DAVE CHETWYN AND FIONA NEWTON

The social dimension of heritage

The historic environment’s role in promoting economic and physical regeneration is well known, but it fosters social inclusion and community cohesion as well.

The refurbishment of the historic Chatham Docks has helped to raise the profle of the area and provides accommodation for community and charitable organisations, including an architecture centre and Planning Aid’s regional office.

The positive role historic buildings and areas play in delivering economic and physical regeneration has been described by many publications and select committee reports. The new culture minister, Margaret Hodge, recently highlighted the role that heritage has in delivering economic regeneration and cultural tourism, and supporting creative industries. ¹

Rather less attention has been paid to the role of heritage in fostering social inclusion and community cohesion. The new minister was encouraging, though. She said: ‘If we want strong and sustainable communities with access to a vibrant civic culture and a strong local economy, then it is vital to engage future generations with the places where they live.’ She went on to ask the heritage sector: ‘How do we really make sure that the contribution the historic environment can make to our sense of identity and belonging is fully understood by strategists and decision makers at all levels?’ ¹

Heritage is not widely perceived as a tool for delivering social policy. Indeed, there is a shallow but common stereotype of historic environment conservation as an elitist, white middle-class concern. The ‘Better Places to Live’ essay issued by the Department of Culture Media and Sport in 2005 ²reinforced this view, presenting the ‘castles and stately homes’ view of heritage, with little reference to wider social and economic issues, or to crucial impact issues

such as global warming.

Despite this rather short-sighted view being perpetuated, there is still considerable evidence to suggest that building conservation not only contributes, but sometimes plays a key role in delivering community benefits and social inclusion.

Diversity

Historic areas have a crucial role in catering for minority tastes and diversity in the retail and leisure sectors. For example, anyone wishing to buy affordable IT, ethnic or alternative fashions and foods, vinyl records, minority-taste music, electric guitars or low-cost goods, will normally find outlets in older, more peripheral areas, not in the comprehensively redeveloped shopping centre.

This is down to simple economics. Older areas offer the lower rentals necessary to cater for low cost, low demand or specialist goods. High rental units in newer retail development rely on mass-appeal and high-turnover goods to make them viable. The New Economic Foundation’s ‘Clone Town Britain’ campaign recognises the tendency for redevelopment to extinguish choice. ‘Loss of diversity ultimately leads to a loss of true choice for consumers as well as a loss of local character.’ ³

Quiggins in Liverpool provides an interesting example. Quiggins was a retail centre on four floors

1 Margaret Hodge, speech at the launch of the Heritage Open Days 2007 at the Middleport Pottery, Burslem, Stoke on Trent, 4 September 2007 (www.culture.gov. uk/Reference_library/ Minister_Speeches/ margaret_hodge/ MHspeech_ heritageopenday07_ launch.htm)

2 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Better Places to Live: government, identity and the value of the historic and built environment, 2005 (www. culture.gov.uk/NR/ rdonlyres/586CB2C9-D8FA-4DCB-AD50-6D6705F2FECE/0/ better_places_live.pdf)

3 New Economics Foundation, Clone Town Britain: the survey results on the bland state of the nation, 2005. ISBN

1 899407 98 7 (www. neweconomics.org)

CONTEX T 102 : NOVEMBER 2007

The Custard Factory

complex in Birmingham has

been converted to provide

low-cost units, essential for

new and small enterprises

and creative industries.

often highlights good pedestrian facilities, including convenience and permeability. This is because such areas were developed primarily for pedestrians.

Heritage has certainly played a key role in reviving and rejuvenating town and city centres all around the UK over the past few decades. Area grant schemes and building projects have sometimes been a very powerful catalyst for delivering change. High-profile examples include Grainger Town in Newcastle and the Merchant City in Glasgow.

