14 C O N T E X T 1 1 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 0 IHBC Annual School 2010 IHBC Annual School 2009 IHBC Annual School 2010 The diversity of the place and vast range of activities were described by MacQueen as ‘the challenge’ at Westminster. She sped through an analysis of this ‘world class city’, covering facts and figures on economic, social, cultural, environmental and sustainability aspects. She emphasised that it is home to almost a quarter of a million people, with a diverse social and ethnic range. These, together with the general public and businesses, are the city’s key stakeholders. The extreme contrast in wealth and activity between the north and south of Westminster was revealing, MacQueen told us. The city has 11,000 listed buildings, 54 conservation areas, and a world heritage site. MacQueen considered that the economic downturn had had less impact in Westminster than other parts of central London partly because it is had a large proportion of smaller-scale historic buildings (or should I say ‘historic assets’?) containing a diverse range of small businesses. This is in contrast to areas like the City of London which contain significant numbers of large-scale office blocks which, when vacated in a downturn, can be difficult to re-let, leaving a big hole in the local economy. I was unaware of the Crossrail project’s impact on the historic environment, particularly the massive new station development beneath Oxford Street and Centre Point which MacQueen gave as an example of a challenge faced by Westminster. She explained that Westminster had no say on the matter of the demolitions as they had been imposed under an Act of Parliament when Crossrail was given the go-ahead. Many other important messages came from MacQueen’s presentation. She consistently highlighted the positive role that the city’s stock of historic assets had in terms of the London economy, their importance in regeneration, and the need for strong local policy. This included the value of working with the local communities. She cited Chinatown as an example of where this had been achieved successfully. With 11,000 listed buildings, it was not surprising that MacQueen raised the topic of Westminster’s desire to be able to charge for listed building consent applications. The cost of maintaining a conservation staff on that scale is substantial. In these times of spending cuts, no doubt we will see much debate on this topic in the IHBC in the coming months, as local authorities across the country look to generate new income streams. John Davey Knowledge is power: historic environment records – integrating archaeology and conservation Beryl Lott is historic environment manager and county archaeologist for Lincolnshire County Council. Her post includes historic building advice and managing a large historic environment team. The team’s remit includes maintaining the county Historic Environment Record (HER) and providing archaeological planning advice to a number of planning authorities. Lott opened by reminding us that ‘knowledge is power, especially if it is used in a way that can deliver excellence’. Lott’s presentation provided a comprehensive overview of one of the biggest and highest-benchmarked HERs in the country. She addressed issues of public accessibility and the problems of designation capture, rehearsing the current controversy over polygons versus spot data. She provided a number of interesting case studies for current projects including historic landscape characterisation (HLC), a nonconformist chapels survey, building at risk project, and TRILL A group of buildings in a conservation area on Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street that was lost A view of London’s Chinatown (Photos: Rosemarie MacQueen) Beryl Lott: knowledge is power.
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