Supporting our Sites ofoutstanding global importance

WORLD HERITAGE UK

Issue 3 Summer 2018NEWSLETTER

World Heritage UKunder new leadership

Next UK ConferenceUNESCO World Heritage Sites arethe historic and natural wonders ofthe world and the jewels in thecrown of any nation. The UnitedKingdom is blessed with 31 of themand each year, World Heritage UKcelebrates these gems with aconference. The theme for thisyear’s event will be ‘Setting theScene for World Heritage’, to takeplace at the Tower of LondonUNESCO World Heritage Site on the8th and 9th October 2018.

Many of our World Heritage Sitesare facing management issues, notonly from within their boundaries,but from external pressures beyond,which can be hard to control. Here,delegates will look at the setting inwhich a World Heritage Site exists,issues with buffer zones andexamining how best to deal withOutstanding Universal Value in themargins.

The conference will be delivered inassociation with Historic RoyalPalaces and we expect to continuethe success of previous years with anexciting programme of speakers andside events – perhaps a boat trip onthe River Thames or a behind-the-scenes tour at the Tower of London.More detail and registrationarrangements to follow – this just toget the 8th and 9th October 2018dates in your diary. Watch out forthe event booking link!

After nearly 3 years as WorldHeritage UK Chair, Sam Rose hasstepped down from the positionwhich has now been taken up byTony Crouch from the City of BathWorld Heritage Site.

At the last meeting of the WorldHeritage UK Board in April, Sam said,“I am very pleased that Tony Crouchhas been elected by the Board asChair in my place. I am delighted atthe progress we have made. Wehave run a set of very popular andsuccessful events, produced the firstUK-wide brochure about our WorldHeritage Sites and managed to getourselves a place at the top tables ofthe UK’s heritage sector. What’smore, we are being listened to, andas a result the profile of the UK’sWorld Heritage Sites has been raisedover the last couple of years”.

Tony replied, “I am honoured anddelighted to take on this role. I willwork to ensure World Heritage UKconsolidates its position andinfluence within the UK heritagesector, and continues to support ourmembers in delivering therequirements of the UNESCO WorldHeritage Convention.”

Lake DistrictRoyal VisitHundreds of people came to seeHis Royal Highness, The Prince ofWales as the guest of honour at aspecial community event on 26thMarch, to mark the Lake District asa UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thelong journey to World Heritage Sitestatus was led by Lord Clark ofWindermere, managed by the LakeDistrict National Park Partnershipand submitted by the Departmentfor Digital, Culture, Media andSport and Historic England.

The Prince of Wales attended theevent at Crow Park, Keswick, andunveiled the official UNESCOplaque to mark the designation.The event was a celebration of theunique cultural landscape of theLake District to which specialguests and members of thecommunity were invited to attend.Among these was World HeritageUK President, Chris Blandford, whoexplained the work of theorganisation to the Prince ofWales, finding that the guest ofhonour fully understood the valuesthat underpin the UK’s WorldHeritage Sites, as well as the issuesthey face. Michael Ellis, the newHeritage Minister was also present.

HRH The Prince of Wales meetsthe WHUK President

Tony Crouch

Supporting our Sites ofoutstanding global importance

WORLD HERITAGE UK

Issue 3 Summer 2018NEWSLETTER

World Heritage UK Starts First EverReview of all UK SitesWorld Heritage UK has started a major review of all 31World Heritage Sites. This is the first time that acomprehensive picture of how the UK’s World HeritageSites are protected and managed has ever beenundertaken. The review is being led by Chris Blandford,WHUK’s President and a leading international heritageexpert.

The review will focus on key management problems andissues at the sites, which range from Stonehenge and theGiants Causeway, to Edinburgh New Town andLiverpool’s city centre. It will investigate new options forsustainable management of sites, for public and privatesector partnerships, and for improving benefits for localeconomies, stakeholders and investors. The process hasalready started, with in-depth interviews with sitemanagers and stakeholders across the country. Visitshave been made to 19 of the 27 ‘onshore’ sites so far,with the other remaining sites scheduled over the nextfew months.

Sponsorship for the review has been secured from:Historic England, CADW in Wales, Historic EnvironmentScotland, and the Department of Agriculture,Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, andothers. It is anticipated that the final report will be

completed in late autumn 2018, for sharing with thesites, government and other partners.

