Andrew Brook founded Historic Buildings Conservation (HBC) in March 1997 but his conservation background and experience started many years previously in a family building company in 1978.

He trained initially as a bricklayer and at the same time started technical training at college in Leicester. It was Andrew's desire to work more closely with historic buildings, and to further his trade as a bricklayer in that direction, he trained and qualified as a stonemason in Bath.

The family business under Andrew's direction headed further into conservation work and many prestigious contracts were carried out in the 1990's

In order to gain more knowledge into the academic complexities of pure conservation, Andrew started and qualified with the RICS postgraduate diploma in building conservation. It was during this course that Andrew decided to break with general building entirely and to set up his own company specialising in the conservation of historic buildings and monuments.

In 2000 Andrew achieved full membership of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC). Since then he has attended numerous 'Master Classes', specialist courses, seminars and has lectured in his own right.

Today Andrew leads a busy life in the management and expansion of HBC and is working hard in the field of training, in particular seeking specific recognition for craftsmen he has trained and will train in the future. "We have Conservation Architects and Surveyors; we need properly and specifically qualified Conservation Bricklayers, Plasterers, Carpenters etc". His dreams of a satellite training centre to complement 'in house training', and qualifications to suit, are already materialising.

Whilst Andrew enjoys the 'buzz' of working with 'national monuments', he has serious concerns for the buildings at the lower end of the spectrum; the terraced houses and cottages which are in imminent danger of 'extinction' with regard to original features and physical properties.