Building on our heritage: 7 Cornerstones of cultural placemaking

Authored by Victoria Anderton-Johnson, Principal Historic Environment Consultant and Andrew Reid, Historic Environment Lead

When we think about the Historic Environment, we define it as the compendium of historic buildings, archaeological remains and historic landscapes which helps us understand who we are as a country and society.

To appreciate how that historic environment contributes to our lives, we just need to look around the places we live whether it be roads which were first laid out by the Romans, Norman castles, parish churches or the local public house.

However, it is not only through the physical remains of the past that we understand and appreciate our history. The shared experiences of both our distant and recent ancestors, alongside our own interpretation of the past, creates intangible connections that are just as important to our shared cultural identity and experience.

Ten thousand years of continuous human activity in the UK have shaped our settlements and sculpted our identities, both individual and collective, which here at Sweco, we refer to as ‘Cultural Heritage’.

Historic Environment, Heritage and Cultural Placemaking

Our Historic Environment has been recognised as a key element of the planning process for many years which is reflected in policy at both a national and local level. As Historic Environment consultants, much of our focus is on assessing about how development could affect archaeology, historic buildings and historic landscapes which trying to encourage sustainable integration of the new with the old.

The intangible component of our environment is becoming more and more important, and we need to think more on how to approach Cultural Heritage to ensure it forms an integral part of the way we think about development.

One way is to be entirely proactive and place Cultural Heritage at the heart of design, celebrating historical and archaeological features (the Historic Environment), exploring innovative designs which resonate with the local area, prioritising sustainable development and championing community engagement.

The approach we take at Sweco is based around seven cornerstones of placemaking using guidance from Historic England set out in their Places Strategy document (Link: HE – Places Strategy) as a starting point:

1. Understanding and Appreciating Heritage Assets

The identification of key heritage assets within and around a site set for development and its surroundings is the first step. Through targeted research, data synthesis and interpretation, usually presented in a desk-based assessment, or at a higher level within a due diligence report before the land for development is acquired.

This will include both designated and non-designated heritage assets as these can be affected by development in different ways: inside the site through physical changes caused by construction work, outside the site through a change in their setting (the surroundings in which a heritage asset is experienced). Their value as elements of the remaining past is referred to in national and local policy across Great Britain is ‘significance’ which can include their setting.

Heritage assets are irreplaceable so there are legal requirements to give great weight to the preservation and enhancement of designated heritage assets, including their setting, while heritage assets not protected by law must also be important considerations when undertaking development.

2. Enhancement of Heritage through Regeneration

Once we know what the key heritage asset is (there may be more than one but for this exercise, we will only refer to a single asset), and what makes it significant, our principal goal is to enhance that asset.

What does enhancement look like? This could be the repair and/ or reinstatement of historic features, the reinstatement of lost views or designing the development to focus on the heritage asset. There are unlimited opportunities to embed enhancement strategies into a development and the best time to consider them is during the design process. Early identification of possible areas of enhancement, as well as areas where impacts might occur or where further work might be needed (e.g. archaeological excavation), is crucial to understanding how that might affect the development cost, programme and/or its likelihood of gaining consent.

So, enhancement is the attempt to improve our understanding and experience of things in the Historic Environment, but how can we apply that to the idea of Cultural Heritage?

Despite what might perhaps seem like an impossible challenge, the answer is not as complicated as it might seem. In fact, it is the same as dealing with tangible components of the historic environment. Early identification and proactive engagement with the community around where a development is proposed can highlight key themes which can be explored, but also include people in the development process.

3. Sustainable Development Management

“The greenest building is one that is already built.”  Carl Elefante

It is our first position here at Sweco and we work hard to try and incorporate historic features into developments.

The re-use and re-imagining of historic buildings is more sustainable compared to demolition and new construction, while repair and restoration presents the opportunity to incorporate sustainable choices into designs. Retaining, re-using and restoring historic features (particularly buildings) often leads to community support and backing as it retains local identity.

Sweco are extremely well placed to advise on sustainability from an environmental perspective and through collaboration with our colleagues in the building services team who develop innovative solutions for sustainability including the incorporation of ground/air source heat pumps, sustainable building materials and paints and, integration of renewable energy sources into both new and existing buildings.

By encouraging the incorporation of our joint Cultural Heritage into development plans allows for the retention, promotion and enhancement of our collective identity whilst, sustainably, creating modern developments.

4. Economic Viability and Growth

Development is at the forefront of achieving economic growth as it offers innovation, investments, job opportunities and supports a better quality of life.

The economic viability of historic buildings is often under threat, as patterns and priorities change so does the viability of certain buildings. Development encourages innovation and investment into the community. Re-development can ensure sustainable and economic viability of heritage assets whilst encourage growth within a community. Viability may be achieved through responsible development, enhancement, incorporation of new materials and consideration of its retention for future generations.

5. Accessibility and well-connected design

As discussed placemaking is centred around our joint heritage, a community’s contribution and regeneration alongside our modern needs. Therefore, good design is it at the centre of this. Ensuring design allows access thus to increase a developments use, this is often found through encouragement of public space, landscaping and open space to allow for communities to gather. This fosters social cohesion and community support.

In order to achieve a good design consideration needs to be given to all members of society, thus ensuring an accessible, inclusive approach. Accessibility is often not found in historic spaces, incorporating accessibility for all allows for improved access to those sometimes marginalised. By incorporating accessible features in design a development can be truly open to all.

6. Inclusive and Diverse Approach

This cornerstone marks the point at which a much greater focus is given over to considerations of Cultural Heritage.

Cultural Heritage placemaking should look to include all members of society including those communities and/or groups which may not have traditionally been engaged in that area. If we take the position that Cultural Heritage is determined by the interactions of people over the past ten thousand years, we have an extremely diverse range of components to employ to help incorporate a sense of collective experience into establishing new places through development.

There are threads which connect all cultures and experiences of heritage. The importance of stories, or oral history, as the oldest form of passing knowledge between people is universal. Stories of the past provide a wealth of information which is otherwise unknown, and crucially, often unrecorded. These accounts are pieces of history in their own right which may form a key part of a community’s identity.

The more of those stories we hear and engage with, the more common threads across communities we can establish and the more connections to the tangible Historic Environment we can foster.

Our Cultural Heritage has been shaped by the collaboration of cultures, new ideas and new people, and we can use that shared experience to inform inclusive and diverse designs ideas for developments.

7. Community creation

When it comes down to it, development that is sustainable across all environmental aspects is about community, whether that community is long established, completely new or a mixture of both. We know that things change, and that while change is good, it is also a difficult balance to strike.

As we conclude our reflections here, to end on the theme of community seems fitting.

Community engagement identifies what is a priority and needed by the community; it is the heart of placemaking. Creating a community requires the reinforcement and enhancement of local heritage. Engaging with the community and creating a development with community at its centre often results in unique and innovative developments backed by the local community. Developments which prioritise place-making often enhance the community and encourage cohesion. Such developments lead to united communities alongside increasing community involvement and knowledge sharing.

Community engagement and cohesion also creates a sense of pride in the place people live and encourages growth and continued unification of the community. Other ways to increase community spirit may be through archaeological open days, if appropriate, or the introduction of a local heritage trail.