Historic Environment Scotland have launched a new survey to understand the impacts of this fast-changing situation on the historic environment sector across Scotland. To paint as broad and accurate a picture as possible, please take the time to share your views. You can help us understand the current position and outlook as businesses, organisations and community groups within Scotland’s historic environment sector.

The survey will be open until Thursday 30 April.
https://consultations.historicenvironment.scot/development-partnership/covid-19-impact-survey/

We have updated our COVID-19 Funding Advice Table with links to the Scottish Government’s Wellbeing Fund being delivered through the SCVO.  The National Lottery Heritage Fund opened its Emergency Fund to applications yesterday

The Scottish Government has laid regulations in the Scottish Parliament for the regulatory planning process to continue during this emergency period. These include the temporary steps to suspend need for (i) public events in pre-application consultation, (ii) local review bodies meeting in public and (iii) hard copies of EIA reports in physical places. Guidance will be forthcoming, full legislation details are here.

BEFS received the following response to its submission on energy efficiency on owner occupied homes: “at this moment we have had to postpone the analysis of the responses whilst we turn our efforts towards the Covid-19 response.” This gives some indication of the delay we can anticipate across a number of agendas.

During these extraordinary times, BEFS will be providing these short updates weekly when relevant information for the built environment sector becomes available, in addition to the fortnightly bulletin.

From across the breadth of the sector we are, understandably, hearing concerns in relation to the impact of the pandemic. BEFS has gathered the current information available from funders and organisations into tables below (updated weekly).

As the situation changes and develops, the information will likely change. However, this overview of guidance and updates should provide an indication of where to find support for you and your organisation at this challenging time.

• For any medical information please refer to: https://www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus
• For any Scottish Government information please go to: https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/

Whilst this is an extremely uncertain time for all, do remember that organisations are constantly adjusting to changing circumstances, and they too need time to make sure their advice is accurate and current.

Download a Pdf of the tables here.

If there is relevant information we have not included in the tables below, do please get in contact.

ADVICE FROM FUNDING ORGANISATIONS

GUIDANCE FROM HERITAGE AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT ORGANISATIONS

Organisational Updates and Information

We are looking for case studies of projects or initiatives undertaken between April 2019 and March 2020.

Your project would feature in our Historic Environment Case Studies database and be linked to the Our Place in Time (OPiT) performance report 2020.

As agreed by the Strategic Historic Environment Forum last year, the Scottish Historic Environment Audit (SHEA) and OPiT evidence base will be brought together for 2020 (and onwards).

This is an opportunity for you to showcase your work within the national strategy for the historic environment, contributing to the case for continued government support for the sector.

Please submit your case study via the link below by Friday 24 July 2020.

The Scottish Government published its Budget 2020-21 on 6 February with details on the funding of Historic Environment Scotland within the Culture, Tourism and External Affairs portfolio.

The total budget for HES in 2020-21 is £100.1 million, an increase of 7%.

Capital Expenditure remains at £6 million but the rest of the grant has increased to £33.8 million, an increased of 10% following a 5% reduction the previous year. This is against HES generating a forecast income of £63.3 million, a 6% increase over the previous period.

While the Draft Budget states that HES will continue to dispense grants it does not specify the amount. The overall increase in the budget is to be welcomed.

Historic Environment Scotland Priorities

In 2020-21 HES will:

• continue to deliver ‘Our Place in Time: the Historic Environment Strategy for Scotland’;
• offer grant support to help regenerate and promote the active use, care and maintenance of the historic environment, promoting sustainable economic development and reinforcing local identity;
• provide expert advice and guidance to deliver the right balance between conservation and sustainable change;
• promote learning and education to enhance knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the historic environment;
• continue to play a leading role in supporting our understanding of climate change and its impacts on the historic environment; and
• support the maintenance of traditional skills and provide young people with opportunities to develop new skills.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) Spending Plans (Level 3)

What the Historic Environment Scotland budget does

Historic Environment Scotland is the lead public body for the historic environment in Scotland, and takes the lead in delivering Scotland’s historic environment strategy ‘Our Place in Time’, in addition to having delegated responsibility for the care and management of Scottish Ministers’ Properties in Care. A significant portion of the grant-in-aid funding which Historic Environment Scotland receives is passed on to Scottish communities by way of grant schemes which fund the regeneration of Scotland’s town centres and the repair of historic buildings.

