Where the Women Were. Celebrating International Women's Day
Location: THE MUSEUM OF BATH ARCHITECTURE
Address: COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON CHAPEL, BATH, BA1 5NA
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Introduced by BPT's first female Chair Eve Salomon, BPT's Dr Amy Frost and Buro Happold's Alice Brook talk significant women in architecture and engineering back into the history books in a journey through time.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A panel discussion around gender balance and women in built environment professions and education, joined by Amy, Alice, Eve and Victoria Thornton.
About our speakers:
Dr Amy Frost is the Senior Curator of Bath Preservation Trust, which operates No.1 Royal Crescent, Beckford’s Tower, the Museum of Bath Architecture and the Herschel Museum of Astronomy. An architectural historian, she specialises in British architecture of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century as well as the built heritage of Bath. She is a leading expert on the life and aesthetics of the British collector, writer, and owner of enslaved people William Beckford (1760-1844). Amy also lectures at the University of Bath, School of Architecture and is a founder member of the not for profit Bath based organisation Architecture is.
Alice Brook is a chartered structural engineer with over 18 years experience, working both in the design office and on site. She graduated from the University of Bath with a degree in Civil and Architectural engineering in 2005 and has worked for Buro Happold since graduation. She is now an Associate Director in their 70 strong structural team here in Bath. In her early career she worked on a wide range of projects covering sports and entertainment, aviation and cultural sectors. Her notable projects include The O2 Arena in the Millennium dome, the Louvre in Abu Dhabi and a two year period spent on site monitoring the construction of the Airport of Gibraltar. Her work on the 3 Arena in Dublin, a converted 18th century railway shed, sparked a keen interest in historic structures. Following this calling, Alice has built upon Buro Happold’s catalogue of creative reuse developments, adding multiple projects to this portfolio, including works within the grade I listed Sir Alfred Waterhouse building, home of the Natural History museum, and, closer to home, the Aerospace Bristol museum, housed in world war 1 hangars, and conversion of the Stothert and Pitt Newark Works right here in Bath. Alice leads Buro Happold’s Conservation and Creative Reuse engineering community, bringing together expertise from their teams within the UK and internationally, to ensure their projects benefit from the latest knowledge in this field. Alice is a keen advocate for women within the engineering and construction profession. She chaired the Bath branch of Women in Property in 2019-20, then became vice chair and subsequently chair of the main South West branch in 2021. Through this role Alice has supported a membership of over 250 construction industry women in the south west through the Women in Property programme of networking and knowledge share events, mentoring scheme, outreach activities and student awards programme. Alice is particularly passionate about helping women through the difficult balancing act of career and family, something she recognises is a challenge in any profession, but perhaps more so in a male dominated field such as engineering.
Eve Salomon has a long history in the arts and heritage sectors. She formerly led as Chair of the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London where she served two four-year terms, navigating the museum through the COVID-19 pandemic, the return of the Benin bronzes in its collections, and winning the coveted Arts Fund Museum of the Year award in 2022. She also acted as a trustee for the Ovalhouse (now Brixton House) theatre and arts centre for 20 years. This year Eve received a CBE for services to the Arts and Heritage.
Eve, a solicitor, is an international legal expert on media law and regulation for interstate bodies such as the Council of Europe, UNESCO and the OSCE. She has advised governments, regulatory authorities and international organisations on human rights and media-related issues. She has also worked as a regulator, notably as Chair of the Regulatory Board of RICS, and as a Commissioner of the Press Complaints Commission, the Gambling Commission, and Chair of the Internet Watch Foundation. More recently she chaired the board of Privacy International and currently chairs the board of trustees at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
Victoria Thornton OBE is Chair of BPT’s Architecture, Planning & Place Committee. Victoria is the Founder and former Director of Open House and Open-City, an architecture education charity advocating the value of design in creating vibrant, liveable cities. Other positions and roles have included Jury Member RIBA Royal Gold Medal; Board Member Irish Architecture Foundation; Women in Architecture Judge; RIBA Research Committee, Expert Advisory Board, Bartlett 2050 Leadership Programme and Architecture ls member. She is also the author of Open House, Chair of Open House Worldwide, and co-author of London’s Guide to Contemporary Architecture. Victoria was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the RIBA in 2003, Honorary MA from London Metropolitan University, 2006, and an OBE in 2012 for services to architecture and education. Victoria joined the Council of the Architectural Association in 2016. Since moving to Bath, Victoria has taken an active interest in the Museum of Bath Architecture and is a member of Architecture Is, a collaboration between amongst others BPT and the University of Bath.
Doors open at 5.30pm. A bar will be available serving wine, beer and soft drinks.
Members and non-members of all genders and ages, including children (recommended age 10+) are welcome to this event.
There will be an opportunity for ticket holders to explore the museum, which is currently closed to the public, before and after the talk.
Accessibility
The entrance, and main museum room which houses the museum’s permanent collection and changing exhibitions are all level access. There are three steps up to the ‘Countess’ Room’ which explains the history of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, for whom the chapel was built and three steps up to the back of the scale model of Bath. Assistance dogs are welcome. Unfortunately, the museum toilets are located up three steps and then down a flight of stairs.