The demonstration of traditional building skills and the conservation and restoration of all types of period properties is the objective of an upcoming Action Exhibition in the Village Hall, Adare, Co Limerick this weekend.

The Traditional Building and Conservation Skills Exhibition - an annual event since the early 1990s - is being hosted by the Irish Georgian Society in association with Limerick County Council.

Next to the exhibition there will be talks and lectures on aspects of architectural conservation in the Adare Heritage Centre.

A further objective of the free event is to give advice and information to those undertaking works to old buildings and to highlight the availability of specialist skills and crafts.

Visitors attending the exhibition will see skilled tradesmen demonstrating traditional building skills relevant to their own properties. Craftspeople and commercial firms will also answer queries and offer expert advice.

Some of the skills that will be on show include thatching, stonecutting, woodcarving, timber sash window restoration, traditional ironwork conservation, decorative plasterwork and pole lathe turning.

The president of the Irish Georgian Society, Desmond FitzGerald, the Knight of Glin, said that his own home, Glin Castle, was one of the first listed buildings in the country and was identified by Limerick County Council as a building that it would seek to preserve in its first ever development plan.

Gerry Sheeran, senior planner with Limerick County Council, said: "Limerick County Council was one of the first to protect its heritage by including a substantial list of protected structures in its development plan. Particularly important are the 220 thatched houses and buildings."

The exhibition is being held only weeks after the Minister for the Environment and Heritage John Gormley launched the first two booklets in a new advice series dealing with the maintenance of older buildings and the repair of historic windows.