There are also numerous smaller examples, such as the Medway towns of Chatham and Rochester. The two towns had suffered from decline since the dockyard closed in 1984. On top of the 7,000 jobs lost in the dockyards at least an equivalent number were lost in businesses in the towns. The regeneration of the linear commercial strip of the two high streets was critical to the heritage-led programme. In Burslem in Stoke-on-Trent, area grant schemes have helped to reverse decline and create market confidence in an area of market failure and high deprivation indices.

Housing and community

Housing is another area where historic environments deliver diversity and choice, and cater for markets that would otherwise be neglected. Victorian terraced housing provides an outstanding example, catering for the needs of the widest range of people from low-income families to young professionals. It will be interesting to see whether the Brown government changes the emphasis of the housing pathfinder areas from redevelopment to refurbishment.

Historic building conversions have helped to repopulate town and city centres, and to provide new housing accommodation, from affordable starter homes to luxury apartments. In failing areas, the combination of low land values and the availability of heritage funding has allowed new housing markets to be developed.

These factors have also allowed facilities for communities and the third (voluntary) sector and to be developed within limited budgets. In Stoke-on-Trent, listed buildings in Hanley and Burslem have been converted with the aid of heritage grants to provide accommodation for local charitable organisations.

Of course historic environments, when properly looked-after, can help to foster local pride, community confidence and self-esteem. The Crap Towns books illustrate that the converse is true: poor environments foster low self-esteem. ⁴

Economic opportunity

Perhaps the most dramatic impact of historic places on social inclusion is through the creation of economic opportunity. Area and building grant schemes have been used to transform industrial areas, towns, city centres, rural areas and canals. Such schemes have often triggered other public and private match funding. Historic environments and buildings have triggered dramatic regeneration and economic

4 Jordison, Sam and Kieran, Dan, Crap Towns: the 50 worst places to live in the UK, 2003, Boxtree, and Crap Towns II: the nation decides, 2004, Boxtree

selling alternative fashions, jewellery, music and antiques from an old property in a Liverpool city-centre backstreet. In two decades the boho emporium had helped numerous small businesses get established. The planned demolition and redevelopment of the site as part of the Paradise Street Development Area met with opposition from local young people. Signs appeared in the surrounding area saying ‘save our culture’ and graffiti on the side of the building proclaimed ‘No to Clone Cities, Ye s to Choice’. A petition of 10,000 names was delivered to 10 Downing Street. Interestingly, since the redevelopment took place some of the alternative retail businesses have now moved to other historic buildings in the city centre.

Similarly, the Hockley area of Nottingham is home to an eclectic assortment of alternative design, fashion and record shops, two art house cinemas, galleries, bars and cafés. But beyond the vibrant Soho-like atmosphere, Hockley is an area of fine nineteenth-century conservation area buildings constructed around the textile industry and providing the home to Richard Arkwright’s first cotton mill.

Older areas can have a similar role in accommodating recreational facilities for minority groups. Canal Street in Manchester is an example of this. Built in the nineteenth century alongside the Rochdale Canal, today its bars, clubs, cafés and shops provide a focus for the city’s well-known ‘gay village’ and the Manchester Pride festival.

Older areas can also provide for choice and diversity in housing and employment.

Accessibility

Established town and city centres provide a focus and concentration of local facilities, and are usually accessible – especially on foot and by public transport. In contrast, many of the out-of-town developments of the 1980s and 1990s are focused on a single use and are often geared specifically to the car user. It is therefore particularly important to protect the viability of existing centres. This not only makes economic sense, but is a key factor in making the widest range of facilities available to all members of society.

Interestingly, urban design analysis of older centres

CONTEXT 102 : NOVEMBER 2007

development, attracting investment and creating new job opportunities, often in the areas that most need them.

Indeed, older areas are crucial to accommodating the needs of new businesses, innovation and creative industries. Low-cost accommodation is essential. The Custard Factory in Birmingham is a good example. There a basic refurbishment has kept rentals low, providing affordable accommodation to a range of commercial and charitable organisations.

