40 C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 a combination of historic and modern map overlay to identify historic buildings. This has obvious usefulness for the conservation work of local planning authorities as it complements historic map regression. We must remember that inclusion on early maps is often one of the very few documentary references that many buildings and landscape features will have. Meanwhile,Worcester City Council investigated opportunities provided by records of historic plans, including drainage plans and other early planning applications from the period 1866–1946, to enhance existing HER data on historic buildings, both designated and undesignated. The importance of the information such plans hold has long been known, but such archives, if they are known, are not often easily accessible. Inclusion within the HER would remedy that but such plans are only part of the wealth of information in archives.The earlier 20th century Denman drawings in the RIBA, for example, include not only design plans but inmany cases site plans showing the status quo ante, very useful in understanding the history of Brighton, for instance. The IHBC’s project,meanwhile, assessed the availability and feasibility of accessing secondary sources of historic buildings data for rapid assimilation, so as to evaluate the options, costs and benefits of including readily available digital historic buildings datasets in HERs, and thus to suggest a strategy for developing such datasets within HERs.This involved assessing the wide variety of sources of information on historic buildings and landscapes, and Award-winning architects giving old buildings a new future Civic Trust Award Community Recognition IHBC North West Award for Conservation Purcell. Thoughtfully designed evolution. www.purcelluk.com The Regeneration Practice Award-winning architects www.regeneration.co.uk HESP Recognition narrating the past to deliver the future building a scheme of priorities for inclusion within HERs (information included, for instance,withinThe Buildings of England, Country Life,TheVictoria County History,Context, amenity society journals and buildings with blue plaques, notwithstanding copyright issues). Cambridgeshire County Council looked at an area which is often outside the HER orbit, with a project to assess how HERs can feed into the application of the ecclesiastical exemption. Bristol City Council carried out an intriguing project around community involvement in building an HER.This has created web mapping access to tithe maps and other historic city mapping held at Bristol Record Office through the direct participation of communities in recording this data. The data are linked to modern images of mapped areas using the Flickr web resource. The result, it is hoped, will be to engage local communities and promote better care for the historic environment. The output of these projects and of others withinHER21 is a hint of what a fully operational information resource would be able to provide for the building conservation part of the historic environment sector.The result shows what a huge opportunity is currently missed by both local planning authorities and others which are not fully plugged intoHERs as information resources and byHERs themselves. They should be reinforcing their value by involvement with building conservation and protection at a time when their continued development can sometimes seem precarious. Richard Morrice, English Heritage Better Heritage Protection Team Further information on HER21 can be found at www.helm. org.uk/understandingand-recording/ historic-environmentarchives-and-archives/ developing-historicenviroment-records-forthe-21st-century/
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