The practice where Gloria Trevisan was working when she died in the Grenfell fire has set up an annual scholarship as a lasting memorial to her and fiancé Marco Gottardi.

The intention is to raise enough money to fund an annual award of £7,500 to bring a promising recent graduate to the UK for two or three months so they can learn more about conservation architecture.

Called the Gloria e Marco Award, it has the support of the couple’s family and friends and their tutors at IUAV University of Venice.

Trevisan, 26, joined Peregrine Bryant Architecture & Building Conservation (PBA) 10 days before her death and had begun work on the conversion of a Soane stable block at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea (pictured below).

Before this she spent a few weeks at Place Design & Planning in south-west London, while Gottardi, 27, had found work with Anglo-Italian practice CIAO (Creative Ideas & Architecture Office). All the practices are backing the award.

The talented couple had recently moved to London in search of work and were living on the 23rd floor of the Grenfell Tower. They made a series of increasingly desperate calls home as the fire took hold on the night of June 14 and were later confirmed as being among the 80 or so people who perished.

Peregrine Bryant said: “The practice was devastated by their deaths and we mourn the loss of two fine young people whose work was full of promise.

“But out of the grim horror of the disaster, we and many others are keen to bring to fruition some small good and so are proposing a memorial fund in their name. This will provide an annual award to help talented young Italian graduates, interested in conservation as they were, to come to this country to study and gain experience.”

He said they need to raise £250,000 in order to fund an annual award of £7,500 and keep pace with inflation. It will be administered through the SPAB to avoid setting up a new charity.

The Gloria e Marco Award will be open to recent graduates of IUAV and will offer substantial support towards travel and accommodation expenses in the UK as well as work experience at architectural and structural engineering conservation practices, Historic England and similar bodies. The award will also include a place on the SPAB’s historic buildings repairs course and the RICS conservation course.

If fundraising is a success, the first scholarship will be awarded next year.

“If, as we hope, we are able to raise more funding, we would either provide an additional award or, alternatively, set up a reciprocal award to help young UK conservation graduates to visit and study in Italy,” said Bryant.