C O N T E X T 1 2 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 1 13 IHBC Annual School Annual School 2011 School 2011 IHBC An 2011 IHBC Annual S IHBC Annual School School 2011 IHBC IHBC Annual Scho interest in the preservation, protection and promotion of skills, and in ensuring people with the right skills were in the right places to look after the Welsh historic environment in the next few years (a theme discussed further during the School by John Edwards). Finally, the minister confirmed that the Heritage Preservation Bill (since retitled the Heritage Protection Bill) which had been included in the Labour manifesto for the election would be brought forward as legislation. This will be one of the first bills theWelsh Government will produce after the granting of lawmaking powers, following a referendum earlier this year. It will be an opportunity for Wales to improve the protection of its heritage. The minister sought feedback on what the legislation should look like. The prospect of new legislation for Wales was the main focus of discussions outside the conference room. The minister’s call for feedback requires action from the heritage community. It was clear that delegates felt the IHBC needed to be at the forefront of discussions and to promote ideas, to ensure that appropriate legislation is produced and that it has a distinctiveWelsh flavour. Neil Maylan Straws in the wind at the HLF Judy Cligman, director of strategy and business development at the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), obeyed the first rule for giving PowerPoint presentations: show a wonderful array of attractive images.These well illustrated the HLF’s role as part funder (since it started in 1994) of 31,000 projects to which it has given a total of £4.6 billion of grants. These ranged from (since we were in Llandudno) a successful townscape heritage initiative project in nearby Penmaenmawr, to £18 million for the newly opened Riverside Museum in Glasgow. Cligman calculated that public investment in heritage projects would be £700 million a year less over the next five years. However, she said that the HLF would be spending £100 million more on such projects from 2012 onwards, an increase of £100 million a year over current (Olympics-affected) levels – a rare pool of deep water in these shallowed times. In one sense, however, Cligman’s talk was a little premature. The HLF has embarked on a huge consultation exercise, which generated over 2,000 responses, and it is currently digesting the results. So Cligman could not say much about any possible changes of direction. But there were hints. A key one, perhaps, was less of an emphasis on individual projects, and more on capacity building and partnerships with the private and voluntary sectors. In this regard she mentioned the work with the Prince’s Regeneration Trust at Burslem, which was particularity apt since Fred Taggart spoke next. There was talk of strategic local partnerships involving, among others, building preservation trusts – also apt since the Gus Astley award was presented to Andrew Beckett for his stimulating paper on such trusts. It remains to be seen how the results of the consultation exercise will change the direction of the HLF. In the meantime, let’s rejoice that when just about every other grant regime is either being cut or abandoned, this one is set to increase; and that the HLF is committed to working with the private and voluntary sectors to make sure the role of heritage in regeneration and the economic life of the country is understood, appreciated and pursued with some vigour. Paul Butler Can communities deliver conservation-led regeneration? We are all steeped in ideas of continuity, so it came as no surprise when Fred Taggart, projects director at the Prince’s Regeneration Trust, reminded us that the recently discovered ‘Big Society’ had been a driving force in conservation long before its appearance in 21st-centuryWestminster. He showed us how determined local community groups and volunteers could do remarkable things, given timely and appropriate help, and how that is what the Prince’s Regeneration Trust had been doing for the past 15 years. One of the projects where it has been involved is the wonderful Harvey’s Foundry at Hayle in Cornwall (incidentally, one of the Holy Places of the industrial revolution).We were treated to a detailed financial and sustainability analysis of the project and its outputs so far. We were shown – in hard accountancy terms – how grant-aided repair was not a luxury, but an investment. An expenditure of £4.2 million on the first two phases of the Harvey’s project had already returned over £3 million to HMTreasury through new employment, savings on benefits and other measurable revenues. It should pay back fully within eight years. The trust has calculated the ‘green’ balance sheet of the project: 860,000 kilograms of carbon have been saved by traditional repair and adaptation rather than demolition and redevelopment. That is equivalent to 84 flights around the world. In Taggart’s words: ‘The lesson is clear. Community groups can preserve what is beautiful and historically Fred Taggart, Judy Cligman and John Edwards fielding questions
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