PP8 Built and Cultural Heritage

April 2016

Pa

ge2

Contents

Introduction 3

About the Irish Planning Institute 5

PP8 Built and Cultural Heritage 6

8.1 Introduction 6

8.2 The Economic Value of the Historic Environment 7

8.3 Preservation of the Historic Environment and Climate Change 8

8.4 The Historic Environment and Urban Regeneration 9

8.5 The Role of the Planning system in protecting Intangible Cultural Heritage 9

8.6 The Irish Planning Institute’s Position 10

Pa

ge3

Introduction

Planners have a responsibility to influence, shape, form, and plan for a new future and the

Irish Planning Institute’s series of Position Papers set out the Institute’s view on the role of

planning in advancing key issues affecting the island of Ireland. The purpose of these is to

provide a clear statement on the IPI’s direction for planning to promote:

vibrant communities,

a strong and viable economy, and

a clean and healthy environment.

Taken together the papers provide a consistent framework for more detailed IPI policy

submissions on specific planning issues. It will also provide an instructive and strategic

overview on key planning issues in short accessible papers for members of the public.

Spatial planning is an area of study encompassing an immense range of diverse topics. It

is neither practical nor possible to outline a policy position on all topics related to spatial

planning or on all topics which professional planners are working on today. With this in

mind and for ease of reference, this document outlines the Institute’s position on one of

eleven core areas of planning policy. While the areas do not constitute a comprehensive

overview of all spatial planning issues, they do represent topics on which the opinion of the

Institute has been frequently sought in recent years.

The eleven core areas are:

1. Resource Management

2. Settlement and Housing

3. Carbon Free Society by 2050

4. Marine Spatial Planning

5. Access

6. Planning for a Sustainable Economy

7. Fiscal Policy for Planning

8. Built and Cultural Heritage

Pa

ge4

9. Landscape and Seascape

10. Agriculture and Forestry

11. Public Engagement in Decision-Making

Our Position Papers are intended to be a living document, subject to a process of

continuous review and expansion. As part of this process, it is intended that further papers

on sectoral themes within spatial planning will be added to the initial eleven core topics.

The papers were drafted with the input of senior and expert members of the planning

profession serving on the IPI Council and through the IPI Policy and Research Committee

Special Interest Fora. The Institute would like to extend our most sincere thanks to

members for volunteering their time and expertise in putting this document together.

The purpose of this document is to inform the activities and policy approaches of

the Institute and nothing in this document should be taken as indicating the views

of individual members or as forming part of the code of conduct for members of the

Institute.

Pa

ge5

About the Irish Planning Institute

Founded in 1975, the Irish Planning Institute is the professional body representing the

majority of professional planners engaged in physical, spatial and environmental planning

in Ireland and Irish planners practicing overseas.

The Irish Planning Institute’s mission is to advance planning by serving, improving and

promoting the planning profession for the benefit of the community and the common good.

Pa

ge6

PP8 Built and Cultural Heritage

8.1 Introduction

The International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites

(The Venice Charter 1964), to which Ireland is signatory, forms the basis for a modern

approach to the protection of built heritage:

“Imbued with a message from the past, the historic monuments of generations of

people remain to the present day as living witnesses of their age-old traditions.

People are becoming more and more conscious of the unity of human values and

regard ancient monuments as a common heritage. The common responsibility to

safeguard them for future generations is recognized. It is our duty to hand them on

in the full richness of their authenticity.”

Over the course of the decades since the signing of the Venice Charter, Ireland has

become party to numerous international conventions and charters, which build on the work

of the Venice Charter and recognise the complexity of Ireland’s built and cultural heritage,

both tangible and intangible. Intangible cultural heritage is described in the UNESCO

Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (as ratified by Ireland in

December 2015) as follows:

“The “intangible cultural heritage” means the practices, representations,

expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts

and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in

some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This

intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is

constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their

environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them

with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural

diversity and human creativity.”

