Personal statement

Dr Cristina González-Longo RIBA SCA RIAS FHEA FRSA is the founder and Director of the MSc in Architectural Design for the Conservation of Built Heritage at the Department of Architecture of the University of Strathclyde, where she has also created and is leading the Architectural Design and Conservation Research Unit (ADCRU). Her research group deals with the challenges of conserving built heritage while allowing changes to adapt historic buildings to contemporary uses, incruding the need for retrofitting for energy purposes. ADCRU also deals with the design of new and existing buildings to conserve the environment and adpt to the impact of climate change,  which requires an interdisciplinary approach. After graduating at the School of Architecture of the Technical University of Madrid (ETSAM), Cristina spent three years in Rome with a scholarship from the Italian Government to study architectural conservation at the prestigious Specialisation School of the University of “La Sapienza”.  She is also a practising architect with over twenty years’ experience as a Chartered architect both in UK and Spain, is RIBA Specialist Conservation Architect (SCA) and is member of the RIBA Conservation Register Assessment Panel. She has had a central role in taking decisions concerning historic buildings of outstanding national importance and wide experience in leading the design, management and procurement of award winning architectural projects (both conservation and new build). She was the project architect and resident architect of Queensberry House, a Grade A Listed building, part of the new Scottish Parliament complex and designed Bowbridge Primary School in Newark (RICS Sustainability Award 2009). She is the President of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) International Training Committee (CIF).