Vikas Dilawari

Although I had been in the UK for a year and had obtained an MA in Conservation Studies from the Institute of Advanced Arhitectural Studies, University of York on a Charles Wallace India Trust scholarship, and had formal qualifications, I was lacking practical training. This is where the Fellowship was tailor made. In India I had the distinction of being one of the earliest practicising conservation architectects, but in retrospect I feel that this fellowship made all the difference to my career. I chose to spend my three months working with different professions associated with architectural conservation fields in different parts of the country. This ranged from structural engineers, to conservation architects, to stained glass and stone conservators working on a cathedral site, to finally English Heritage. These placements were co-ordinated from Mumbai with assistance of professional friends in the UK. The first placement was with Alan Baxter, one of UK leading consultant engineering firms located in London. This field of Conservation engineering is (2001) totally missing in India. This placement was the highlight of the award. Other placements were with James Simpson, a leading practising conservation architect, York Glazier Trust , the Clerk of Works at Lincoln Cathedral , Nicholas Rank of BFAW architects, Manchester, and the Northern Division of English Heritage. After this award I successfully completed one of the first conservation projects in the country following accepted international norms. This project was with partial foreign aid to restore the Stained Glass of one of th emost prominent landmarks in Mumbai, the rajabai Tower and Library building of the University of Bombay. I handled the project as the architect and manageer in charge where I had to deal with with an Indian team of trainee glaziers and craftsen and with British stained glass experts. These experts were invited by the British Council Division Mmummbai to train and transfer the skill of leaded stained glass which was non-existent in our country. This project took two and a half years to complete and has won me the prestigious Indian Institute for Architects Award for Conservation (the IIA Kitply Award 2000). I have subsequently executed many other structural and non-structural projects where there was a direct influence from what I learned on the Fellowship. These included the restoration of the Army and Navy Building and ANZ Grindlays Bank, The work on the Army and Navy Building won me another join award as Young Architect of the Year (2001) constituted by JK Cement. The restoration of ANZ Grindlays Bank in Mumbai was the first public building to undo its past mistake and to remove successfully the paint layers from its stone masonry surfaces. I subsequently worked on the restoration of the fire damaged Bombay Municipal Corporation Hall and on restoration of the Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai. The knowledge which I gained from teh fellowship was shared with all my team mates working with me, including contractors. Apart from this, I teach conservation and have shared my experience of this practical training with my architectural students. Many of my projects have been extensively covered by different newspaper journalists. This helps spread themessage to the public at large.