Memorandum by The Architectural Heritage
Fund (HIS 31)
INTRODUCTION
1. The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF)
is a registered charity, limited by guarantee, established in
1976 to promote the conservation and sustainable re-use of historic
buildings in the UK. It does this by providing advice, information
and financial assistance in the form of grants and low-interest
working capital loans for projects undertaken by building preservation
trusts (BPTs) and other charities. BPTs are charitable organisations
made up of local volunteers and established with the specific
object of rescuing historic buildings by repairing and converting
them for viable new uses. To date the AHF has offered grants totalling
over £3.5 million and working capital loans of almost £73
million and through the work of BPTs and other charities has enabled
the rescue of almost 1,000 historic buildings. This work has acted
as a catalyst for environmental, social and economic regeneration
and is increasingly a key part of many wider regeneration schemes.
Alongside other larger heritage organisations, the AHF is a major
contributor to the revival or our historic towns and cities.
2. As acknowledged in the urban white paper,
Our Towns and Cities: the future—Delivering an Urban
Renaissance, historic buildings make a great contribution
to the character, quality and sense of identity of urban areas[13]
The historic buildings around us, whether individually, as a streetscape
or an entire neighbourhood, create and add to our experience of
the urban environment, defining the character of a place and adding
social and economic value. As well as connecting us to our past,
they maintain physical continuity of the urban fabric and familiarity
with our local environment.
THE CONTRIBUTION
OF HISTORIC
BUILDINGS TO
URBAN REGENERATION
3. There are numerous well-known examples
of urban regeneration schemes with historic buildings at their
heart. In many of these cases, it is the historic buildings that
have acted as a catalyst for wider regeneration around them, reviving
areas of towns and cities suffering from abandonment and neglect,
economic under-investment and physical blight. Attracting millions
of visitors each year, the revitalised historic Albert Dock in
Liverpool is just one element of the much wider regeneration of
the city which after a period of decline, is now enjoying economic
growth, rising house prices and greater demographic stability.
The creative re-use of historic warehouse buildings alongside
good quality new design in central areas of the city such as the
Rope Walks is attracting people back to live in a previously run-down
and decaying part of Liverpool. This area has become a vibrant
and exciting part of the city and the re-use of historic buildings
has been a major factor in its success.
4. Grainger Town in Newcastle is another
well-known example of urban regeneration with historic buildings
as a major factor in its success. Grainger Town was built during
the 1830s and 1840s and for many years was a prosperous area.
Architecturally and aesthetically, the area is unified and the
buildings define its character—40% of these are listed buildings.
The area declined to a point in the late 1980s where over a million
square feet of floor space was unoccupied and 50% of the listed
buildings were at risk. This situation has now been reversed and
Grainger Town has once again become a popular place to live and
work. By December 2000, 35 historic buildings had been brought
back into use, 290 homes were created and 141 businesses were
established in the area, providing almost 400 jobs.
5. On a slightly lesser scale, a project
carried out by the Glasgow BPT has had a major impact on its surrounding
area and is a good example of conservation-led regeneration. St
Andrew's in the Square, a Category A listed church, was made redundant
due to a declining population in a largely abandoned and derelict
area. The BPT purchased the church and oversaw its complete restoration
and revitalisation as a performance venue and cafe. The square
surrounding St Andrews, now no longer blighted by the empty church
but enhanced by this unique facility, has been brought back to
life. The square has been rebuilt as social and private housing
and the Director of the BPT has estimated that the St Andrew's
project has levered in some £54 million of public and private
sector funding. This is a regeneration project that has a historic
building physically at its centre and as a major catalyst for
new development.
6. Similarly, a project carried out by the
Buildings at Risk Trust in Snow Hill, Wolverhampton, has had a
catalytic effect on its surroundings and has stimulated the wider
regeneration of the run-down St John's area. The Trust took on
part of a terrace that was being used for residential and retail
use but was neglected and partly derelict. After restoration the
properties were sold back into local ownership and the same uses
continued but again, the buildings have been brought back to life,
are lived and worked in and are used by the local community. The
catalytic effect is seen in the general lifting of the area and
its environment, as rising property values encourage adjacent
owners to reverse the neglect of their own properties, and the
quality of life there steadily improves.
