Planning to preserve and enhance our heritage

English Heritage is the government’s statutory adviser on the historic environment. We seek to unlock the potential of the historic environment through sustainable management of the best of our heritage, in partnership with national, regional and local decision-makers. One of our key aims is to develop guidance and advice to support all involved in this process.

In order to create truly sustainable communities, current government programmes and projects, such as those relating to housing growth and renewal, need to have proper regard to local character and distinctiveness. The preservation and enhancement of England’s historic environment is the principal means of achieving this.    

English Heritage believes important lessons can be learned from the past to help achieve the practical needs of sustainable development. The re-use and adaptation of heritage assets is at the heart of sustainable development. Re-using assets lessens the amount of energy expended on new development and avoids high levels of construction waste.

Heritage can also boost local economies, attract investment, highlight local distinctiveness, promote civic pride and add value to property in an area. People like living in, working in and visiting historic places and areas – development that uses the best of our heritage as a platform for the future can use this to its advantage.

The English Heritage website contains comprehensive information about the organisation, including our corporate plan, and explains how we carry out our responsibilities. It also contains an overview of English Heritage’s role in the planning system.

English Heritage recently published Conservation Principles, a codification of our best practice. We have also recently published Constructive Conservation in Practice. This series of case studies aims to illustrate our positive and collaborative approach to actively managing change.