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Our future
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Heritage facts and figures
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A full inventory of Britain’s heritage would need to range far and wide to capture different groups’ and communities’ views on what should be saved for the future. We are thinking hard about ways of involving all sections of the public in our work but we also take the advice of a wide range of experts. Our partner organisations who classify the UK’s heritage have identified and quantified some of the main risks to and pressures on the UK’s heritage today, and their conclusions should inform all our activity.
To read the reports of the Heritage Needs Assessment Workshops 2004-2005, click here.
The scale of the UK’s heritage
In the UK there are around:
450,000 listed buildings, 10,000 conservation areas and 25 World Heritage Sites;
1,200 designated ships and over 7,000 historic locomotives and items of rolling stock;
60 preserved railways and 3,200 kilometres of canals and inland waterways;
Britain and Ireland have 80% of the ancient trees in northern Europe;
around 2,500 parks of historic value;
3,500 historic cemeteries, of which only 114
are registered;
21% of buildings pre-date 1919; less than 5% of the UK building stock is listed;
391 species and 45 habitats with biodiversity action plans;
over 4,000 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in England, over half of which (by area) are internationally important;
41 AONBs in England and Wales; 9 AONBS in Northern Ireland and 40 National Scenic Areas in Scotland; 14 national parks in the UK;
2,500 registered museums that look after 170 million objects;
2,000 archives and 12,000 libraries; and
assets such as language or oral history which can never be quantified, but are a vital part of
our heritage.
Heritage at risk
Around 20,000 buildings across the UK are
‘at risk’.
One in ten parish churches has been closed since 1969.
38% of habitats and 25% of species are
in decline; nearly half of all SSSIs in England are in unfavourable condition.
20% of our most important large historic ships are at risk.
Nearly half of all rural vernacular buildings
in Northern Ireland have been lost since 1909.
Nearly half of our historic parkland has disappeared in the last 75 years, and in some areas it is as much as 70%. Golf developments, the break-up of country estates and changing patterns of agriculture have all contributed to this loss.
One in ten archives in England is in a building that is not fit for purpose.
One archaeological site of interest been lost every day since 1945 in England alone.
The National Trust has identified around 500 archaeological sites, 38 parks and gardens and 600km of coastline in their ownership that will be vulnerable to sea level rise.
There are still 800km of derelict inland waterways.
Sustainable development – resource use
The largest producer of waste in the UK is demolition and construction which produces 24% of the annual 434 million tonnes.
For every inhabitant in the UK, six tonnes of building materials are used every year.
It takes the energy equivalent of a gallon of petrol to manufacture six bricks. The embodied energy in the bricks of a typical Victorian terraced house would drive a car more than ten times around the world. Reusing historic buildings can significantly reduce energy consumption.
Existing buildings represent the ‘embodied’ energy used to produce them; demolishing a brick building wastes the embodied energy and uses up more energy in demolition and in rebuilding.
Lack of maintenance
There are few incentives to maintain heritage; lower VAT on new construction means that it can be cheaper to build a new building than repair an old one.
Local authority park maintenance budgets have fallen by 20% since 1980.
Half of historic buses are kept in the open air; without covered storage, buses, planes, boats and trains deteriorate rapidly.
Traditional local materials such as stone or iron are increasingly difficult to source.
Many historic cemeteries are havens for wildlife, and are important to local communities, yet their management does not take full account of their heritage values.
Shortage of skills
The craft skills needed to care for our heritage are important not just to the heritage but to the economy as a whole. Nearly half of the UK’s £56 billion construction industry involves the repair and refurbishment of existing buildings (4% GDP).
Fewer than 40,000 people are skilled in traditional crafts, yet on current trends the contribution of crafts to the rural economy could exceed that of farming within 10-15 years.
An estimated 6,590 additional skilled craftspeople are needed to meet shortages in
the built heritage sector.
There is a shortage of building craftspeople between 30 and 45.
Information and data about heritage
Archaeologists estimate that less than 5%
of the historic environment is recorded and
60% of heritage records do not meet
benchmark standards.
Biologists lack data about around a third
of species.
The Sensory Trust found that after physical access difficulties, lack of information was the most important barrier to people visiting green spaces. n A MORI survey (2003) commissioned by English Heritage found that people from ethnic minorities in particular felt that ‘more information’ would encourage them to visit historic sites more often.
