PP8 Built and Cultural Heritage April 2016
PP8 Built and Cultural Heritage
April 2016
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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).
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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.
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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.
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