New Historic Buildings Council Chair appointed

17/02/2025

Communities Minister, Gordon Lyons MLA, has announced the appointment of Joseph Birt as the Chair of the Historic Buildings Council (HBC), from 1 February 2025 to 31 January 2028.

The aim of HBC is to provide independent advice to the Department on the listing of buildings, the general state of listed buildings and other matters relating to their preservation.

Joseph Birt is the Technical Director at FRSNI (Fire Risk Solutions Northern Ireland). He has considerable experience of building conservation methods both within Local Authority building control and in the private sector. He was the global President of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers and brings an in-depth understanding of the legislation which applies to the wider built environment and the conservation sector to this role. He previously served as Member on the Council from 2013 to 2016. He does not currently hold any other public appointments and has not undertaken any political activity in the past five years.