Chris Blandford, World Heritage UK President, said:‘Collectively Britain’s World Heritage sites are the crownjewels of our national heritage and we need to look afterthem much better than we currently do. Before we canstart to advise government, UNESCO and others onfuture management we need to find out exactly wherethe problems are and what the solutions might be. This iswhat the review aims to do’

Tony Crouch, World Heritage UK Chairman, said: ’We aredelighted that Chris is bringing his immense practicalknowledge and skill to this task, which we see as centralto our job in advising and encouraging government andsite managers to take our World Heritage responsibilitiesseriously. We know that some sites are very wellmanaged, but others are more problematic and may lackall the resources needed for quality management’

Professor Ian Wray, World Heritage UK Vice Chairman,said: ‘The UK’s World Heritage sites are central toBritain’s island story and, since Britain had such animportant role in international events, to world historyand heritage. They are the sleeping giants of our nationalheritage and of our national ‘soft power’ and culturaltourism’.

UK WHS Review includesOverseas TerritoriesAs part of the review of the UK’s World Heritage Sites,Chris Blandford has visited the Historic Town of St Georgeand related fortifications on the island of Bermuda,

where he was hosted by Charlotte Andrews the currentChair of the WHS steering group. There he met with theisland’s Governor, the Permanent Secretary of theMinistry of Home Affairs, Planning Director, and keystakeholders in the WHS including St GeorgesCorporation, St Georges Foundation, Bermuda NationalTrust, Bermuda National Museum and Hotelco BermudaHolding Ltd. Representing World Heritage UK in one ofthe UK’s four Overseas Territories with World HeritageSite status, he toured many of the island’s heritageassets.

Inscribed in 2000, the WHS is essentially the whole of thehistoric town of St George (the original capital beingmoved to Hamilton), together with a series of coastalforts of different ages related to the defence of the town.These are just a small selection from the 90 such sitesthat cover the defence of the island as a whole.St Catherine’s coastal fort

Supporting our Sites ofoutstanding global importance

WORLD HERITAGE UK

Issue 3 Summer 2018NEWSLETTER

New Member in the Caribbean!World Heritage UK is delighted to welcome theCorporation of St. George’s UNESCO World Heritage Fundand Levy as its latest Voting Member. The Historic Townof St George and related fortifications on the island ofBermuda joins the Gorham’s Cave Complex on Gibraltaras the second World Heritage Site in the UK OverseasTerritories to be represented amongst the WorldHeritage UK membership.

UK represented atEWHA RoundtableThe European World Heritage Associations Roundtabletook place on 10 and 11 May 2018 in the World HeritageSite city of Ferrara with its unspoiled combination ofmedieval core Jewish quarter and a Renaissanceextension all focussed on a medieval castello.

The gathering of Associations is a relatively new initiativeand has yet to mature in terms of constitution andshared vision. This meeting follows similar ones at Lubeck

and Segovia in previous years and this time wassponsored by Associazione Beni Italiani PatrimonioMondiale Unesco. It was hosted and chaired by CarloFrancini who is the WHS Coordinator for FlorenceIn addition to the Association’s steering group business,there were some papers along the theme ofcommunications and storytelling, and a “World HeritageLab” to share experience and to develop a vision. Some

of the group put together a more focused strategy forpresentation and discussion at the next meeting whichwill be in the Late Baroque Towns of the Val di NotoWHS, in Sicily on 18 and 19 October.

The group in Ferrara was very pleased to haverepresentation from World Heritage UK and ChrisBlandford gave a short presentation on both days. “It wasvery useful to make contact with other key players whoare very keen to continue our participation and areinterested in how WHUK is supported and maintains itsindependence”, he said.

The medieval castle at Ferrara

Some of the European delegates sightseeing the hard way!

Response to Draft NPPFfor EnglandThe Government’s planning policies for England are setout in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).The Government has recently announced its intention torevise the Framework and has consulted on a draftrevision. World Heritage UK has responded to theconsultation.

As a State Party to the World Heritage Convention, theUK is required to protect, preserve, present and transmit

to future generationsits World HeritageSites. It does thisprimarily through itsplanning systems. Inthe last 18 months,World Heritage UKhas been working tosuggest how the UK’s

planning systems could be improved further to meetthese responsibilities. The full text of the response canbe found on the World Heritage UK website.

Supporting our Sites ofoutstanding global importance

WORLD HERITAGE UK

Issue 3 Summer 2018NEWSLETTER

Kew Gardens Technical MeetingWorld Heritage UK's latest workshop, 'Commercial BestPractice in World Heritage' took place at the beginning ofMarch in the magnificent setting of the Kew GardensUNESCO World Heritage Site. Beating the inclementweather the week before, the participants enjoyed abright couple of days (with the occasional shower)exploring some of the treasures this remarkable placeholds. Travelling on the explorer bus through buddingnarcissi and spring crocus, the party of thirty delegateswere transported to The Pagoda, Queen Charlotte'sCottage and the Temperate House so see behind-the-scenes restoration work and special privilege access toareas not open to the public.

