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- Career conscious & in conservation? IHBC’s ‘Jobs etc.’ services spans disciplines, levels & sectors, linked by interdisciplinary conservation practice standards delivering public benefit 25/11/2025
- IHBC’s 2025 Parliamentary Briefing launches research-led ‘5 Commitments to Help Heritage Skills in Conservation’… From Crafts in Crisis to Rubbish in Retrofit 25/11/2025
- IHBC’s ‘Evaluation’ Signpost from Sheehan Quirke via Open Culture: ‘How did the world get so ugly?’ 25/11/2025
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the (duplicate) doorstep’: Plans for first Iron Age broch ‘in 2000 years’ approved for Highlands 25/11/2025
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the (Lottery) doorstep’: Historic Birnbeck pier saved as surprise funding announced from NLHF 25/11/2025
- ‘Natural England’s Strategy: Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security’ – with ‘nature as essential to sustaining growth and a healthy society’ 25/11/2025
- HE & ACE issue first parts of suite of guidance, templates and factsheets etc. 25/11/2025
- Government’s Pride in Place: Strategy update 25/11/2025
- Winners of the Georgian Group Architectural Awards announced! 25/11/2025
- Joining the dots: A single EDI portal for the sector 25/11/2025
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the Global doorstep’: Worker dies after partial collapse of medieval tower in Rome 25/11/2025
- IHBC’s 2025 Parliamentary Briefing launches research-led ‘5 Commitments to Help Heritage Skills in Conservation’… From Crafts in Crisis to Rubbish in Retrofit 21/11/2025
- IHBC welcomes new joint CEOs at Historic England to post 21/11/2025
- IHBC’s ‘Research’ Signpost from the NT: Public First report on ‘Local history, local heritage and local pride, in Coventry and across the UK’ 21/11/2025
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the doorstep’: Plans to turn three local villages into town to ‘help protect green belt’ backed by residents 21/11/2025
- Parliamentary Committee: Nature not a ‘blocker’ to housing; needed for ‘resilient towns & neighbourhoods’, and calls for housebuilding target changes and reduced VAT (for retrofitting) 21/11/2025
- Housebuilding around train stations will be given default ‘yes’, including in Green Belt, as: ‘Builders Speechless’ 21/11/2025
- RTPI’s State of the Profession 2025 reports across UK: One in five planners expected to leave the profession within three years, with no clear plan to replace them 21/11/2025
- TCPA Blog: Review of Homes England’s Healthy Homes Standard: Our homes are not islands 21/11/2025
- Public Practice: Recruitment & Skills Report 2025 21/11/2025
- NCT’s National Churches Survey – giving every church a voice 21/11/2025
- New APPG for National Parks and National Landscapes launched 21/11/2025
- Heritage Alliance awarded National Lottery Heritage Fund grant for Resilience Project 21/11/2025
- IHBC features ‘Heritage from the Global doorstep’: WMF welcomes Belfast City Council’s decision to purchase Assembly Rooms 21/11/2025
- IHBC’s new Context, No185, ‘lifts the lid on roofing’, from craft to carbon, with essential, accessible CPD for Conservation Professionals & colleagues 18/11/2025
Category Archives: Sector NewsBlog
IHBC’s ‘Policy’-led research’ Signpost: DCMS Indicator Datasets ‘offering insight into the historic environment’
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) publishes Indicator Data: Each year, Heritage Counts collates datasets about a range of indicators that provide useful insights into the state of the historic environment.
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IHBC HESPR’s ‘News from the Sector’: GCR on ‘Moving a 713-tonne church…!’
IHBC’s heritage business register HESPR – our Historic Environment Service Providers Recognition quality assurance scheme for heritage services – emails members weekly ‘News and Tender Alerts’, and this week features the Global Construction Review (GCR) on ‘Moving a 713-tonne church … Continue reading
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IHBC features ‘Heritage from the (farmer’s) doorstep’: Northern Ireland farmer fined for damage to 1,000-year-old monument
A farmer in Co Antrim has been fined £2,000 for unauthorised works to a scheduled monument which has existed for more than 1,000 years.
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IHBC features ‘Heritage from the (ecclesiastical) doorstep’: HE’s Grant to rescue historic Thundridge Church
image for illustration: Steve Bayley / Thundridge Old Church Tower, Commons Wiki Historic England has awarded £72,533 in grant funding, which, together with match funding from Thundridge Old Church Action Group (TOCAG) and the Diocese of St Albans, will enable essential works … Continue reading
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Railway stations and legislative buildings among 13 sites up for registration on the Isle of Man, with consultation too
Thirteen Isle of Man landmarks — including former Victorian railway stations and the buildings where Manx laws are made — are being considered for special protection.
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DBW’s Procurement in construction: Knowledge hub
Designing Buildings Wiki(DBW) publishes the ‘Procurement in construction: Knowledge hub’.
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Localis Thinktank: Local government reorganisation could result in the loss of nine-in-10 councillors, threatening local democracy
In an essay titled Reorganisation, local government and the future of English Devolution, Localis argues that the establishment of unitary authorities in two-tier areas covering half-a-million residents could see councillor numbers drop from roughly 12,000 to 1,200.
