English Heritage has provided updates on its recent publications relating to designation activities, and welcomes feedback.
Roger Bowdler, Designation Director at English Heritage writes:
We are pleased to announce the publication of new documents from English Heritage: the Designation Yearbook 2012-13 and the full set of Designation Selection Guides across the asset range.
Designation Yearbook
The Designation Yearbook illustrates some of the most interesting cases we advised on in 2012-13 and is the first year we have produced a national record of this type. The Yearbook demonstrates the wide range of buildings, monuments, gardens and landscapes – and one wreck site – added to the National Heritage List for England in the past year.
Under the National Heritage Protection Plan, our way of working is increasingly strategic, focusing on those assets which are most under threat and which would benefit from enhanced heritage understanding. The Yearbook reflects this emerging approach and you will see sections on thematic projects as diverse as buildings for the motor car, post-war commercial offices, and Peak District lead mines.
One of our main conclusions is that there is still much that deserves protection, and that clearly articulated designation provides a good starting point in its ongoing management. We are grateful for the input of those in the heritage sector and individual owners in many of these assessments. And we’ve very much enjoyed it – we hope you will too!
Selection Guides
The 20 Listing Selection Guides – which set out concise histories and designation criteria for a range of assets from Agricultural to Utilities and Communication buildings – are a well-established resource. Demonstrating our commitment to work right across the asset range, we have now published a further 24 Selection Guides. Of these, 18 are devoted to Scheduling; a new Marine Selection Guide on Ships and Boats: Prehistory to Present; a new Battlefields Selection Guide; and four new Selection Guides on the Register of Parks and Gardens. They aren’t the last word on the subject, and remain subordinate to government guidance, but they do provide an introduction and leads for further investigation, and meet the need for transparency by setting out our assessment approaches. We also find they are useful tools to share with owners and managers to explain their asset in a national context.
Introductions to Heritage Assets (IHAs)
A related series of guidance can be found in the Introductions to Heritage Assets (IHAs), which provide a more detailed overview of different asset types and complement the relevant Selection Guide. We have concentrated on archaeological assets, with 41 titles ranging from Animal Management to Stone Castles, and a further two marine guides have recently been published. The first buildings IHA was published this year, on Coastguard Stations, and others are in the works, for example on libraries, post-war commercial offices, and signal boxes.
Sharing our understanding and approaches has never been more important. We would welcome your feedback on these documents and hope that you will find them interesting and useful in your work.
For the Designation Yearbook see: LINK
For the Selection Guides see: LINK
To provide feedback on these documents contact designation@english-heritage.org.uk