Volunteering and participation
Around 157,000 people give their time to
over 100 voluntary bodies in England, contributing around £25 million in unpaid work to the
historic environment.
Without volunteers there would be almost
no functioning preserved railways or historic canals; voluntary transport groups have over 12,000 members.
None of the 1,000; plus wildlife and countryside projects organised by the BCTV, the National Trust or the Wildlife Trusts would take place without volunteers.
More churches and places of worship would remain locked without at least 6,280 volunteers who maintain buildings, welcome visitors, and provide access and security; this does not include the many thousands of others who are legally responsible for parish church buildings and yet remain unpaid.
Without volunteers we would know little about garden history, industrial archaeology or the archaeology of the Second World War – all subjects that originated through the efforts of committed volunteers.
Around 50 buildings a year would be lost without the efforts of voluntary buildings preservation trusts; more would be lost without the Civic Trusts and amenity groups who act as guardians of the heritage.
Most historic attractions would close – around two-thirds of all staff are volunteers and the National Trust would need to find £1.175 million
a year to pay for the work currently done by volunteers.
n The only source of core-funding for voluntary heritage organisations in England is heavily
over-subscribed.
The voluntary sector is ageing – 52% of the National Trust’s volunteers are over 65 while 4%
are under 35.
Education
98% of people think that heritage is an important means of teaching children about the past, and the public sees spending on education as a high priority for heritage organisations.
The Attingham Trust surveyed 400 historic sites; half spent less than £1000 a year on educational resources.
Only 15 local record offices out of 121 in England and Wales employ an education officer.
Teachers value hands-on access to collections but almost 2000 schools in England still do not have opportunities to take part in education programmes in museums and galleries.
Inclusion
Over a third of people surveyed by MORI said reduced costs, better transport, more information, parking facilities, and better facilities for children would encourage them to visit historic sites more frequently.
72% of people say that more should be done to recognise the contribution of different communities to our heritage.
Just 8 out of 1,116 employees of archaeological organisations are Black or Asian; the parks workforce is predominantly white men over the age of 40; the successful Museums Association Diversify programme can only offer 6 placements each year.
Resources needed
Addressing all of these issues costs money:
£5.6 billion needs to be found from public and private sources to bring Buildings at Risk back into use.
£1.2 billion would be needed to meet the backlog of work and ongoing repairs needs of 12,200 listed Anglican places of worship in England; this does not include the needs of places of worship of other Christian denominations and other faiths.
Around £3 billion is needed to regenerate our historic parks.
£10 million would create access to digital archives across the country
Canals and inland waterways need around £700 million to repair them.
£1.05 billion is needed to bring historic cemeteries into good condition.
In one English region alone (the North East), the regional agency identified a need for £40 million to expand museum, library and archive storage and modernise services.
These figures do not include any costs for attracting new audiences to the heritage, involving more people, nor the increased costs associated with climate change.
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Case study: British Museum Great Court, London
Award: £15,555,000
Synopsis:
Visitors young and old can enjoy an amazing wealth of treasures as they discover the British Museum’s collections with the help of HLF’s support for the Great Court project. A series of grants has enabled the restoration of the round Reading Room, repairs and conservation of the Smirke courtyard, with a spectacular glass roof, and the creation of an education centre to cater for the quarter of a million schoolchildren who visit each year. With its blue and gold domed ceiling, the Reading Room is both awe-inspiring and accessible, open to everyone for the first time since 1857.
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Case study: Christ Church, Spitalfields
Award: £5,984,000
Synopsis: Christ Church was the first of the series of London churches designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, and is a major landmark of the Spitalfields conservation area. By the 1960s it was almost derelict, and at risk of being lost altogether. Following help from HLF and a substantial restoration project, the building’s striking architecture can once again be fully enjoyed and appreciated, and the church has a vibrant new life at the heart of the community.
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Case study: Rye Meads, Hertfordshire
Award: £600,000
Synopsis:
Rye Meads is a series of lagoons, grazing marshland, reedbeds and wetlands in the Lea Valley, Hertfordshire. Our grant made possible a major conservation and education programme which aimed to maximise the site’s significant ecological value, at the same time creating an enjoyable educational resource for people of all ages. A new education centre provides a base for schoolchildren and adults to find out about local bird and wildlife, while hides and nature trails provide visitors with perfect viewing areas and places for activities such as pond dipping.
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