C O N T E X T 1 3 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 4 47 IHBC London conference on heritage at risk It’s a risky business The IHBC London branch’s day conference, sponsored by Turley Associates, was held on 2 October in its usual magnificent venue, Lasdun’s Grade I Royal College of Physicians, Regents Park. Attended by over 100 people, the conference was ably chaired by branch chairman David McDonald. Baroness Andrews, former chair of English Heritage, identified a number of risks to the historic environment in her keynote address. First, the chances of the nation moving away from the long-established premise of the state having a responsibility to care for heritage assets was unlikely. However, there was now reduced capacity both nationally and locally to fulfil this responsibly. English Heritage suffered a 32 per cent funding cut in 2010. Tomanage this, the outreach and repair programmes had been cut and opening hours of properties reduced, in favour of focusing on statutory work and capacity building. This had culminated in the proposed separation of the monuments and statutory arms of the organisation. There was a second risk: that heritage was seen as separate from culture, and isolated from the social and economic challenges of the day. Museums and collections were somehow seen as more important than the historic environment. The failure of governments to see heritage at the heart of place and as part of the solution to social and economic problems was a third risk. The historic environment bred pride and resilience and should be at the heart of regeneration. It was not an eccentric add on, but the best guarantee of sustainability and quality. This all needed leadership and foresight. It was not a quick fix, unlike new development or housing. The final risk, and probably the most serious, was the failure to join things up. This was a failure of politics rather than the planning system. Greg Luton, English Heritage’s East of England director, who has special responsibility for heritage at risk, outlined his approach to rescuing ruins and guiding good practice. Since the Heritage at Risk Register’s inception in 1999, 55 per cent of the buildings that had been at risk have been removed from the register, although others have been added. Local authorities were owners and managers of heritage assets, as well as regulators of the statutory role. Successful local authorities were those that showed community leadership, with English Heritage taking a supporting role. Luton outlined English Heritage’s methodology for assessing heritage at risk (significance, condition, vulnerability, management and trajectory – how the case was going). English Heritage’s target was to remove 25 per cent of buildings from the 2010 register by 2015. He identified the contributors to risk as moisture and gravity; fire, storm and accident; wrong past solutions (architectural or engineering); and heritage crime. English Heritage’s figures are classed as official statistics by the government, so their importance should not be underestimated. Using the 2012 HAR figures, Luton summarised with examples the at-risk statistics for listed buildings, scheduled ancient monuments, historic parks and gardens, and conservation areas for England. Ian Morrison, head of historic environment at the Heritage Lottery Fund, spoke about unlocking potential funding. Lottery income is up, as the government is restoring heritage’s share of lottery funding diverted to the Olympics. At current rates there is £400 million a year until 2018, but these are challenging economic conditions with continued pressure on public sector funding. Morrison drew particular attention to the new Heritage Enterprise scheme (for projects of £100,000–£5 million), which funds the conservation deficit to return properties to a commercial use. This is intended to lever in significant private investment to commercial/social enterprise partnerships. Ian Lush, chief executive of the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF), talked about engaging the third sector. The AHF was set up in 1976 to fund building preservation trusts with short-term, low-interest loans. It now supports around 100 projects a year, The Grade II listed concrete house in Lordship Lane, Southwark, a building at risk, was acquired by the local authority using Housing Act powers (see Context 130, July 2013). It was leased to Heritage of London Trust Operations, which renovated it and converted it to five flats.
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