We are excited to announce that MTBA’s Catherine McBain will be presenting at this year’s APT Conference: PRESERVATION BEYOND POLITICS, in Washington DC. The Conference runs between October 25-29, 2021, and will explore the complexities of the Washington’s construction, its infrastructure and the challenges of preserving, while also exploring the overlay of new development and its impact on the region’s heritage structures and historic neighborhoods.

Catherine is an APT Student Scholar, and will be presenting: Concrete in Canada’s National Capital: From Technological Innovation to Sustainable Rehabilitation, on October 26th. Her presentation will focus in the 21st Century, as many concrete buildings have been subject to significant neglect leading to their eventual demolition. With the growing concern for sustainability, Canadian 2030 carbon reduction, and resilient development goals, concrete buildings have come under the spotlight as representing significant amounts of embodied carbon. The rehabilitation and reuse of buildings using concrete components can achieve avoided embodied carbon and sustainably extend its life cycle.

Using a series of Case Studies from the National Capital Region of Canada, including The Carbide Willson Mill (c. 1911) and the Lester B. Pearson Building (LBPB, 1968-73), she will demonstrate the sheer quantity of concrete construction and provide insight into expected pathological conditions. Other topics of focus include current means of concrete repair of common pathological conditions and their subsequent rehabilitation in line with the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada, and current sustainability and decarbonization considerations. The inclusion of both local historic and on-going rehabilitation projects makes this research both a documentation exercise and a critical analysis of current conservation efforts. With the knowledge regarding the embodied carbon of concrete, this research argues that its conservation and repair should be favoured before any decision to demolition and new construction, as the best path toward a more sustainable future.

MTBA has been in the forefront and fully engaged with the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT), a multi – disciplinary, membership organization dedicated to promoting the best technology for conserving/preserving historic structures and their settings. MTBA have contributed extensively towards Heritage Conservation, Preservation and Sustainability – leading the way towards the de-carbonization of existing and historic buildings, which account for a massive share of carbon emissions.