PARTNERSHIPS AND
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
7. Historic buildings, particularly when
at risk, have long inspired and motivated local communities to
act to protect and revive these valuable assets and areas of distinctive
local character. A major aspect of the AHF's work is to guide
such communities and give advice on how they can form a BPT to
help conserve their historic built environment. BPTs represent
local communities and express their views on how their towns and
cities should look, be treated and be used. In bringing historic
buildings back into use, the success of BPT projects generates
civic pride, builds community capacity to undertake civic projects
of all kinds, develops skills within the community and fosters
sustainable development objectives as well as a sense of place.
Historic building projects led by BPTs or other
charities can lever in substantial funding from various sources
not otherwise accessible to more mainstream regeneration schemes.
Incorporating the historic building/charitable element into such
schemes makes financial and practical sense.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
8. Historic buildings also have an important
role to play in developing sustainable communities. One requirement
of the government's plan for sustainable development is that buildings
minimise the use of resources at construction and over time. Historic
buildings represent embodied energy and to recycle them is to
capitalise on investment and energy that has already been expended.
Demolition of such structures is therefore an extremely wasteful
exercise, particularly when followed by new-build. Recent research
carried out by the Building Research Establishment has shown that
a typical Victorian house contains energy equivalent to 15,000
litres of petrol[14]
When set in these terms, it is clear that urban regeneration schemes
should not just be about creative new design but should always
include historic buildings for their positive impact on the natural
environment and our finite energy sources.
PROPERTY VALUES
9. A recent study carried out by English
Heritage and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors established
that listed office buildings achieved a higher total return on
investment than more modern developments, supporting the idea
that the attractiveness and character of a historic environment
can generate higher investment. Liverpool, already described above,
recently saw the sale of its first £1 million pound property
in the city centre, a real sign of its revitalisation.
FISCAL AND
LEGISLATIVE CHANGES
10. The change that is most urgently required
is to introduce a lower flat rate of VAT on repairs and alterations
and to harmonise the rate of VAT for all building work—VAT
is currently charged on repairs to buildings but not on new-build
and, even more perversely, alterations to listed buildings are
free of VAT but repairs are not. At present, therefore, the VAT
system acts as a powerful disincentive for owners to maintain
their properties and for the repair of neglected historic buildings
for reuse. As it stands, the system flies in the face of the government's
sustainability agenda as well as counteracting the contribution
that re-using historic buildings can play in urban regeneration.
Until the outcome of the current review of the
designation regime is known it is difficult to comment more specifically,
but many in the heritage sector are particularly disturbed by
the suggestion that economic considerations should affect decisions
on whether a building should be statutorily listed as being of
special architectural or historic interest. Our strongly-held
view is that economic considerations may be relevant to applications
for consent but are irrelevant to designation.
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS
11. Although it is clear that government
accepts that historic buildings have a role to play in urban regeneration
to some degree, it is also clear that the sector could and should
receive much more support than it currently enjoys. To quote a
few examples:
— The Treasury is reluctant to support
much-needed changes to the VAT system.
— The DCMS has proposed making deductions
from the HLF's current balance in the National Lottery Distribution
Fund which will damage its extremely valuable work across the
board and will have particular impact on its highly-regarded Townscape
Heritage Initiative schemes that have done so much to contribute
to urban regeneration.
— The ODPM firmly backs Community Development
Trusts (CDTs) but BPTs, which have much in common with CDTs, do
not get the recognition or financial support that they deserve.
CONCLUSION
12. The AHF welcomes the opportunity to
highlight its role and that of BPTs in the contribution that the
built heritage can make to urban regeneration. It is clear that
historic buildings have a major part to play as catalysts to wider
development and as core elements of regeneration schemes and that,
with the right support at all levels of government, those organisations
working in this sector can make a significant difference to the
quality of life of people throughout the UK.
13 DETR (2000), 72. Back
14
English Heritage, Heritage Counts 2003-the State of England's
Historic Environment 2003, 44. Back
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