Prepping CPD for #IHBCBrighton2020 and ‘OLD TOWNS : NEW FUTURES’? Check HE’s Research issue now out, with ‘place-based’ focus

Claudia Kenyatta, Director of Regions at Historic England and Ian Morrison, Director of Policy and Evidence introduce this special issue of Historic England (HE) Research magazine focusing on place-based research especially relevant to the IHBC’s 2020 Brighton School, from 18-20 June, on ‘OLD TOWNS : NEW FUTURES’.

Historic England writes:

… This issue reports on a range of recent place-based research projects, situating them in the context of Historic England’s 2018 Places Strategy, which emphasises the important role played by research in successful place-making, and in the continuing development, deployment and evaluation of characterisation and Historic Area Assessment approaches.

Research carried out by our own architectural and archaeological investigators and commissioned by Historic England is an integral part of our input to Heritage Action Zones (HAZs), which involve working with local partners to harness the potential of heritage to promote sustainable growth in places facing a range of pressures.

Johanna Roethe and Kaija-Luisa Kurik describe how our research in central Rochdale is enhancing the understanding of the special character of the area and laying the foundations for the grant-aiding of repairs to key buildings.

Elsecar, encompassing an industrial landscape near Barnsley in Yorkshire, is a three-year HAZ approaching completion. As Dave Went explains, the research project there has provided a really powerful vehicle for community engagement. It’s a great example of how research can help communities discover more about their heritage and rejuvenate pride in their local place.

Recently Historic England was awarded £92m by Government to help revitalise often struggling historic high streets around England as part of its High Streets Heritage Action Zones initiative, and the programme will start from 1st April 2020. Owain Lloyd-James, Aimee Henderson and Rebecca Lane describe the context and the role that research is likely to play in the High Street HAZs and discuss our demonstrator project in Coventry.

As a world city London is in many ways a special case requiring a Greater London-wide approach and an agreed set of terms to describe historic character. Dave Hooley talks about the work we are doing to support the Greater London Authority in this sphere.

Lastly, we’re involved in a number projects where there is a need for research to tease out the complex character of places such as Digbeth and Deritend in Birmingham in advance of development as Pete Boland and his co-authors explain.

This encompasses the rural as well as the urban and Neil Redfern highlights the novel approach we are taking to the remarkable landscape that is the Yorkshire Wolds where we are working in tandem with local history and arts groups to build consensus around what the heritage of the area means to each of us and how it can be sustained for the future.

See more and download Issue 14

For IHBC’s Brigton 2020 School see Brighton2020.ihbc.org.uk where you can sign up for the IHBC’s 2020 School alerts, follow us @IHBCTweet and see #IHBCBrighton2020 for updates.

For more background on the 2020 School‘s principal sponsor, Heritage Collective, a member of the IHBC’s quality assured HESPR Community, see the NewsBlog and HESPR and Heritage Collective’s HESPR entry