The historic environment lies at the heart of our sense of place; and England’s most attractive and distinctive environments have always been sensitive to their context. Regeneration needs to be done with equal sensitivity if it is to create better places and stronger communities. Understanding how places change, and recognising the significance of their history, is the key to successful and sustainable regeneration.

Successful regeneration means bringing social, economic and environmental life back to an area. It transforms places, strengthens a community’s self-image and re-creates viable, attractive places which encourage sustained inward investment. The historic environment is all around us, and includes landscapes, parks and other green spaces, historic streets, areas and buildings, and archaeological sites. Regeneration projects cannot ignore it.

Regeneration is a rural as well as an urban imperative. Although the end result may look very different from urban regeneration, rural development – the revitalisation of rural communities, landscapes and buildings – is necessary to address pockets of social exclusion or to adjust to structural changes in agriculture and the rural economy. Sensitive re-use or promotion of the historic environment can help address these issues.

The Government has recently highlighted the importance of the historic environment in its response to the report of the House of Commons Select Committee by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on the role of historic buildings in urban regeneration. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport statement The Historic Environment: A Force for Our Future (2001) and its consultation document Culture at the Heart of Regeneration (2004) give further evidence of the valuable role culture, including heritage, plays in regenerating our cities, towns and communities.

Why Re-use of Heritage Assets is at the Heart of Sustainable Development

English Heritage wants to see the best use made of what already exists. Our involvement in regeneration activity for over two decades has demonstrated that:

1. Re-using existing buildings is a simple way of achieving sustainability. Recent research undertaken in the North West of England by English Heritage found that, based on projections over 30 years, the cost of repairing a typical Victorian terraced house was between 40 and 60% cheaper (depending on the level of refurbishment) than replacing it with a new home. Re-using buildings saves waste and reduces the need for new building materials. Demolition and construction account for 24% of the total annual waste produced in the UK.
2. Re-using buildings and adapting landscapes help reinforce a sense of place. Investment in the historic buildings and streetscape of Brick Lane, East London by English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund and other partners has strengthened the area’s distinctive identity. Its revitalisation has helped the growth of Brick Lane as a focus for Bengali festivals and cultural events.
3. New large-scale developments risk losing the fine grain that characterises historic areas. Great care is needed in undertaking new development in sensitive areas to avoid the wholesale amalgamation of plots, straightening of building lines, loss of incidental spaces, flattening of silhouettes, ironing out of irregularities and reducing the mix of uses which all help to integrate the new with the old. The £750m Paradise Street development in Liverpool has been carefully designed to knit the new development into the townscape of the historic Ropewalks area, re-creating some of the area’s historic street pattern and re-using many of the vacant historic buildings.
4. Re-used buildings can often be sold for a premium compared to a similar new-build property. Many historic buildings are seen to be more desirable than their more recent equivalents. Historic residential properties, for example, often carry a premium. Research suggests pre-1919 houses are worth on average 20% more than an equivalent more recent house. The Royal William Yard in Plymouth, a 7ha early nineteenth-century former victualling yard for the Royal Navy, was taken over by the South West of England Regional Development Agency when it became redundant. The subsequent conversion of two of the buildings by developers Urban Splash was such a success that all the apartments were pre-sold in a single day.
5. Restoring the historic environment creates jobs and helps underpin local economies. Work by English Heritage demonstrates that initial heritage investment in heritage-led regeneration projects levers in significant amounts of other capital and helps to sustain and create jobs. The heritage-led regeneration of the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham has ensured that this vibrant historic area remains a thriving centre for the manufacture and retail of jewellery, with 6,000 people employed by 1,500 separate businesses. Nationally, the shortage of workers in many craft skills demonstrates the potential for further growth in employment.
6. An attractive environment can help to draw in external investment as well as sustaining existing businesses of all types, not just tourism-related. The transformation of the redundant eighteenth century Royal Dockyard in Chatham, as well as drawing in almost two million visitors, has helped attract 100 businesses employing over 1,000 people and had a positive impact on the local economy as a whole estimated at £20m a year. A study of the economic value of the heritage coastlines, national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the North East demonstrated that through businesses and the effects of tourism these areas generated output of £700m and support 14,000 jobs. The majority of businesses considered the quality of the landscape and the environment to be a factor in their performance.
7. The historic environment contributes to quality of life and enriches people’s understanding of the diversity and changing nature of their community. Regeneration has to have the support of local people otherwise it is likely to fail. People are often immensely proud of their local heritage. A recent MORI poll in the North East found that after ‘people and a sense of community’, ‘heritage and the built environment’ was what gave the region its special character. Many areas have a rich historic legacy which contributes to local identity and is an important local educational resource.
8. Historic places are a powerful focus for community action. The British Urban Regeneration Association (BURA), in an analysis of best practice in urban regeneration, concluded that “historic buildings can act as focal points around which communities will rally and revive their sense of civic pride” and that “ ... care should be taken not to destroy old buildings before their potential is realised”. The transformation of the early nineteenth-century St. John’s Church in Hoxton, in the London Borough of Hackney, to include a nursery school, a community café, an employment project, a fitness centre as well as its continued use as a church has strengthened its role at the centre of its community without destroying its contribution as a high quality architectural landmark.
9. The historic environment has an important place in local cultural activities. Historic buildings, streets and parks are often key venues for local events. In Queen Square, Bristol, the removal of the inner ring road from the early eighteenth-century square and the redesign of the open space to reflect the original layout enabled a range of cultural events from outdoor cinema to concerts to take place. It also provides informal recreation space and a fitting setting for the surrounding historic buildings.