Middleport Pottery and the Hot House, both in Stoke-on-Trent, illustrate how historic buildings can help to support skilled employment. At Middleport Pottery, the historic character of the site is exploited and the continued use of historic manufacturing techniques is a major part of the marketing of traditional English earthenware. The continuity with the past, craftsmanship in production and the concept of Englishness are vital to the strong export market. The Hot House, accommodated in historic buildings in Longton, makes available specialist facilities for ceramic design, supporting local industries.

In the USA, Donovan Rypkema has demonstrated that heritage work, compared to redevelopment, injects more money into local economies and creates higher wages for construction workers.⁵ This is not really surprising, given that the emphasis is more on skilled labour rather than capital resources.

Social inclusion

Heritage-led regeneration clearly has a role in reversing decline and triggering growth in under-performing areas. However, market failure does not take place only in underperforming areas. It can also happen in areas of high demand, where inflationary pressures place housing and premises beyond the means of many people.

Even growth areas can need economic development. The market does not necessarily cater for all sectors and communities. For example, high land values can make it difficult to provide low-cost starter units for new and small businesses. Furthermore, high house prices make it impossible for many to get on to the property ladder.

Heritage protection can allow facilities to survive that would otherwise be cleared to make way for speculative development. Heritage funding can make uses viable in older buildings that would be hard to provide at realistic cost in new development.

Areas that have developed incrementally over time are perhaps best at accommodating a range of needs. Such areas tend naturally have mixed uses and tenures. They cater for both new and established businesses and for existing communities and incoming investors.

This is why area grant schemes have such an important role in heritage protection. They are exemplars of good practice. Often they have triggered dramatic physical and economic regeneration, supporting a range of stakeholders. Indeed, such regeneration perhaps comes closest to reconciling the needs of economy,

community and environment.

Sometimes areas can become victims of their own success. The regeneration of Liverpool Ropewalks was based to some extent on a concentration of creative industries, taking advantage of low rentals. The dramatic success of the area has attracted mainstream businesses and developers, and there is now a danger of pricing out the very businesses that started the regeneration process. But perhaps this is part of an essential regeneration cycle, where the businesses in question move on elsewhere and kick-start the regeneration process once more.

Indeed, a criticism sometimes made of regeneration is that it has led to gentrification. But this is not always a bad thing and it can be a positive aim in areas of market failure. Middleport in North Staffordshire provides an example. The housing area suffers from various social problems, including prostitution, drugs and anti-social behaviour. In the late 1990s terraced housing could be bought for between £8–10,000. When asked what they wanted from new development in the area, two residents, both owners of terraced houses, responded: ‘new housing for people on regular incomes’. This would bring back stability to the area and help return value to their greatest investments, their houses.

A change of focus

Numerous case studies illustrate the role that heritage plays in fostering social inclusion and supporting local communities. However, there is a need for research to develop hard empirical evidence for this.

Certainly, there should be a shift of focus by the DCMS and English Heritage, away from those who visit heritage sites, to people and communities who use and occupy historic buildings and areas. The focus should be on the utility value of heritage in addition to its cultural value. The users and occupiers of historic buildings demonstrate far more varied socio-economic profiles than visitors to heritage sites.

The PSA3 target set for the historic environment sector by the DCMS is, by 2008, to increase by three percentage points the proportion of adults from three under-represented groups, black and minority ethnic, limiting disability/illness and lower socio-economic, visiting designated historic environment sites. This, the DCMS’s only target for heritage at present, is based on visitor numbers. This is clearly a problem, skewing priorities and the allocation of resources. New measures must be developed to create closer integration of heritage with wider economic, social and environmental aims. A high priority should be given to area and building grant schemes as a means to delivering social and economic policy objectives. Margaret Hodge’s reference to economic development is therefore especially welcome.¹

Demonstrating and focusing on the contribution that heritage can make to wider social and economic goals can only help in making the case for higher priority and resources for the sector.

5 Rypkema, Donovan, ‘The economic power of conservation’, Context 84, May 2004, pages 18-20

Dave Chetwyn is the IHBC’s chair and Fiona Newton is the IHBC’s projects officer and chair of the editorial board

CONTEX T 102 : NOVEMBER 2007



DAVE CHETWYN AND FIONA NEWTON

The social dimension of heritage The historic environment’s role in promoting economic and physical regeneration is well known, but it fosters social inclusion and community cohesion as well.

