Mansions are a relatively small part of our

portfolio: we look after about 300 of them. Altogether, we’re responsible for more than 28,000 buildings and structures whose histories span a period of about 800 years. They include 57 entire villages, over 5,000 cottages (some tenanted, some used as holiday homes), farms, bridges and lighthouses. Many are listed, or scheduled ancient monuments, nearly all