BLF Review 2021

In the year under review, The Building Limes Forum has continued to promote the use of lime in building as best as it could during the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Activities were primarily through electronic communication using the website, Twitter, WhatsApp, Zoom and email.

The Exeter Conference and Gathering, originally scheduled for September 2020, was finally held in November 2021 as a hybrid event.  A number of delegates gathered at Exeter to hear presentations delivered in person during one afternoon, the talks being live-streamed to other groups of delegates at local hubs throughout Britain and to a worldwide online audience.  The Baker Memorial Lecture, delivered by James Simpson, was live-streamed from Edinburgh in the early evening.  The talks were recorded and made available to the wider lime community on the BLF YouTube channel.

The Forum welcomed the formation of a separate chapter in South Asia covering India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia.

The Forum continued to spread the lime message through its publications: the annual Journal of The Building Limes Forum and four quarterly newsletters for members.  The delayed 2020 Journal was finally issued in September 2021. The Forum was saddened by the sudden and untimely death of the Journal editor, Jacqui Goddard, in November 2021 which delayed the publication of the 2021 Journal.

The BLF’s communications consultant, Beth Meades of Limeflower PR, kept the lime message in the media spotlight throughout the year through blogs and tweets.  The Building Limes Forum website informs the public at large about lime and provides links to other sources of information.

The Technical Panel continued to respond to queries from the public at large received through the website.  The Forum is also represented on the British Standards Institution committee on lime mortars.

Plans for 2022 and Beyond

Climate change remains the greatest issue of our times and the environmental benefits of the use of lime will continue to be promoted; the Building Limes Forum can draw on a wide range of expertise and experience to get the lime message across.

It is hoped to develop expertise of holding on-line events and to widen the scope of the Forum’s activities, geographically and in the range of topics covered.  On-line meetings will be encouraged amongst chapters and special interest groups, involving people from other organisations with similar aims where possible.  The 2022 Conference and Gathering will be held in Belfast in September 2022, organised and hosted by BLF Ireland, and attended by BLF members.

Read the BLF Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021