		The refurbishment of the historic Chatham Docks has helped to raise the profle of the area and provides accommodation for community and charitable organisations, including an architecture centre and Planning Aid’s regional office.

The positive role historic buildings and areas play in delivering economic and physical regeneration has been described by many publications and select committee reports. The new culture minister, Margaret Hodge, recently highlighted the role that heritage has in delivering economic regeneration and cultural tourism, and supporting creative industries. ¹ Rather less attention has been paid to the role of heritage in fostering social inclusion and community cohesion. The new minister was encouraging, though. She said: ‘If we want strong and sustainable communities with access to a vibrant civic culture and a strong local economy, then it is vital to engage future generations with the places where they live.’ She went on to ask the heritage sector: ‘How do we really make sure that the contribution the historic environment can make to our sense of identity and belonging is fully understood by strategists and decision makers at all levels?’ ¹ Heritage is not widely perceived as a tool for delivering social policy. Indeed, there is a shallow but common stereotype of historic environment conservation as an elitist, white middle-class concern. The ‘Better Places to Live’ essay issued by the Department of Culture Media and Sport in 2005 ²reinforced this view, presenting the ‘castles and stately homes’ view of heritage, with little reference to wider social and economic issues, or to crucial impact issues	such as global warming. Despite this rather short-sighted view being perpetuated, there is still considerable evidence to suggest that building conservation not only contributes, but sometimes plays a key role in delivering community benefits and social inclusion. Diversity Historic areas have a crucial role in catering for minority tastes and diversity in the retail and leisure sectors. For example, anyone wishing to buy affordable IT, ethnic or alternative fashions and foods, vinyl records, minority-taste music, electric guitars or low-cost goods, will normally find outlets in older, more peripheral areas, not in the comprehensively redeveloped shopping centre. This is down to simple economics. Older areas offer the lower rentals necessary to cater for low cost, low demand or specialist goods. High rental units in newer retail development rely on mass-appeal and high-turnover goods to make them viable. The New Economic Foundation’s ‘Clone Town Britain’ campaign recognises the tendency for redevelopment to extinguish choice. ‘Loss of diversity ultimately leads to a loss of true choice for consumers as well as a loss of local character.’ ³ Quiggins in Liverpool provides an interesting example. Quiggins was a retail centre on four floors	1 Margaret Hodge, speech at the launch of the Heritage Open Days 2007 at the Middleport Pottery, Burslem, Stoke on Trent, 4 September 2007 (www.culture.gov. uk/Reference_library/ Minister_Speeches/ margaret_hodge/ MHspeech_ heritageopenday07_ launch.htm) 2 Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Better Places to Live: government, identity and the value of the historic and built environment, 2005 (www. culture.gov.uk/NR/ rdonlyres/586CB2C9-D8FA-4DCB-AD50-6D6705F2FECE/0/ better_places_live.pdf) 3 New Economics Foundation, Clone Town Britain: the survey results on the bland state of the nation, 2005. ISBN 1 899407 98 7 (www. neweconomics.org)

