Historic England breathes life back into heritage high streets

Claudia Kenyatta doesn’t want to be a naysayer, but her team of 300 at Historic England tend to only hit the headlines when they block high-profile developments. The regional delivery director looks visibly bored by the mere mention of the controversial Tulip proposal in the City of London. Historic England was among one of several organisations to oppose the 1,000ft skyscraper on the grounds that it is “the wrong building in the wrong place”. In a statement this year, the government agency dismissed the design as being “essentially a tall lift shaft with a bulge on top” and stated that it would costs “permanent and irreversible damage” to the Tower of London and the identity of the capital. Kenyatta, who joined the public agency in 2018 after six and a half years at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, is reluctant to talk about the Tulip, limiting her view to: “We want to make sure we are really clear about our role and we present our opinions in the clearest possible way.” It is hard to argue that Historic England is unclear, given its stinging rebuke of the unpopular Tulip, but where Kenyatta feels there is confusion is over the amount of development the organisation brings to a grinding halt. “Over the past 15 years we have commented on hundreds of tall building applications; we have responded to 40% and raised objections in 7%. So if you look at the actual statistics most of the time we are not the organisation saying no and putting a break on development, we are the organisation contributing to better planning decisions and in lots of cases improving schemes. “The big cases get the headlines but most of them are really positive processes so you won’t read about them.” The public body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, is in charge of protecting England’s historic environment and listing historic buildings. The body was set up as part of the National Heritage Act 1983. Tall buildings aside, a lot of Kenyatta’s time and focus is spent on the agency’s high streets heritage action zones fund. In May last year, Historic England launched a £95m fund to work on reviving historic high streets. What worked well for King’s Cross was being clear about the role and developing a productive relationship with Argent. Some buildings needed to be substantially changed or in one case, removed, to make the site work – Claudia Kenyatta, regional delivery director, Historic England Kenyatta lights up on the mention of the fund, explaining that it is “the biggest single government investment in heritage as a one-off ever”. She adds: “It goes with the grain of the current government’s agenda; high streets have been a priority for them.” In total, 69 high streets across the country will benefit from the fund, following an open competition that saw over 200 apply to be a historic high street. “There was a huge amount of demand and it was a really difficult decision.” The selected projects will work with Historic England to develop a plan to review their high street over a four-year programme, starting in April 2021. The flagship London high street is in Tottenham, Kenyatta says. “If you go to Tottenham’s high street and walk down it, initially you might not see beyond some scrubby shop fronts, but if you look up there are some pretty fine buildings.” Elsewhere in London, high streets in Tower Hamlets, Woolwich and Croydon were among those that made the cut. The rest are spread evenly in the South East, the East of England, the Midlands, the North East and Yorkshire, the North West and the South West. Award-winning Derby She explains that Historic England piloted the project on a Derby scheme. “We know it works as it is based on our Derby scheme. We worked on the Cathedral Quarter in the city for over nine years, investing money in partnership with the local authority and private owners in renovating historic shop fronts. It has changed the feel and character of that area.” The historic shopping area, in a designated Conservation Area, had required investment to refresh its collection of historic buildings whose character had been lost after years of neglect. It was once one of England’s poorest-performing retail areas but is now an award-winning shopping destination. Historic England invested £950,000 in Derby over nine years and this was matched by the council and private owners who had to make contributions to do up their shop fronts. [caption id="attachment_1021542" align="aligncenter" width="847"] The Old Bell, Derby[/caption] The agency is now looking to run similar financial arrangements for its 69 selected high streets. Kenyatta says: “Everybody who takes part is a voluntary partner. We will talk to shop owners. You get people who need to be persuaded but with Derby, once we started work on some shopfronts, other owners wanted in.” In terms of the work involved, it varies project to project. “We will do different things in different places. We will do up shop fronts or come up with new uses for the upper floors such as residential or other forms of commercial. We will also look at public realms and stations. At Tottenham we want to have a conversation about the station and how it relates to the street.” Heritage Partnership Agreements Other initiatives Kenyatta is leading the charge on include Heritage Partnership Agreements. In May last year, EG revealed that Network Rail had signed a heritage partnership agreement with Historic England and Camden Council to accelerate the maintenance of King’s Cross Station. The deal, the first of its kind for Network Rail, will allow the partners to manage the building in a more efficient way, without having to apply repeatedly for planning permission for some matters. As King’s Cross Station is a Grade I listed building, even small changes need to be agreed with the planning authority and Historic England before being granted Listed Building Consent by Camden Council. Kenyatta cites Argent’s King’s Cross as the “best example” since she took on her role of how Historic England can work effectively alongside a developer. “What worked well for King’s Cross was being clear about the role and developing a productive relationship with Argent. Some buildings needed to be substantially changed or in one case, removed, to make the site work.” Kenyatta hopes to expand heritage partnership arrangements elsewhere. There are currently only seven statutory agreements in place nationally (either Heritage Partnerships or Listed Building Consent Orders, which allow an LPA to grant listed building consent for an extended period). These include Stow Maries Airfield in Essex, Battersea Power Station and the Alexandra Road Estate in London, the University of Sussex, some bridges in Dorset and structures looked after by the Canal and River Trust. Some listed building owners have been reluctant to forge similar deals because of the upfront costs required. The delicate nature of securing stakeholder buy-in to protect England’s heritage is, however, what drives Kenyatta because “people really care about heritage”. She concludes: “They care about national heritage and iconic things but they also care about the heritage at the end of their road. “High streets are an important part of that, so whatever the retail future is of the high street, we need to make sure they remain places people want to go to. That’s an important part of the job. We are in the mix as part of a range of agencies thinking about the future of the high street even if that future looks different to how they currently operate.” For Kenyatta, it evidently would have been difficult to select 69 winning high streets and turn away more than 100. But securing £95m in government cash towards heritage is a good way to start saying yes more. To send feedback, e-mail anna.ward@egi.co.uk or tweet @annaroxelana or @estatesgazette   Historic England hit the headlines last year when it blocked Foster + Partners’ controversial Tulip proposal, but the government agency’s work to revive the country’s historic high streets, which recently received the biggest single government investment in heritage, is what its regional delivery director Claudia Kenyatta really wants to shout about