A post-graduate qualification in historic building conservation, rarely obtained by property professionals, has been gained by a building surveyor at York-based property consultants, Lightly & Lightly.

The RICS Postgraduate Diploma in Building Conservation, which has been passed by only 337 students in the UK in the last 14 years, has been earned by Julie Smith who has been with Lightly & Lightly, Clifton Moor, for three years.

The diploma, run by the College of Estate Management at the University of Reading, is the result of a two-year distance learning course featuring two days of lectures twice-a-year, web-based support and site visits.

Updated: 11:35 Tuesday, June 15, 2004