CONTEX T 102 : NOVEMBER 2007		17



The Custard Factory complex in Birmingham has been converted to provide low-cost units, essential for new and small enterprises and creative industries.		often highlights good pedestrian facilities, including convenience and permeability. This is because such areas were developed primarily for pedestrians. Heritage has certainly played a key role in reviving and rejuvenating town and city centres all around the UK over the past few decades. Area grant schemes and building projects have sometimes been a very powerful catalyst for delivering change. High-profile examples include Grainger Town in Newcastle and the Merchant City in Glasgow. There are also numerous smaller examples, such as the Medway towns of Chatham and Rochester. The two towns had suffered from decline since the dockyard closed in 1984. On top of the 7,000 jobs lost in the dockyards at least an equivalent number were lost in businesses in the towns. The regeneration of the linear commercial strip of the two high streets was critical to the heritage-led programme. In Burslem in Stoke-on-Trent, area grant schemes have helped to reverse decline and create market confidence in an area of market failure and high deprivation indices. Housing and community Housing is another area where historic environments deliver diversity and choice, and cater for markets that would otherwise be neglected. Victorian terraced housing provides an outstanding example, catering for the needs of the widest range of people from low-income families to young professionals. It will be interesting to see whether the Brown government changes the emphasis of the housing pathfinder areas from redevelopment to refurbishment. Historic building conversions have helped to repopulate town and city centres, and to provide new housing accommodation, from affordable starter homes to luxury apartments. In failing areas, the combination of low land values and the availability of heritage funding has allowed new housing markets to be developed. These factors have also allowed facilities for communities and the third (voluntary) sector and to be developed within limited budgets. In Stoke-on-Trent, listed buildings in Hanley and Burslem have been converted with the aid of heritage grants to provide accommodation for local charitable organisations. Of course historic environments, when properly looked-after, can help to foster local pride, community confidence and self-esteem. The Crap Towns books illustrate that the converse is true: poor environments foster low self-esteem. ⁴ Economic opportunity Perhaps the most dramatic impact of historic places on social inclusion is through the creation of economic opportunity. Area and building grant schemes have been used to transform industrial areas, towns, city centres, rural areas and canals. Such schemes have often triggered other public and private match funding. Historic environments and buildings have triggered dramatic regeneration and economic
4 Jordison, Sam and Kieran, Dan, Crap Towns: the 50 worst places to live in the UK, 2003, Boxtree, and Crap Towns II: the nation decides, 2004, Boxtree	selling alternative fashions, jewellery, music and antiques from an old property in a Liverpool city-centre backstreet. In two decades the boho emporium had helped numerous small businesses get established. The planned demolition and redevelopment of the site as part of the Paradise Street Development Area met with opposition from local young people. Signs appeared in the surrounding area saying ‘save our culture’ and graffiti on the side of the building proclaimed ‘No to Clone Cities, Ye s to Choice’. A petition of 10,000 names was delivered to 10 Downing Street. Interestingly, since the redevelopment took place some of the alternative retail businesses have now moved to other historic buildings in the city centre. Similarly, the Hockley area of Nottingham is home to an eclectic assortment of alternative design, fashion and record shops, two art house cinemas, galleries, bars and cafés. But beyond the vibrant Soho-like atmosphere, Hockley is an area of fine nineteenth-century conservation area buildings constructed around the textile industry and providing the home to Richard Arkwright’s first cotton mill. Older areas can have a similar role in accommodating recreational facilities for minority groups. Canal Street in Manchester is an example of this. Built in the nineteenth century alongside the Rochdale Canal, today its bars, clubs, cafés and shops provide a focus for the city’s well-known ‘gay village’ and the Manchester Pride festival. Older areas can also provide for choice and diversity in housing and employment. Accessibility Established town and city centres provide a focus and concentration of local facilities, and are usually accessible – especially on foot and by public transport. In contrast, many of the out-of-town developments of the 1980s and 1990s are focused on a single use and are often geared specifically to the car user. It is therefore particularly important to protect the viability of existing centres. This not only makes economic sense, but is a key factor in making the widest range of facilities available to all members of society. Interestingly, urban design analysis of older centres

