To expand your technical legislation knowledge of Heritage Partnership Agreements (HPA) see Issue 163 of the institute’s member journal Context where Claire Brady of Historic England explains how a HPA works in practice: as a legal agreement setting out how routine works can take place without the need to apply for listed building consent, using the HPA for London’s King’s Cross Station.
image: Historic England, article by Claire Brady, Context 163, p39
…HPA is a legal agreement…
Claire Brady writes:
King’s Cross station, designed by Lewis Cubitt, was built between 1851 and 1852 as the London terminus of the Great Northern Railway. The station’s simple, powerful design is defined by the pair of rounded arches and central Italianate clocktower. In contrast with its neighbour, St Pancras, King’s Cross’s design purity was much admired by modernists a century later. The building has been listed at the highest grade (Grade I) since 1954 as a reflection of its remarkable engineering, architectural and railway historical interest. As the station has grown and expanded over time, a number of changes have been made incrementally. The most regrettable of these, perhaps, was the large and incongruous green canopy at the southern end of the building, which was used as a temporary concourse area for around 40 years, blocking the view of the distinctive façade…
Introduced in 2013 as a result of reform powers following the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, an HPA is a legal agreement between the owners of a listed building and their local authority that helps manage change efficiently, while maintaining the special qualities of a place. Crucially, an HPA captures a shared understanding of a historic site’s significance, and sets out a number of routine works that can take place on a regular basis without the need to apply for listed building consent from the local authority.
…HPA is already proving to be a useful investment…
Following the successful delivery of the station in time for the London 2012 Olympic Games, John McAslan + Partners was commissioned by Network Rail to prepare the HPA. The HPA was two years in the making and the continued strong working relationship between all parties remained essential…. the HPA is already proving to be a useful investment of time and has become an indispensable working document for looking after the building…
…a number of changes …The most regrettable… the large and incongruous green canopy …
Read the full article and find out more
See Context 163
Download the HE advice note ‘Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement’
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