Mixed use, high-density, human-scale historic neighbourhoods are a model for new sustainable communities.

The English Heritage Approach to Regeneration

It is neither possible nor desirable for English Heritage to engage with every regeneration scheme. As a national body, English Heritage can help with general guidance and advice but local heritage specialists are best placed to understand the significance of a particular area. It will usually be local authority historic buildings officers and archaeological officers who are best able to offer detailed practical advice.

Where decisions are being made about the future of historic buildings, areas or landscapes as part of a regeneration scheme, English Heritage will seek to ensure that their historical, architectural and archaeological significance has been properly assessed. In areas where the historic environment is distinctive, retains its coherence and is valued by the local community, English Heritage will favour an approach which promotes repair and refurbishment as an alternative to outright replacement.

It is essential that decisions about an area’s future are based on an informed understanding of the historic environment. This should form part of the masterplanning and design process. An assessment of the historic environment should be undertaken at the earliest opportunity and certainly before detailed proposals are drawn up for the regeneration of an area. As well as identifying assets which are protected through listing, scheduling or conservation area designation, assessments should always take into account the value of the wider historic environment. A range of techniques such as characterisation, conservation planning, impact assessment and archaeological evaluation exist to help with this process. English Heritage aims to encourage and enable such work through the development of training programmes.

A Checklist for Successful Regeneration

Although each regeneration scheme is unique, English Heritage believes there are lessons that are common to successful historic environment regeneration schemes.

1. A strong vision for the future – that inspires people and encourages them to get involved;
2. A respect for local residents and businesses –who have often fought hard to stop an area declining; ensuring they are included in a regeneration partnership means the project starts with community commitment;
3. A tangible link to the past – since places are not created in a vacuum and people need familiar elements, visual reminders and a sense of continuity; landscapes, streets, spaces, buildings and archaeological sites play a part in defining a sense of place;
4. An understanding of the area – knowing what exists and how it came to be makes it easier to plan its future;
5. A respect for what already exists – making sure that places that people value are kept for the future;
6. A record of the area before work starts – so that future generations can understand how the site has evolved;
7. An integrated, sustainable approach – not concentrating on a particular social, economic or environmental consideration or a single use;
8. Achieving the right pace – regeneration that happens too quickly can harm the fabric and the community, while that which happens too slowly fails to create the momentum, commitment and enthusiasm needed to make a scheme a success;
9. The highest quality design and materials – to enhance local distinctiveness and sustain a sense of place that people can be proud of;
10. Early discussions between the community, the local authority and other interested parties – ensuring that options can be discussed and designs modified at an early stage, before too much has been committed.

Further Information

Visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/regeneration.
References to a number of relevant publications are included in the footnotes. For more information and training programmes aimed particularly at the local authority sector see also www.helm.org.uk.

Other relevant websites include:

• www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
• www.bura.org.uk
• www.cabe.org.uk
• www.cabespace.org.uk
• www.culture.gov.uk/historic_environment
• www.ehtf.org.uk
• www.englishpartnerships.co.uk
• www.heritagelink.org.uk
• www.hlf.org.uk
• www.communities.gov.uk