National housing and regeneration body, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has invested nearly £700m in helping preserve and enhance England’s built heritage, according to the Agency’s latest biennial report on its heritage assets.
The report, covering the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2011, outlines the diversity and scale of the HCA’s contribution to bringing heritage assets forward for redevelopment while also preserving their historic character. This includes 51 listed buildings and 14 Scheduled Ancient Monuments held by the Agency.
During the reporting period, the HCA successfully transferred the freehold of five listed buildings following completion of major works to bring them back into re-use. The Agency also took ownership of an additional historic asset, at Blackberry Hill in Bristol. A further six listed buildings and one Scheduled Ancient Monument site successfully transferred to the management of a developer, while one site, the Grade II* listed Hanham Hall, has been redeveloped to BREEAM Excellent Standard for community use.
The HCA also invested £686m in property and regeneration projects including Park Hill in Sheffield and Lime Street Gateway in Liverpool, and, since the period covered by the reporting period, has completed the transfer of a nationally significant portfolio of assets from the former Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). This includes in excess of 350 land and property assets – 52 of which are interests in 43 former coalfield sites – and many others are of local historic significance, such as Pump House no.5 at Chatham Maritime in Kent. A number of the inherited property assets also feature listed buildings. This includes buildings at Ancoats Urban Village in Manchester, often referred to as ‘the world’s first industrial suburb’ and is on the tentative list for World Heritage Site status.
Speaking at a meeting with HRH The Prince of Wales in the historic Weavers’ Triangle in Burnley today, where the HCA will play an important role in the regeneration of this locally important area, HCA Chairman, Robert Napier, said:
‘As a significant land and property owner, heritage preservation is an important part of the Agency’s work. Along with many other government bodies, we have a responsibility to ensure that England’s historic past – especially its industrial heritage – is developed in line with local priorities and maintained for future generations.
‘With the transfer to the HCA of the former RDA land and property assets now completed, we have an ever more enhanced role to play in bringing sites forward for redevelopment and linking heritage preservation to the physical regeneration and associated economic development of our communities.
‘Against the backdrop of the current economic climate, this will not be without its challenges, but we will be working with our local partners and continue to collaborate with English Heritage to ensure that future of these incredibly important sites is safeguarded.’
Highlights from the HCA report include:
· The reporting period showed that the HCA holds 51 listed buildings and 14 Scheduled Ancient Monuments. These include Fair Mile Hospital in Oxfordshire, Graylingwell Hospital Chapel in Chichester, Bewsey Old Hall in Warrington, and Chatterley Whitfield in Stoke-on-Trent. At least one third of these are maintained by a developer.
· In the same period, the Agency held 7,438ha of land ranging in size from major development assets such as 288ha of land at the Northstowe site in Cambridgeshire, to smaller parcels of land and footpaths.
· 41% of the HCA’s historic assets are former hospital sites that sit within the HCA’s Hospital Sites Programme. The other main sources for the Agency’s historic assets are from the former English Partnerships’, and the Commission for New Towns’ portfolios.
· The greatest concentration of historic assets are located in the East and South East.
Will Holborow, head of the English Heritage hosted Government Historic Estates Unit, said: ‘English Heritage welcomes the publication of the HCA’s Biennial Conservation Report, the first which fully records the extent of the HCA’s heritage assets and the progress made towards securing their future. The HCA portfolio includes some of the most challenging regeneration sites in the country, and the report documents the varied and innovative solutions that are being implemented.
‘The Agency’s capacity to manage heritage assets has been significantly enhanced during the past two years through secondments of heritage specialists and training of in-house staff. This has ensured that the two organisations can work closely together, both at a strategic level and through joint working at the local level. The relationship has been formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding.’
Chief Executive of Urban Splash, Jonathan Falkingham, added: ‘The partnership approach we have adopted with Homes and Communities Agency and English Heritage has been pivotal to the successful reinvention and reuse of many of our regeneration projects across the country. Together we have been able to formulate creative, cost effective and lasting solutions to schemes such as Grade II* Park Hill in Sheffield and Grade I Royal William Yard in Plymouth – bringing them back to life for a new generation of people to enjoy.’
Notes
The report is a requirement of the English Heritage hosted Government Historic Estates Unit (GHEU) and will feed into the GHEU’s wider Biennial Conservation Report to be published by English Heritage, which draws on the custodian role of at least 18 other government departments and agencies in England. Collectively, they are responsible for over 1,110 listed buildings and over 1,500 Scheduled Ancient Monuments. Of these, 51 listed buildings and 14 Scheduled Ancient Monuments are held by the HCA.
The HCA’s heritage assets include: Bewsey Old Hall in Warrington, Fair Mile Hospital in Oxford, Hanham Hall in Gloucestershire, Millbay Dock in Plymouth, and St Ebba’s Hospital water tower in Epsom.
In August 2011, the HCA inherited a portfolio of 52 coalfield land and property assets from the Regional Development Agencies, the majority of which were previously owned by the Agency (formerly English Partnerships) as part of the National Coalfields Programme.
The remaining RDA asset portfolio transferred to the HCA in September 2001 comprises around 300 sites and other property assets with a book value of £300m in addition to a number of other assets, including interests in several major property vehicles.
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