Icon is a charitable company working to safeguard cultural heritage and the professional membership body for the conservation profession
Icon’s vision is to protect, preserve and promote our treasured cultural heritage through cultivating skilled conservation professionals, supporting meaningful collaboration across the cultural heritage sector, and delivering public benefit through engagement and advocacy.
Icon’s mission is to represent and support the practice and profession of conservation by promoting the public value of caring for cultural heritage and upholding high standards and ethics in conservation practice.
Icon ensures that the guardians and owners of objects, buildings and collections can access knowledgeable and passionate professionals who will help them safeguard the physical remains of our past for the future.
Our Charitable Objects are:
- To advance the education of the public by research into and the promotion of the conservation of items and collections of items of cultural, aesthetic, historic and scientific value; and
- To preserve and conserve items and collections of items of cultural, aesthetic, historic and scientific value.
Conservation professionals work in a variety of disciplines. Many are conservators but Icon’s membership of 2,300 individuals and organisations also embraces heritage scientists, craftspeople, architects, archivists and others. Most of our members are UK-based but many also work internationally.
Environmental sustainability
Icon is committed to promoting the positive role that conservation can play in inspiring and informing climate action. We are also actively seeking ways to reduce our organisational carbon footprint and supporting our members to embed environmental sustainability in their professional activities. Further details can be found in our Environmental Statement.
Icon’s Values
We will:
Work with integrity
We are open and honest and do what we believe is best for our shared cultural heritage, the public and our members.
Be inclusive
We value diversity and ensure that opportunities are open to all those who want to care for our heritage.
Be forward-looking and outward-looking
We keep our eyes on the horizon and on the world around us
Be ambitious
Both for our organisation and the things we believe in
Be collaborative and generous
We work with our members and partners to share learning and achieve the best results together
Uphold high standards
We value, support and promote the expertise and professionalism of our members and partners
Who we are
Icon was founded in 2005 and now plays a key role in championing the care of cultural heritage and supporting the conservation profession
Icon raises awareness of the cultural, social and economic value of caring for heritage and champions high standards of conservation.Â
We are:
- An independent charity governed by a Board of Trustees.
- A membership organisation representing around 2,300 individuals and organisations, including professional conservators, volunteers and owners of cultural heritage.
- A professional body raising the standards of conservation practice through Accreditation, a Code of Conduct, Professional Standards and Complaints Procedure.
- A small enterprise with 8 employees offering expertise in membership services, finance, professional development, communication, strategy, policy and advocacy.
Our history
Icon was founded in 2005, from the merger of 5 bodies: The Care of Collections Forum, The Institute of Paper Conservation, The Photographic Materials Conservation Group, The Scottish Society for Conservation and Restoration and The United Kingdom Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.
Between 2005 and 2016, Icon owned The Chantry Library – a collection of publications concerning paper and book conservation, established in 1999 by Mrs Beatrix Chantry in memory of her daughter, Judith. In 2016, ownership passed over to the Oxford Conservation Consortium.
Our work
The Institute of Conservation is a charity and the professional body for conservation, seeking to create positive change for cultural heritage
We also publish Icon News (members’ magazine) and the Journal of the Institute of Conservation:
Our magazine focuses on the people behind the projects, covering all aspects of cultural heritage conservation. It includes interviews, feature stories, regular columns, updates from our Groups and Networks, and much, much more
With international contributions on all aspects of conservation, the Journal of the Institute of Conservation is an invaluable resource for the heritage sector
Contact us
Icon (The Institute of Conservation)
The Institute of Conservation
106-109 Saffron Hill
London
EC1N 8QS
Our nearest mainline and tube station is Farringdon.
English