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Lack of succession planning spells potential ‘crisis’ for small charities, consultancy warns
A lack of succession planning could leave smaller charities facing a ‘crisis’ as senior leaders step down amid today’s highly pressurised operating environment, a consultancy has warned.
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Towns Fund evaluation: interim findings 2 – executive summary
Frontier Economics and BMG Research were commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to undertake an evaluation of the Towns Fund. This report sets out emerging, indicative process and impact findings from the first 7 case … Continue reading
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IHBC features ‘Heritage from the Global doorstep’: Vacant Dutch church to become swimming pool – Holy Water
Dutch companies MVRDV and Zecc Architecten have been selected to design a renovation of the St. Francis of Assisi Church in Heerlen, south east Netherlands, into a public swimming pool called ‘Holy Water’.
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IHBC features ‘Heritage from the ‘new-build’ doorstep’: ‘No shops, no schools’ – homes in England built without basic amenities…
image for illustration Thousands of properties going up without access to playgrounds, community infrastructure and even doctors, reports The Guardian.
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DCMS issues ‘Invitation to nominate’ for recognition in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours, with Information Sessions and Nomination Form
A letter from Susannah Storey, DCMS Permanent Secretary, invites nominations for the ‘BD26’ Honours List.
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Tagged awards, charity, community, government, honours, nominations, recognition
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RTPI warns Housing Minister of major threat to planning profession from apprenticeship restrictions
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has written to Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook MP to warn that new age restrictions on Level 7 apprenticeship funding will severely damage the pipeline of qualified planners.
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Tagged apprenticeship, education, expertise, government, planning, skills
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Council to discuss draft Castle Point Local Plan ruling out releasing any green belt land
Castle Point Borough Council in Essex has published a draft local plan that rules out releasing any green belt land, despite proposing to meet only 53% of the government’s housing target.
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Tagged building, environment, localgovernment, nature, planning
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New report from the National Retrofit Hub offers recommendations to strengthen energy efficiency standards
image for illustration New report from the National Retrofit Hub offers recommendations intended to strengthen energy efficiency standards to protect private renters.
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Tagged building, climate change, energy, environment, expertise, planning, retrofit, skills
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Scottish NPA steps up enforcement on unauthorised small plot development
Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority (NPA) is urging caution and escalating enforcement action as the concerning trend of the marketing of small plots with the misleading potential for a range of uses continues in the National Park.
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Tagged building, enforcement, environment, government, nature, parks, planning
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Parliamentary Committee call for permanent VAT Relief for LPOW
Culture Media and Sport Committee calls for permanent VAT Relief for Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme(LPOW).
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Tagged church, heritage, policy, VAT
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CCT: Solitary St Nicholas’ Church, Uphill, Somerset vandalised in shocking incident
The Churches Conservation Trust reports that the historic Norman church of St Nicholas’ in Uphill, Somerset, has become the latest victim of vandalism, leaving the local community both saddened and outraged.
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Tagged building, church, theft, vandalism
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Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change… survey by the ESPON GILL project. We want to learn from you! Submit your local greening plan
The ESPON GILL project collects examples of planning documents by local authorities relevant to Green Infrastructures (GI)… so submit your local greening plan as an exemplary case for local authorities.
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Tagged climate change, environment, expertise, nature, planning, policy
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Chief Planner of England’s Newsletter, July 2025 issued
The Chief Planner’s Newsletter for July 2025 published giving updates on the latest announcements from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and other government departments and agencies relating to planning policy and practice.
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Tagged building, expertise, funding, government, infrastructure, planning, transport
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Rayne Trust Open Call for Expressions of Interest: ‘…for greater investment in community spaces for the long term’
Where People Meet Grant Programme is an Open Call for Expressions of Interest from the Rayne Trust, to ‘support spaces that enable people in their communities to lead connected, healthy lives.
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Tagged charity, community, grants, regeneration, strategy
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Latest Victorian Society Newsletter now out
The latest Victorian Society Newsletter has been published, offering news on endangered buildings and seeking support in protecting wonderful Victorian buildings, including Top Ten Endangered Buildings in the news.
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Tagged charity, conservation, environment, expertise, government, heritage, planning, skills
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New era for Somerset students and communities as UCS College Group launches
A fresh chapter in education has begun across Somerset this August, as Bridgwater & Taunton College (BTC) and Strode College officially unite to form University Centre Somerset College Group (UCS College Group).
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Tagged community, education, learning
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New APPG for World heritage – At-risk globally important places championed by new parliamentary group
Endangered historic, culturally significant and nature-rich places around the world have a new voice in a cross-party parliamentary group: The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
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Tagged APPG, conservation, culture, expertise, global, government, heritage
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New Civil Engineer: Report urges re-think on ageing transport assets’ ‘growing risk of failure’ with futureproof solutions
A new report, produced by New Civil Engineer (NCE) in partnership with Arup, is urging the infrastructure sector to re-think how ageing assets schemes should be planned, designed and delivered.
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Tagged assets, civil engineering, heritage, insfrastructure, tradition, transport
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