This conference aimed to contextualise and evaluate Spence’s upbringing, training, and practice in Scotland.

The symposium – the first of three - followed a straightforward chronological arrangement, with the morning dedicated mainly to ‘interwar’ and the afternoon to ‘postwar’ matters. In each case there was a mixture of lectures about Spence himself and contextual lectures about related general themes – the Scottish Arts & Crafts, historic-burgh redevelopments, or other key Scottish architects. The afternoon also featured first-hand recollections by architects who worked in the Scottish arm of the practice, including Charles Robertson on the Hutchesontown C project (designed both in London and Edinburgh), and a group of architects, coordinated by Andrew Merrylees, on the successive generations of the Spence, Glover & Ferguson practice. The event was framed by contributions from two of the AHRC project organisers, Jane Thomas (RCAHMS) and Louise Campbell (University of Warwick).