Memorandum by The Regeneration Practice
(HIS 15)
The Contribution of Historic Buildings to Urban
Regeneration
Historic buildings enable people to engage in
the joys of building fashion, crafts and traditions of a bygone
age in much the same way as a Dickens novel allows us to intimately
engage in the colourful lives of people in 19c England.
More than this, historic buildings, streets,
parks and canal ways make a direct and real contribution to the
economic vitality and sustainability of our towns and cities:
(a) Historic town cores are regarded as attractive
places, and increasingly pedestrianised to encourage sustainable
transport on foot, by tram, bus and bicycle.
(b) The attractive street environment created
by historic buildings encourages people to spend in local shops
and restaurants. The UK Tourism Industry is worth over £30
billion to the UK economy.
(c) The success of historic canals, terraced
housing and street patterns in creating successful places is now
acknowledged. These features are being adopted as the exemplars
of urban living in major regeneration plans such as the Thames
Gateway and the Olympic Village proposals in east London.
(d) Historic building materials were time
consuming and labour intensive to produce and were highly valued
in there own right, often recycled into new buildings or reused
where alterations were required. Historic Buildings therefore
provide lessons in sustainable construction techniques.
The Role and Effectiveness of the Public Agencies
Responsible for the Built and Historic Environment in Encouraging
Urban Regeneration; Whether those Organisations Carrying out Regeneration
Projects give Sufficient Regard to Historic Buildings; Whether
the Planning System and the Listing of Historic Buildings aid
or Hinder Urban Regeneration; and Whether all Government Departments
take Adequate Account of the Historic Environment
A balance needs to be struck between growth
and competitiveness and preservation of the historic fabric. This
is especially true in areas of high growth where space for traditional
housing expansion on greenfield land is politically impossible,
and increasingly development is forced onto existing brownfield
land, often alongside historic buildings. The role of English
Heritage as protector of the Historic Environment and CABE as
champions of growth are essential in defining the debate needed
to arrive at the correct balance. However, the planning system
is ill equipped to reach the decisions needed on major proposals.
Generally the system of Listing involving English
Heritage and CABE is undertaken with care and expertise and provides
a valuable starting point for planning decisions. However, in
the absence of planning reform, simplistic regeneration masterplans
and tall building proposals designed to sell major development
proposals are coming forward in a vacuum.
As a result:
— Local Planning Authorities are left
in a state of limbo with its powers still founded on the old Conservation
Area/Land Use Planning system.
— Disputes between the historic buildings
lobby and the supporters of growth are being conducted in an adversarial
environment in public leading to damaging delays.
Conservation Area Plans (like Land Use Plans)
are too restrictive and are poor planning tools, omitting any
positive guidance on development and therefore simply contributing
to abortive proposals and delays in the planning system.
These need to be replaced by more appropriate
and considered planning frameworks acknowledging that change has
historically been, and will always be essential to the success
of towns and cities.
For example, local Public Realm Masterplans
could be adopted in sensitive areas to replace Conservation Area
Plans. These could identify and evaluate the importance of historic
buildings, pedestrian and cycle routes, streets, parks and waterways
to provide much improved supplementary planning guidance to help
assess the scale and quality of acceptable development.
Equally, regional Public Realm Masterplans could
be adopted by the Regional Development Agencies to reduce disputes
over tall building proposals and major regeneration schemes by
establishing and mapping pre-agreements on important views, sensitive
historic areas, sustainable transport nodes, historic parks, waterways
and monuments to provide a positive framework for regeneration.
Whether Fiscal and Legislative Changes Should
be Made
Reform of VAT on repair work to historic buildings
is superficially appealing however many measures are already in
place to lift the fiscal burden on historic buildings, particularly
to charitable Building Preservation Trusts who are more likely
to undertake sensitive repair work. The land market will in any
case factor in any change in the cost of repair work into land
prices over time. A greater issue is one of resources in local
Conservation departments in order that appropriate repair work
is not just policed but actively promoted through well funded
historic building grants.
Paul Latham Dip (Arch)
RIBA, Director
The Regeneration Practice
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