Ireland has a very rich, complex and layered cultural heritage, a heritage that is unique to

Ireland and defines our National identity. This cultural heritage encompasses legend,

landscape, language, literature, music, art, theatre, and sport. Ireland is internationally

renowned in each and every one of these areas. Ireland has a remarkable density of

historic buildings and sites, each phase in our cultural history adding a layer to what was

there before. Early Christian sites layered on places of ancient Celtic ceremony and

Pa

ge7

significance, later Norman and monastic sites adding a further layer, all these layers then

taken into the creation of 18th and 19th century designed landscapes and urban form; and

all of this set in the beautiful and varied Irish landscape. For some 300 years in the early

Christian period, Ireland was the centre of learning in the Western World. Few countries in

the world can claim such cultural richness; and there is no country of comparative size that

come any where close to Ireland in the impact its distinctive culture has made on the world.

Ireland’s historic environment is an intrinsic part of who we are as individuals, as

communities and as a people – it is our home and it is our responsibility to protect this

heritage for future generations.

8.2 The Economic Value of the Historic Environment

In recent times, we have become increasingly aware of the value of our historic

environment as an economic asset. The Heritage Council’s 2011 publication Economic

Evaluation of the Historic Environment Ireland revealed that heritage and Ireland’s historic

environment is estimated to account for €1.5 billion or 1% of the State’s Gross Value Added

(GVA) and approximately 65,000 employment positions. Of these figures, the report

estimated that, including indirect and induced effects, “tourism expenditure attributable to

the historic environment supports more than 17,000 (17,129) FTE employees in Ireland”

and that “[i]n terms of national income, this translates into an economic impact of

approximately €650 (645) million towards Ireland's GVA”.

The report Assessment of Possible Fiscal Incentives in Relation to the Built Heritage in

Ireland’s Towns produced by Peter Bacon & Associates Economic Consultants and

published in January 2014 has highlighted the cost savings that can be achieved by

refurbishing a heritage building rather than demolishing it.

International research is instructive on the economic benefits associated with mechanisms

for the protection of the historic environment only recently introduced in Ireland (e.g.

Architectural Conservation Areas). English Heritage commissioned the London School of

Economics and Political Science to undertake statistical analysis of more than 1 million

property transactions carried out between 1995 and 2010 and data on more than 8,000

English conservation areas. The results of this analysis, published in May 2012 in a report

entitled An Assessment of the Effects of Conservation Areas on Value by Gabriel M.

Ahlfeldt, Nancy Holman and Nicolai Wendland, found that houses in conservation areas

sell for higher prices (23% higher on average) and show a greater appreciation in value

than houses in other areas, even after figures are adjusted for location and house type.

Pa

ge8

Recent research of this kind brings the importance of protecting Ireland’s historic

environment sharply into focus. However, the true value of our historic environment and

the benefits of its conservation and protection can never be fully quantified in economic

terms.

8.3 Preservation of the Historic Environment and Climate Change

The 2011 publication The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Environmental Value of

Building Reuse of the Preservation Green Lab (a part of the US National Trust for Historic

Preservation), which found that “reuse of buildings with an average level of energy

performance consistently offers immediate climate-change impact reductions compared to

more energy-efficient new construction”. The document goes on to state that:

“Most climate scientists agree that action in the immediate timeframe is crucial to

stave off the worst impacts of climate change. Reusing existing buildings can offer

an important means of avoiding unnecessary carbon outlays and help communities

achieve their carbon reduction goals in the near term”.

There is a danger that policy for combating climate change places too much emphasis on

measures and tools for reducing energy consumption in new and existing buildings without

making reference to the energy savings inherent in re-use of existing buildings over the

construction of new development. This is also referenced in Bacon’s Assessment of

Possible Fiscal Incentives in Relation to the Built Heritage in Ireland’s Towns, which states:

“an EPHC report from Australia relates research that it takes 30 years for a new

building to realise energy savings, when compared with the option of renovating an

older building. It identifies the need for the Environmental Impact Analysis required

when investing in a heritage building to prove that the existing building cannot be

adapted, and to compare the energy requirements, including materials, for

renovation and replacement respectively. In this way, the regulation pro-actively

incentivises restoration.”

In addition to avoiding loss of the embodied energy within historic buildings, preservation

of the historic environment can also result in energy savings and emission reduction by

encouraging more sustainable transport and more efficient use of existing infrastructure as

a huge proportion of heritage buildings are located in urban areas and/or on brownfield

sites. Heritage buildings also tend to be sited with greater ecological sensitivity (e.g. are

Pa

ge9

less likely to be subject to flooding; have secured the preservation of ancient woodlands

for generations as part of designed landscapes; etc.).

