Visitor Impact Research at Old Parliament House, Canberra.

["Gillian Mitchell" <conservation_works@ozemail.com.au>]

Hi All,
Our heritage unit is currently carrying out a research project aimed at 
identifying, monitoring and quantifying the impact visitors and users of 
our building have on the heritage fabric and fittings.  Old Parliament
House was the home of federal government in Australia from 1927 to 1988. 
  Today the building is a museum, art gallery and function space with
over 170,000 visitors per annum.   We are faced the task of balancing
use of the historic property against wear and tear of the heritage
fabric.
  We are interested in making contact with anyone who is currently
involved in or knows of research work or approaches to actively managing 
visitor loads in historic properties.  Our literature review has
highlighted work that has been done on visitor induced vibration and
dust distribution by the National Trust in England.  We are also aware
of an exciting project at the Historic Houses Trust of NSW which
involves a computerized image comparison system for condition
monitoring.
  Presently, we are in the process of developing tools and techniques to
quantify types and rates of damage on various materials.  Our areas of
main interest are grime deposition, colour change and physical damage
including abrasion, on floor-coverings, leather upholstery, metal
fittings and lacquered timber furniture.  We are also developing tools
to identify potentially damaging visitor behaviour patterns.  The
overall plan is to use these tools to institute a monitoring program
that will allow us to actively manage and minimize wear and tear on the
fabric.  This monitoring program will take a holistic approach and
include assessment of environmental conditions that are influenced by
visitors including illumination levels, microclimatic changes, dust
deposition patterns and indoor air quality.

  We would appreciate making contact with anyone else involved with work
in this area.  The research project is being coordinated by Gillian
Mitchell (conservation _works@ozemail.com.au).

Gillian Mitchell
Director
Conservation Works Pty Ltd
Phone 02 6226 8339
Fax 02 6226 8331
Mobile 0413 861 450