POLICY
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The
Heritage White Paper - IHBC Membership Consultation
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Valuing Our
Heritage
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Valuing Historic
Places
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Making
Heritage Work
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Valuing
Historic Places
Historic buildings and places have
played an increasingly central role in the past decade in the delivery
of a range of public policy objectives including education, economic
development, sustainable growth, urban and rural regeneration,
repopulation of inner-city areas, improving competitiveness, cultural
development, and supporting local communities. The historic environment
underpins many successful projects aimed at improving quality of life,
transforming failing areas, empowering local community groups and
creating a better and more sustainable environment. Historic Buildings
have their own intrinsic value and any nation that claims to cherish
cultural achievement in any field has a duty to care for them. The
value of historic buildings and places is recognised in UK legislation
and in our being a signatory to various international conventions
(UNESCO, ICOMOS, Valetta, etc). Value is also conferred by every
authority and amenity body in the UK and by the growing popularity of
historic buildings/places in the public mind.
The historic environment delivers a
range of benefits, as follows:
Education
The Historic Environment
provides a tangible resource for the teaching of social, economic,
political and human history, creating a better understanding of
contemporary society, contributing to effective school, continuing and
adult education.
Sustainable
Communities
The historic environment is
crucial to the delivery of sustainable communities and the creation of
places where people positively choose to live, work, invest and spend
recreation time.
Intrinsic
Value
Historic Buildings and places
have intrinsic value in their own right as the fabric of human
achievement in arts, design and construction, essential to the
spiritual and cultural well being of the nation.
Regeneration
Historic buildings and areas
are key elements in the regeneration of cities, towns and rural areas
all around the UK, facilitating the modernisation and adaptation of
places to 21st century needs and helping in the transformation of
failing areas into thriving sustainable communities.
New
Businesses and Innovation
Historic buildings help to
provide diversity in the nature and affordability of commercial and
industrial floorspace and are crucial to the development of small
businesses, creative industries and innovation.
Economic
Development and Competitiveness
A high quality environment, old
and new, is a prerequisite to maximising economic development
potential, projecting a positive image, attracting high value jobs and
investment, and improving competitiveness.
Creative
New Design
The historic environment
provides a basis for understanding architectural design and urban
morphology and creates a context and stimulus for creative and
innovative new designs and the development of new architectural styles.
Responsibility
to Future Generations
There is a duty to conserve the
built heritage for current and future generations.
Urban
Design Quality and Variety
Historic areas provide
demonstrably superior urban design, including permeable and pedestrian
friendly places, legible townscapes, mixed use, greater variety of
urban forms and superior public realms.
Sustainable
use of Resources
The conservation and
refurbishment of historic buildings is an intrinsically sustainable
form of development, avoiding the use and waste of scarce resources
associated with demolition and redevelopment, and helping to achieve
sustainable growth.
Skills
Conservation practice creates
more skilled jobs (professional, technical, skilled manual, and
vocational) and employment in craft-based industries.
Human
Resources
Compared to new-build
development, building refurbishment generates higher levels of pay and
investment in local economies.
Local
Distinctiveness and Pride
Investment in historic places
helps to support local businesses, industries and communities, preserve
local distinctiveness and identity (sense of place), and foster local
pride.
Supporting
Local Communities
Selective redevelopment based
around the historic environment is almost universally more successful
than large-scale comprehensive redevelopment, better fulfilling the
needs of local communities and maintaining local cultural, social and
economic diversity.
Social
inclusion
Historic buildings and areas
can provide accommodation for a range of social and community
facilities, better accessibility and choice for non-car owners, low
rental business accommodation, affordable housing, and a basis for
transforming under-performing areas and creating new life
opportunities.
Tourism
Historic places and buildings
attract visitors and are an essential element of the Tourism industry,
an important sector of the UK economy.
Culture
The historic environment is the
embodiment of local and national culture, whilst also accommodating a
range of cultural artefacts and activities.
Leisure
and 24 Hour Economy
Historic areas often provide
the focus for leisure facilities, from theatres and art installations
to restaurants and bars.
City
Living
Historic buildings, areas and
waterways are a catalyst for the repopulation of inner city areas and
development of new housing markets.
Rural
Renaissance
Historic buildings and places
have helped to accommodate new uses, facilitate economic
diversification and form a basis for tourism and the visitor economy in
rural areas and small settlements.
Enhanced
Values
Listed buildings, in office or
domestic use, deliver consistently higher yields and values than other
buildings.
The
Future of Historic Places
It is only through proper
protection of the historic environment and investment in its
maintenance, repair and adaptation that these substantial benefits can
continue to be realised.
The Institute of Historic Building
Conservation is the professional body for the United Kingdom
representing conservation specialists and historic environment
practitioners in the public and private sectors. The Institute exists
to establish the highest standards of conservation practice, to support
the effective protection and enhancement of the historic environment,
and to promote heritage-led regeneration and access to the historic
environment for all.
Contacts:
IHBC, Jubilee House, High
Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 6HA Tel: 01747 873133 Email: admin@ihbc.org.uk
Web Site:
www.ihbc.org.uk
Sean O'Reilly, Director, The Glasite
Meeting House, 33 Barony Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6NX Tel: 0131 5583671
Email:
director@ihbc.org.uk
Dave Chetwyn, Vice Chair, 142 Richmond
Street, Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST4 7DU Tel: 01782
413896 Email:
vcpolicy@ihbc.org.uk
Supporting Papers:
English
Heritage - Heritage Counts
English
Heritage - The Heritage Dividend
Heritage
Link - The Heritage Dynamo
CABE
- The Value of Urban Design (2001)
ODPM Select Committee - The Role of Historic Buildings in Urban
Regeneration
IHBC Evidence to ODPM Select Committee
HLF - New Life 2004
The Economic Power of Restoration - Donovan D. Rypkema - January 15,
2001