Historic England’s Chief Executive (CE) Duncan Wilson in an interview with the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREIIF) has spoken about the crucial role of historic buildings in the Build Back Better and Net Zero Agendas.
image: for illustration purposes only – Historic England website
…Everything Historic England does contributes to Building Back Better…
…Demolishing buildings not only produces millions of tonnes of waste ….but building new has high energy costs and uses up precious resources….
UKREIIF writes:
Historic buildings have a crucial role to play in the Build Back Better and Net Zero agendas. These buildings are unique. They hold memories and history – and most important, they hold a major opportunity.
We’ve been speaking exclusively with Historic England’s Chief Executive Duncan Wilson on the importance of preserving the UK’s historical assets, the role they’re playing in the Build Back Better agenda, and how regenerating underutilised and derelict buildings could help achieve the industry’s bid to achieve net zero…
Q. How does Historic England work with developers and those across the industry to preserve important historic buildings and sites?
Historic England works collaboratively with developers and others to ensure that historic buildings and places remain thriving, or to reinvigorate those which have fallen on hard times. We like to engage early – when our advice can be most constructive, and when developers have most scope to accommodate it…
Q. What are some upcoming historic regeneration schemes that you are most excited about?
Many conservation and restoration projects have continued throughout the pandemic, many of them funded by lifeline grants from the Culture Recovery Fund…
Q. How is Historic England playing a role in the build back better agenda?
Everything Historic England does contributes to Building Back Better as you can only do that – plan for growth – if you understand what is already there and the contribution it makes to the success of places.
Our work on high streets, our work on understanding the effects of climate change on historic places, our work to support high-quality development through the planning system, and of course our work on improving design standards: the purpose of all of this is to make sure that we learn from our heritage and make sure that it enhances our present and our future…
Q. How can restoration and renovation of historic buildings help to revive and support struggling high streets and town centres?
High streets have throughout history been the focal point for local communities. A hub for businesses and a meeting place for all, high streets were once the beating heart of towns and cities. However, in recent years high streets have faced challenges, most notably competition from online retailers and out-of-town outlets. These challenges have become only more prominent in the past eighteen months..
Q. How does reusing historic buildings help to lower carbon emissions and promote sustainability?
Historic buildings were built to last for generations. By sympathetically upgrading and reusing existing buildings, rather than demolishing and building new, we could dramatically improve a building’s energy efficiency and also make substantial energy savings because the carbon locked up in those buildings would not be released through demolition, and carbon involved in new build would be saved…
Existing buildings already embody significant CO? emissions in their materials and by not counting this embodied carbon, we underestimate the entire carbon emissions of a new build by up to 31%.
Demolishing buildings not only produces millions of tonnes of waste (three fifths of all waste produced in the UK every year comes from construction, demolition and excavation) but building new has high energy costs and uses up precious resources.
To meet the government’s target of being carbon neutral by 2050, we know we must recycle and reuse our existing historic buildings, rather than demolishing and building new.
