The Heritage Alliance (THA) has called for a new ‘Vision Statement’ on the Historic Environment (HE) for England in its response to the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment.
THA writes:
The original Statement, published in 2010, made a high-level commitment to the historic environment and rightly recognised it as a concern that should be acknowledged. The Alliance would welcome a similar, updated Statement that reflects the challenges facing heritage assets in the current economic climate.
The Farrell Review is a useful opportunity to make the case for the historic environment as a central concern in the built environment, architecture and design. The Alliance observed that there has already been much work carried out in the past 10-20 years on the value of the built environment, and especially the historic environment. This evidence has helped to make the case for why Government policy interventions in the built and historic environment are often critical for promoting wellbeing and quality of life. Without this intervention and support, people’s quality of life suffers significantly, as does the intrinsic quality of the environment around us.
In terms of the historic environment, there are a number of seminal studies that include vital data and evidence for the value of heritage and the wider built environment:
· The Power of Place
· A Force for Our Future
· Heritage Counts
· Heritage Dynamo
· Heritage Dividend
· LSE/EH study on value of conservation areas (2012)
· The Value of Culture
· Govt Statement on the Historic Environment
· World Class Places
· People and Places: Public attitudes to beauty
· My place, my base, my space
· Investing in Success
· New Ideas Need Old Buildings
· Constructive Conservation
· The Economic, Social and Cultural Impact of the City Arts and Culture Cluster
· World Cities Culture Report
In all of these studies, the message is plain. Heritage and the historic environment can be a driver for economic growth, social regeneration, and creative aesthetic expression. Since the vast majority of new developments will involve some interaction with the historic environment, whether it is in the form of the re-use of a building or a new building in a historical context, the Farrell Review needs to reflect the significant bank of evidence and data for the value of the buildings we have inherited from the past.
Development is a crucial driver of economic growth and projects across the country – from the King’s Cross complex to Middleport Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent– have shown that taking the historic environment into account during development can result in a more aesthetically pleasing, economically productive outcome.
Heritage Alliance Article: LINK