8.4 The Historic Environment and Urban Regeneration

The economic value of our historic environment should not provide the sole reason and

rationale for its conservation. Encouraging the protection and conservation of heritage

buildings can result in major, but intangible, benefits for the people living in heritage towns.

The large majority of our historic building stock has remained in active use since its original

construction. That a building can be in continuous occupation for centuries is testament to

the quality of its construction and its adaptability to the changing needs of a modern society.

However, the movement of people into the suburbs has wreaked havoc on many of our

historic towns and cities.

Vacancy, and the dereliction that follows it over time, can spread like cancer through our

historic towns. As buildings fall into disrepair, the area becomes less attractive to families

and businesses and, in turn, the rate of vacancy and dereliction can grow. Communities

become fragmented and, with fewer eyes on the street, anti-social and criminal behaviour

can escalate. The reverse is also true. Often, all it needs is for one ordinary person to lead

the way and bring a building back to what it once was to trigger a forgotten pride in a historic

town and bring about meaningful urban regeneration. Regeneration of the historic

environment can rebuild communities and make a town a vibrant place where people want

to live, work and do business.

8.5 The Role of the Planning system in protecting Intangible Cultural Heritage

The protection of intangible cultural heritage, such as language, tradition, folklore and

popular belief, poses unique challenges, including the need to both safeguard such cultural

heritage, while also allowing traditions to change and evolve. It is essential that a strategy

for the identification, appreciation and protection of Ireland’s intangible cultural heritage be

developed at national level. In tandem with a programme of training and education for

relevant built environment professionals, the planning process will play a significant role in

the protection of Ireland’s cultural heritage by raising awareness at local, regional and

national levels of the importance of the intangible cultural heritage. Plan-led development

should also seek to facilitate and encourage the celebration of intangible cultural heritage

in a sustainable way (e.g. events and festivals, traditional music, industries and crafts).

Pa

ge1

0

The development plan will be a key tool in the protection of assets intangible cultural

heritage where they are endangered by economic, political and social forces such as socio-

economic marginalisation. For example, the provisions of the Planning and Development

Acts are used to support the use of Irish as a living language in Gaeltacht areas.

8.6 The Irish Planning Institute’s Position

1. There is no single measure, regulation or incentive that can ensure the protection

of Ireland’s historic environment.

2. It is essential that the planning system take into account the heritage value of the

historic environment (i.e. authenticity, rarity, contribution to context, intangible value,

etc.); the contribution of the historic environment to the national, regional and local

economy; and the significant positive effects that preservation and re-use of the

historic environment can have in terms of avoiding unnecessary carbon outlays as

part of both the forward planning and development management processes.

3. Consideration should be given to requiring energy cost accounting of all proposals

for the demolition of existing historic buildings and replacement with new structures.

4. The current system of listing of heritage buildings and sites of importance is too

crude and spread across too many regulatory systems to allow for an adequate level

of certainty for owners, occupiers, developers, investors and the general public.

Statutory provisions for the protection of the historic environment would benefit from

rationalisation and review, to include a grading system for protected buildings.

5. Stronger and clearer guidance, regulation and enforcement will play a significant

role in conservation and protection of architectural, archaeological and cultural

heritage.

6. Training for planners in the core principles of conservation is of critical importance,

particularly given that not all historic buildings and sites of importance have been

identified or have been subject to statutory protection.

Pa

ge1

1

7. Education of the public (to include a targeted campaign for owners and occupiers

of heritage buildings) will also be required to, inter alia, allow owner / occupiers to

comply with their obligations not to endanger protected structures and to address

issues of energy efficiency (e.g. given that much is made of the cost of running a

heritage building in terms of heating due to necessary restrictions on the installation

of insulation and double-glazing, the reduction in other energy costs, such as

transport costs and construction costs, associated with refurbishing a town centre

historic building should be highlighted).

8. A comprehensive package of financial incentives will offset concerns about the cost

of refurbishing heritage buildings and facilitate people wishing to move into our

historic towns and cities.

Pa

ge1

2