PreservationWorks!
PreservationWorks! provides expert advice on conservation and heritage projects across Ontario. Our roster of highly skilled professionals provides a range of services to promote the preservation of at-risk buildings and natural sites.
About the PreservationWorks! Program
What services are provided?
Since 1973, ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVANCY ONTARIO has connected communities in need of preservation advice with a variety of professionals, including restoration architects, engineers, lawyers, archaeologists, landscape architects and historians.
Requests for service can include an overview of building conditions, structural soundness, evaluation of architectural and historical merit, approaches to repair, upgrading and restoration, and advice on reuse.
ACO provides a brief preliminary report that can be effectively used to avoid demolition, forewarn of structural or architectural problems, or suggest an appropriate preservation strategy and gain public support. The service is provided at a nominal cost and is delivered within six weeks of the request.
Who can request help through PreservationWorks!?
Any individual or not-for-profit organization in the Province of Ontario facing a threat to a piece of local heritage can access this service.
*Please note that this service is not available for businesses or for profit enterprises.
Why is PreservationWorks! important?
Citizens, community groups and local heritage societies are often unable to convince others of the importance of Ontario’s heritage endowments. Groups may find themselves working against various (and powerful) forces, be it an unsympathetic owner, developer, or municipality.
Typically a community is faced with imminent demolition of a property, either by the owner or the local jurisdiction, by reason of proposed new development or charges of structural instability. The community can use these reports to negotiate preservation of heritage properties, in whole or in part, or counter false allegations of structural unsoundness, for example. A consultant’s report is thus often prepared at short notice in the face of an imminent threat, and can be critical to the preservation of a heritage site.
"The consultant's report confirmed the building was worth saving, and convinced the community to look for feasible uses."
Allan McDonnell, The Bishop's House, St. Raphael's, South Glengarry
"You were all so kind to find the time to make the trip to Kenilworth, and your unbridled enthusiasm was a real shot in the arm for us.... The report will be invaluable as a point of reference, a supportive argument for our cause and a report that we will return to when questions and hurdles inevitably arise."
Kate Rowley, Chair, Lynes Blacksmith Shop Committee, Kenilworth
How to connect to PreservationWorks!
If you are in need of a consultation from a heritage preservation professional, please fill out a Request for Service form.
For more information, contact Alex MacKinnon at alex@acontario.ca / 416.367.8075 x406
Previous PreservationWorks! Locations
