CONTEXT 188 : JUNE 2026 5 Historic Environment Policy and Practice The latest issue of Historic Environment Policy and Practice (Vol 16, No 4, 2025) features the thorny issue of contested heritage: how it is defined (sometimes having different meanings in different cultures, and to different generations); and how it is interpreted and managed. While Historic England has done some work on this in a secular context in relation to listing (and has provided a checklist to help local authorities deal with legislation and the National Planning Policy Framework), and the Church of England has provided guidance on the ecclesiastical issues, there has been less opportunity to stand back and look at this from a world heritage perspective. The authors of a study from the department of heritage science and technology studies at the Korea National University of Heritage, Young Jae Kim and Byung Wan Kim, have provided a useful structure for an integrated model of heritage interpretation. They compare two cases that examine the practical implications for Unesco policy, in particular paragraph 108 of the 2024 Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention. This calls for participatory management strategies that safeguard outstanding universal value. The model contributes to more ethically grounded, inclusive and sustainable heritage practices, redefining heritage sites as spaces for critical engagement, not consensus alone. For those facing the approach to contested heritage issues, this interesting paper is worth tracking down. 6 CONTEXT 186 : DECEMBER 2025 Periodically The Historic Environment In another wide-ranging, 170-page issue of The Historic Environment: policy and practice (Vol 16, No 2, 2025), of particular interest is a paper by Xiaohan Lu of the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art. Lu focuses on group value in the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, using case studies from the Merchant City, Glasgow. He highlights an issue regarding some properties in the Merchant City not qualifying for listed status in the past but then being protected shortly after they had been restored. This somewhat controversial phenomenon is seen as reflecting tensions inherent in legislation on the one hand with appropriate and sympathetic rehabilitation on the other. The paper defines existing heritage policy applied to some specific cases in order to identify what the associated key concept of group value actually involves, while also noting the limitations of the current listing system. There seems to have been little recent analysis or review where the concept of harmonious or homogeneous context has been applied to townscape, other than to accept it unquestioningly. The paper provides both a theoretical and practical understanding of the opportunities that recognition of group value creates in the adaption of historic buildings. Lu identifies the emergence of the concept of group value from the passing of the Civic Amenities Act 1967, with its shift of focus from individual buildings to a broad-based area approach, looking more widely at the merits inherent in the character and appearance of townscapes. While it became common practice in the last third of the 20th century to define precise sequences of buildings contributing to group value in statutory list descriptions, this is no longer exercised, in order to define the contribution new listings play as part of an existing larger townscape group. As the Glasgow Merchant City is invoked, the relevant regulation in Scotland stems from the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997, but only with an indirect legislative exposition of the concept. The recent city block-based adaptations and conversions of buildings in Glasgow, together with sensitive infilling, have received a positive response for their contribution to regeneration, enhanced quality of the public and semi-public realm and the demonstration of economically viable uses for former commercial buildings. The notable contributions to area regeneration have thus raised the perceptions of special architectural or historical interest and its recognition for statutory protection. Lu identifies a widening debate stemming from conflict within the context of innercity regeneration. This is where the redefinition of historic urban spaces can extend the concept of historic area management beyond the principle that preservation is merely maintenance of historic fabric when it may encompass much needed revitalisation. The paper may reinvigorate discussion about mediating change in historic areas, and about whether historic building and area management are about preservation or conservation. When it is the latter, that appears to have become widely accepted for many years, despite not necessarily being reflected in the criteria for statutory protection. Journals with an international remit seem currently to be dominated by papers from China and Turkey, and The Historic Environment seems to be no exception. Merve Akyaziki and Sirma Turgut of the city planning department of Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, present their systematic review of the effectiveness of international cultural heritage law, highlighting the uncertainties and complexities of heritage impact assessment (a term unrelated to that used in UK heritage management) under the 1972 Unesco World Heritage Convention. They explore broader challenges, looking at the subject areas of published papers, their research methods, the number of papers published and their country of origin. The authors conclude that while the integration of Heritage Now Noteworthy in the latest issue of Heritage Now, the newsletter of Historic Buildings and Places (No 14, Spring 2026), is an article by Stephen Schwendel Smith, a partner at Wright and Wright Architects, about the recently completed £40 million refurbishment of the Grade I listed Lambeth Palace.The home of the Archbishops of Canterbury for more than eight centuries, the palace has evolved continuously as a site of worship, hospitality and national ceremony. Last year the Lambeth Palace Library project was concluded: a threeyear refurbishment and renewal guided by the Church of England’s commitment to net zero by 2030. The author outlines the master plan to overhaul the palace’s energy systems to reduce the consumption by 63 per cent, addressing serious risks to the building’s infrastructure and improving accessibility. Completion has coincided with an important shift in leadership of the Church of England, with the new Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally being appointed as custodian of the site. The wellillustrated article is of interest for the discussions about master planning, and the complexities resolved by both the architect and contractor. The question of what are the greatest ecclesiastical masterpieces of the arts and crafts movement is often debated. In his thoughtprovoking article, Alex Hamilton references Holy Trinity, Sloane Street (John Dando Sedding and others, 1887–90), which John Betjeman thought was England’s best arts and crafts church, and which he saw as a ‘cathedral’, as a way of acknowledging its ecclesiastical aesthetic supremacy. Hamilton states rather baldly that it is simply big, ritzy, full of delightful objects, and in Chelsea. He feels that a further, slightly overenthusiastic claim could perhaps be made for ES Prior’s imposing St Andrew’s, Roker, Sunderland (1905–07). But Hamilton, author of Arts and Crafts Churches, makes and illustrates a convincing case for Gloucester Cathedral ranking as one of the true masterpieces of arts and crafts. A building of lesser stature, and not well-known but no less worthy of note, is the town hall in Hugh Town on the Isles of Scilly, built in 1889 and listed Grade II. The director of the Isles of Scilly Museum and Cultural Centre, Lydia Bassett, discusses how this heritage asset of great importance to the local community has been brought back to life through a range of funding, including a £4.6 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. HERITAGE NOW The Magazine of Historic Buildings & Places | www.hbap.org.uk NO. 14 (SPRING 2026)
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