Energy efficiency at the Wallace Collection - ISH Guest Lecture with Jurgen Huber

This virtual lecture was recorded on Thursday 26 November 2020 with guest speaker Jurgen Huber, Senior Furniture Conservator at the Wallace Collection.
This talk explores the challenges of preserving objects whilst maintaining a Museum which is economically and environmentally sustainable. The Wallace Collection is one of the finest collections of art ever assembled by one family displayed in the same historic London town-house where it was first installed by Richard Wallace between 1873-5. The role of an object conservator entails practical and investigative work carried out to prolong the life of objects, and a major part of this is in object preservation on a wider level through preventive conservation, such as the control of temperature, humidity, and light levels. But a more recent and prescient challenge to the role of conservator is to provide a ‘perfect museum environment’ while reducing the overall impact on the global environment. There are individual advantages and disadvantages to the various forms energy production that take place within the gallery setting. This talk will outline the energy challenges at the Wallace Collection, solutions implemented so far and possible future solutions.
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UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage delivers sustainable solutions to real-world cultural heritage problems through ground-breaking, cross-disciplinary research and innovative teaching for future heritage leaders. We are part of The Bartlett: UCL’s global faculty of the built environment.
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