Climbing threehundred steps to thetop of the pagoda tomeet the restorationexperts and the firstof the ornamentaldragons beingmounted there was amemorableexperience.Particularlyimpressive was theamount of researchthat has taken placein order to match the

original design of thearchitect William Chambers back in 1761, including paintanalysis to achieve an accurate representation of theeighteenth century colour scheme.

The group were toldthat this monumentis the mostimportant gardenornament in theworld - quite fittingto be found in aUNESCO WorldHeritage Site. On toQueen Charlotte'sCottage,

(like The Pagoda, managed by Historic Royal Palaces) thishidden gem is an early example of a cottage orné, a rusticthatched cottage built as a country retreat, not as aresidence, and used for taking tea during walks in thegardens. A favourite place of King George III, it housesmany Hogarth prints and once had a menagerie whichincluded the first kangaroos from the colonies.

Then the magnificent Temperate House which isundergoing major restoration and the works are nownearing completion with just a few weeks to go. This is amajor investment into World Heritage, costing £41m andthe newly painted (four coats) and glazed building isalready receiving some of the 10,000 plants of 1500species while the finishing touches to the structure arebeing undertaken.

After a warm welcome speech from the Director at KewGardens, Richard Deverell, the workshop participantsreceived expert wisdom in stimulating presentationsfrom two of Kew's senior staff, setting the scene for themgetting engaged in three workshop groups which enableda willing exchange of knowledge and experience betweenthose taking part.

If this was not enough to fill the one and a half days spenttogether, everyone enjoyed the evening dinner at thenearby London Museum of Water and Steam, where theheritage engines were fired up in a magnificentdemonstration of 19th century mechanical engineering.Thanks go to John Porter for setting up this arrangementand to the sponsors of the event, Historic England andLichfields consultancy, without whom this workshopwould not have been realised.

“There be dragons”

Towards the Pagoda

Temperate House restoration

Supporting our Sites ofoutstanding global importance

WORLD HERITAGE UK

Issue 3 Summer 2018NEWSLETTER

FOR MORE INFORMATIONFor information on the Sites,meeting/conference papers, theblog, membership, fees and anapplication form please visitwww.worldheritageuk.orgor contactmembership@worldheritageuk.org

twitter@worldheritageukfacebook.com/worldheritageuk

World Heritage UK has now been registered with theCharity Commission as a Charitable IncorporatedOrganisation by Association, no 1163364.Registration date 1st September 2015

Dates for the diaryWorld Heritage UK Members areinvited to send any issues theywish addressed at the Boardmeetings listed below

The 2018 diary dates are:

25th June - World Heritage UKBoard Meeting, London

18th September - WorldHeritage UK Board Meeting,London

8th and 9th October - WorldHeritage UK Annual Conferenceand AGM, Tower of London

6th December - World HeritageUK Board Meeting, London

More dates to be added – lookonline for details.

World Heritage UKwelcomes change ofmood on Liverpool’sWorld Heritage SiteLiverpool's World Heritage Site hasbeen on the UNESCO list of WorldHeritage Sites ‘in danger’ since2012. UNESCO's primary concernhas centred on the tall buildings in

the ‘Liverpool Waters’ developmentproposal, put forward by PeelHoldings, which was given outlineplanning permission in 2012. Theperceived negative impact of theseproposed tall buildings was on longdistance views of the Liverpoolskyline from the other bank of theMersey. Of particular concern, itappears, were the tall buildingsproposed for the former ClarenceDock site, which is within the WorldHeritage Site buffer zone.

In response to UNESCO’s concerns,Liverpool City Council and PeelHoldings have together recentlytaken three positive initiatives tominimise the risk of Liverpool losingWorld Heritage Status and toultimately take it off the‘endangered’ list. These include anew high level task force to raisethe profile of the World Heritage

Site and address the concerns raisedby UNESCO; a ‘Desired State ofConservation Report’ to set outtheir view of the city’s WorldHeritage status as it stands; and areview of the master plan for theLiverpool Waters area, where in factno new development has actuallytaken place since outline permissionwas granted in 2012.

From its national perspective, WorldHeritage UK warmly welcomes allthese initiatives and believes thatthey signal a genuine change ofmood in Liverpool. On behalf of allof the UK’s World Heritage Sites, weask UNESCO to open a process ofconstructive dialogue with the UKGovernment and Liverpool’sstakeholders, in the hope that thiswill lead to a change in the positionthey have previously taken onLiverpool’s World Heritage Site. Wefurther hope that, as the ‘StateParty’, the Government will fullyengage with the process, thusenabling then to fulfil theirinternational obligations andresponsibilities under the WorldHeritage Convention for theprotection and enhancement of theoutstanding universal value of allthe UK’s World Heritage Sites, notleast Liverpool.