18	CONTEXT 102 : NOVEMBER 2007



development, attracting investment and creating new job opportunities, often in the areas that most need them. Indeed, older areas are crucial to accommodating the needs of new businesses, innovation and creative industries. Low-cost accommodation is essential. The Custard Factory in Birmingham is a good example. There a basic refurbishment has kept rentals low, providing affordable accommodation to a range of commercial and charitable organisations. Middleport Pottery and the Hot House, both in Stoke-on-Trent, illustrate how historic buildings can help to support skilled employment. At Middleport Pottery, the historic character of the site is exploited and the continued use of historic manufacturing techniques is a major part of the marketing of traditional English earthenware. The continuity with the past, craftsmanship in production and the concept of Englishness are vital to the strong export market. The Hot House, accommodated in historic buildings in Longton, makes available specialist facilities for ceramic design, supporting local industries. In the USA, Donovan Rypkema has demonstrated that heritage work, compared to redevelopment, injects more money into local economies and creates higher wages for construction workers.⁵ This is not really surprising, given that the emphasis is more on skilled labour rather than capital resources. Social inclusion Heritage-led regeneration clearly has a role in reversing decline and triggering growth in under-performing areas. However, market failure does not take place only in underperforming areas. It can also happen in areas of high demand, where inflationary pressures place housing and premises beyond the means of many people. Even growth areas can need economic development. The market does not necessarily cater for all sectors and communities. For example, high land values can make it difficult to provide low-cost starter units for new and small businesses. Furthermore, high house prices make it impossible for many to get on to the property ladder. Heritage protection can allow facilities to survive that would otherwise be cleared to make way for speculative development. Heritage funding can make uses viable in older buildings that would be hard to provide at realistic cost in new development. Areas that have developed incrementally over time are perhaps best at accommodating a range of needs. Such areas tend naturally have mixed uses and tenures. They cater for both new and established businesses and for existing communities and incoming investors. This is why area grant schemes have such an important role in heritage protection. They are exemplars of good practice. Often they have triggered dramatic physical and economic regeneration, supporting a range of stakeholders. Indeed, such regeneration perhaps comes closest to reconciling the needs of economy,		community and environment. Sometimes areas can become victims of their own success. The regeneration of Liverpool Ropewalks was based to some extent on a concentration of creative industries, taking advantage of low rentals. The dramatic success of the area has attracted mainstream businesses and developers, and there is now a danger of pricing out the very businesses that started the regeneration process. But perhaps this is part of an essential regeneration cycle, where the businesses in question move on elsewhere and kick-start the regeneration process once more. Indeed, a criticism sometimes made of regeneration is that it has led to gentrification. But this is not always a bad thing and it can be a positive aim in areas of market failure. Middleport in North Staffordshire provides an example. The housing area suffers from various social problems, including prostitution, drugs and anti-social behaviour. In the late 1990s terraced housing could be bought for between £8–10,000. When asked what they wanted from new development in the area, two residents, both owners of terraced houses, responded: ‘new housing for people on regular incomes’. This would bring back stability to the area and help return value to their greatest investments, their houses. A change of focus Numerous case studies illustrate the role that heritage plays in fostering social inclusion and supporting local communities. However, there is a need for research to develop hard empirical evidence for this. Certainly, there should be a shift of focus by the DCMS and English Heritage, away from those who visit heritage sites, to people and communities who use and occupy historic buildings and areas. The focus should be on the utility value of heritage in addition to its cultural value. The users and occupiers of historic buildings demonstrate far more varied socio-economic profiles than visitors to heritage sites. The PSA3 target set for the historic environment sector by the DCMS is, by 2008, to increase by three percentage points the proportion of adults from three under-represented groups, black and minority ethnic, limiting disability/illness and lower socio-economic, visiting designated historic environment sites. This, the DCMS’s only target for heritage at present, is based on visitor numbers. This is clearly a problem, skewing priorities and the allocation of resources. New measures must be developed to create closer integration of heritage with wider economic, social and environmental aims. A high priority should be given to area and building grant schemes as a means to delivering social and economic policy objectives. Margaret Hodge’s reference to economic development is therefore especially welcome.¹ Demonstrating and focusing on the contribution that heritage can make to wider social and economic goals can only help in making the case for higher priority and resources for the sector.	5 Rypkema, Donovan, ‘The economic power of conservation’, Context 84, May 2004, pages 18-20
			Dave Chetwyn is the IHBC’s chair and Fiona Newton is the IHBC’s projects officer and chair of the editorial board

	CONTEX T 102 : NOVEMBER 2007		19