ABOUT PAGE 2

Property acquisitions, development and refurbishments are key to your business and the issues often raised by local authorities over adaptation and alteration to a building, due to its listing or location, are often a challenge faced when acquiring and developing buildings in premium areas.

We offer a range of services with a creative approach and a clear understanding of all kinds of heritage asset, including listed buildings, conservation areas and historic landscapes. The historic, physical and policy context is important for identifying solutions for individual sites. Development in historic settings increasingly requires a full understanding of the impacts on heritage assets. We are experienced in listed building and historic townscape matters and actively pursue the promotion of our clients’ interests where change is proposed. 

 SHC produces strategic, practical and realistic assessments to help influence planning and development on private and public buildings and land. Our skills in bespoke individual projects and broader master plans have benefited those making commercial, investment and legal decisions, inspiring confidence and cooperation at all points in the process.

INSERT THE SERVICES PYRAMID HERE ?

Or

1. Heritage statements, evaluations of significance and impact assessments 

Heritage statements are prepared to influence design proposals for listed buildings and Conservation Areas, forming a necessary part of planning and listed building applications for extensions, alterations and conversions. Identification of value and significance are key in determining the degree of impact on a heritage asset, the future retention strategy for a building and the qualification of change to a Local Authority.

2. Townscape assessments; Visual impact assessment

Urban character studies explore the evolution of sensitive sites, often in conservation areas or in market towns where there is pressure to expand and grow. Assessments of built and historic character, spatial dimensions and views often gives rise to a certain pattern or set of inter-related experiences. Such an understanding helps inform new development, ensuring that it fits correctly within its context and meets local planning requirements.

The significance of views informs conservation decisions and management of change in and around historic buildings, landscapes or townscapes. The process is often used to facilitate master-planning of strategic land with heritage sensitivities.

3. Planning applications and appeals

Development affecting Listed buildings needs planning permission or special consent. In an application, we provide a description of the heritage asset followed by an assessment of significance. We work closely with architects to describe the design concept and describing the impact of the proposed development.

To meet the local planning requirements, we will have considered all the relevant issues and sought to have balanced the client’s needs against the obligation to preserve the special appearance and character of the building. Appeals which follow the refusal by a Local Authority, will usually be backed up by evidence given to the Planning Inspector in the form of written representations or hearings.

4. Historic Building assessments

Increasingly, proposals to make external changes to a building requires an assessment of the buildings architectural and historic character and an evaluation of the setting of a conservation area and adjacent listed buildings. The assessment measures any potential impacts on heritage assets and forms a fundamental part of the planning application, demonstrating to the Local Authority that the scheme understands and responds to the prevailing sensitivities of being sited in a sensitive urban area.

5. Conservation Management Plans and Statements

A conservation management plan is a document which sets out the significance of a heritage asset, and how that significance will be retained in any future use, alteration or repair. The report will highlight the issues affecting the future conservation and management of a building or place, addressing them through a full set of policies. In association with the record of the fabric the plans are a key decision-making tool and often facilitate funding for historic sites.

6. Conservation area appraisals

The appraisal defines and records the special architectural and historic interest of a Conservation Area, providing a basis for developing proposals for the preservation and enhancement at a later stage.

7. Design advice and development advocacy;

Initial scoping and early feasibility on projects is important for seeing what is possible and what the appropriate context is. Savings in time and money to the client are paramount, so it is often important to have an informal discussion before an application, where we can verify local requirements and offer a simple design and heritage precise. This will usually happen as part of or before a pre-application approach to the Local Authority.

8. Certificate of Immunity from Listing

We have made the case for and against the heritage status of an asset, for instance in the addition (or withdrawal) of a building to the Statutory List. We have assessed buildings under threat of being listed using the nationally recognised criteria(DCMS Principles of Selection, 2010), to assess the chances of the Certificate of Immunity from listing being renewed. The case is made to Historic England prior to an Inspection being made, and successful reports have allowed the client to be able to plan their development ambitions with greater clarity.

9. Heritage Setting impact appraisals

In law and in policy there is a presumption in favour of saving heritage assets from harm (i.e. change that erodes the significance of an asset). Where change is deemed permissible, the evolutionary design changes themselves and/or other development impacts must be assessed to first understand their implications and then enable a balancing judgement to be made between harm and benefit.

We have used English Heritage’s advice guide ‘Setting of Heritage Assets’, for assessing the implications of potential change affecting the setting of listed heritage assets: This has ensured scheme designs respect their settings by following architectural principles of scale, height, massing and alignment, as well as using appropriate materials and techniques.

10. Historic and architectural research and analysis

Permission to make changes to historic sites is often given on the condition that a photographic record is added to the local archive. The archive, known as The Historic Environment Record, is an important public resource and we undertake documentary research and photographic recording to meet the statutory requirement.

11. Building recording/ Repair schedules

A survey of work is carried out to assess the condition of certain elements of a building that have become weakened through age or decline. Repairs concern the work necessary to put right defects, significant decay or damage, and work to return a building to a good condition on a long-term basis. The record is an inventory and general schedule for completion of the necessary work. It involves the identification of the condition and vulnerability of different elements of the building and will often include a mix of removal, replacement, restoration and reinstatement.

12. Archaeology, Desk Based Assessments (DBA)

DBA’s are required to provide a detailed appraisal of available information about a site with potential archaeological interest. Planning permission will only be granted when it is shown that development would not adversely affect scheduled ancient monuments or other nationally important archaeological sites. When development involves excavation or other ground works Councils require a written statement in the form of a desk based archaeological assessment. Search in a museum or the local sites and monuments record will reveal if there are any archaeological remains in the area.