WHAT WE DO
Specialist Advice and Reports
- Heritage Impact Assessments
- Conservation Plans
- Statements of Significance
- Conservation Area Appraisals
- Options Appraisals
- Heritage funding advice
- Historic building buyers advice
- Listed Building advice
- Buildings at Risk advice
- Understanding and care of historic collections and archives
Community engagement / training
- Community consultations
- Building Preservation Trust mentoring
- Giving Lectures and leading Workshops
“Edward Holland is both extremely knowledgeable and experienced in dealing with historic buildings, and also extremely diplomatic with lay people, politicians, funders etc. His experience in regeneration projects is invaluable in knowing how to move a project forward, and what is likely to work, and what not.”
Judy Cliffe, Milton Rooms Charitable Trust
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Do I need a Statement of Significance?
Significance can be attributed for a huge diversity of reasons and to heritage of all periods. It may be on account of the quality of the architecture, or the antiquity of the archaeology or the beauty of the landscape setting, or the biodiversity of the place, or the exotic plants in the gardens, or the unique furniture inside or perhaps the important history of the site or people associated with it.
There will be different levels of significance associated with different aspects of a place’s heritage but funders and planning authorities all require it to be understood. It is also good practice to do so as guardians of our heritage.
Holland Heritage is well placed to write Statements of Significance whether they are for buildings, collections, landscapes or places.
Do I need a Conservation Statement or Conservation Plan?
These studies, whenever they are prepared, whatever their content, or whoever writes them, are about setting down the Significance of a place, evaluating how Vulnerable that significance is to change and, from all that, guiding the project in how to make Changes required without unnecessarily damaging the identified significance.
A Conservation Plan is the more detailed of the two and assesses the potential impact of the chosen future uses and recommends management policies that, if adhered to, will ensure the heritage asset is protected.
These specialist reports are required by funders. Firstly this is to reassure them that the heritage and its conservation issues are fully understood and that the proposals are sound and respect that heritage. Secondly these reports are intended to demonstrate that, if funding is awarded, that the heritage will clearly be better off for the foreseeable future.
A Conservation Plan should be a tool by which the project can preserve the best of the past whilst at the same time create the best of the future. Holland Heritage believes they should be living, useful and helpful documents – they should not be written simply to tick a box on an application form and then sit on a shelf gathering dust.
Do I need a Heritage Impact Assessment?
A Heritage Impact Assessment is the recognised tool for evaluating proposed changes to a heritage asset and in the case of major developments it forms part of a broader Environmental Impact Assessment. In Wales a Heritage Impact Assessment is mandatory for all Listed Building Consent and Conservation Area Consent applications and may be required when applying for Scheduled Monument Consent or planning consent for works affecting heritage assets, including Registered Historic Parks and Gardens. Elsewhere Heritage Impact Assessments are increasingly required by planning authorities to assess what is the impact of the proposals on the heritage, how significant is this impact and how can it be mitigated. Especially where development affects Grade II* or Grade I buildings or Scheduled Monuments the heritage impact is a key consideration and therefore has to be clearly set out in a specialist report. Holland Heritage regularly writes Heritage Impact Assessments for a wide range of heritage assets and has led workshops on the subject.
What is a Conservation Area Appraisal?
This study will make a detailed survey of the designated area, understand its character and historical development. It will assess the particular threats to the identified special character and propose ways in which the area can be preserved and enhanced. It will also assess if the boundary to the area is correct or maybe it needs to be widened to include heritage areas that had not previously been valued.
As with individual buildings or sites it is best practice to start any townscape enhancement or regeneration project with an Appraisal so as to fully understand it before changing it.
Holland Heritage is well qualified to write Conservation Area Appraisals.
What is an Options Appraisal, and do I need one?
Holland Heritage has long-standing experience of advising on adaptive reuse of historic buildings and is well placed to carry out Options Appraisals.
Do I need a Condition Survey?
Holland Heritage can advise when a specific Condition Survey is needed and can arrange for a suitably qualified professional to carry out the survey.