Attendees at this three-session workshop rolled up their sleeves (so to speak) to map out their personal “renovation strategy” at this expert-led series.

The first session lays the foundation, covering the broad arc of the renovation or construction process. The second session covers the WHO and HOW including building a team, design and documentation, planning the investment (how much might a project cost?), and sources of funding.The third and final session pulls it all together into an actionable implementation strategy: finding and working with contractors, permitting and approvals, safety/health (and happiness) during construction, establishing next steps.

Building codes are complex and are often seen as a hurdle to historic rehabilitation. On the other hand, they help protect building owners and occupants from catastrophic injury or death. Building codes are critically important to protecting the public health, safety, and welfare.

This talk presents a 101-level overview of the “how”, “what” and “why” behind the building code. The goals is for attendees to gain a fundamental understanding of building code language and how it applies to some commonly found building types, rehabilitation scope, and historic conditions. Practical solutions.

While we have a huge amount of respect for historic buildings, we approach rehabilitation from a pragmatic perspective, advocating for preservation of “character defining” aspects of historic buildings and neighborhoods.

On the flip side, it’s important to also recognize that current building codes, construction technologies, economics, and use requirements often conflict with historic preservation. Change can be sensitively incorporated into a historic building – it becomes a part of the building’s unique “story”. Particularly, at the individual building level, navigating this tension between historic character and modern renovation approaches is of critical importance in effective rehabilitation work.

The keynote speaker at the 2024 Preserve Iowa Summit was a man by the name of Brent Leggs, vice president at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. During his talk, he said something off the cuff… just a short aside that I actually think is somewhat radical: “Preservation is grounded in interpretation.”

This quote captures the essence of this presentation: while the researching, designing, and rehabilitating a historic building can be a great way to personally understand a building’s story, SHARING that information is how we create and solidify human connections.