Full details.

All political parties with representation in the previous Westminster Parliament have now produced their manifestos. BEFS has undertaken an overview of policy commitments that would appear to have implications for Scotland’s historic environment and is grateful to Newsdirect for providing helpful summaries to work from.

If you are looking for specific policies on architecture, archaeology, heritage, landscape, planning, surveying or conservation you need read no further. But you will find policies that would impact on these areas if implemented.

Conservative & Unionist Party

• Introduce an Australian-style points-based immigration system
• Create the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will replace the “overly bureaucratic” EU Structural Funds and will match the size of those funds for each nation

Full manifesto details Get Brexit Done: Unleash Britain’s Potential

Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party

• Continue to commit £1.4bn to Growth Deals across Scotland and deliver Deals for Falkirk and the Islands

Full manifesto details No to Indyref 2

You will also find interesting analysis of UK manifestos from the Heritage Alliance and the Carbon Brief.

Scottish Green Party

• Set conditions for Scottish content in supply chains where possible, such as through the leasing process. This should include consideration of embedded carbon emissions including within international travel
• Directly invest in deployment of innovative renewables, energy storage, energy efficiency and development of their supply chains
• Adopt a target of all homes reaching Energy Performance Standard C or above by 2030.
• Provide more funding for skills development, training and apprenticeships.
• Create a new funded programme of deep-retrofits of fuel-poor households and social housing, using approaches like “Energiesprong” that is currently being trialled in Nottingham.
• Require new homes to meet passivhaus or other net-zero standards, be connected to the public transport system and be built in areas that are not in flood-risk zones.

Full manifesto details Scottish Green New Deal

Scottish Labour Party

• Create a regeneration fund to provide an economic boost to Scotland’s high streets
• Ensure small businesses are part of the procurement supply chain to strengthen local jobs and supply chains
• Continue investments in apprenticeships and ensure they are tied closely to the labour market
• Legislate to restrict the amount of land that one individual can own, and prevent land ownership via offshore tax havens
• Complete a public register of landowners as a necessary step to improve transparency and enable meaningful land reform
• Develop a Community Land Fund in line with the recommendations in UK Labour’s ‘Land for the Many’ proposals along with long-term revenue support for community buy-outs
• Use regulation to intervene when land is not used in ways that serve the public interest
• Retrofit all houses to the highest energy efficiency standards, backed by the National Transformation Fund, to reduce fuel poverty and fuel bills among those living in rural areas
• Develop a new sustainable national plan for tourism based on improving the offer to visitors while reducing resource use and waste, reducing the transport impact, protecting the natural and cultural heritage
• Implement the tourist tax and a land value capture tax
• Review the business rates system by engaging more widely than the present Scottish Government
• Recommend the creation of a new Land and Communities Development Agency in Scotland
• Invest £6bn from the UK’s National Transformation Fund to upgrade almost all of Scotland’s 2.6 million homes to the highest energy efficiency standards
• Provide an initial £10bn investment to kickstart a social house building programme in Scotland, building 12,000 eco-friendly social and council homes a year for ten years, with local government and housing associations receiving two thirds of the funding required to build these homes
• Legislate to bring energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector in line with the social sector

Full manifesto details Real Change for the Many Not the Few

Scottish Liberal Democrat Party

• Ensure that the National Infrastructure Commission takes fully into account the climate and environmental implications of all national infrastructure decisions
• Prioritise government spending on the things that matter most to people’s wellbeing with the money for Scotland to match them
• Develop a national skills strategy for key sectors, including zero-carbon technologies, to help match skills and people
• Establish creative enterprise zones to grow and regenerate the cultural output of areas across the UK
• Create an emergency programme to insulate all Britain’s homes by 2030, cut emissions and end fuel poverty, working in partnership with the Scottish Government to provide the resources
• Work across the four UK administrations on a framework for agricultural support payments to support the public goods that come from effective land management
• Extend the involvement of the Scottish Government in the development of UK policy on work permit and student visas

Full manifesto details Stop Brexit, Stop Independance: Build a Brighter Future

Scottish National Party

• Seek the devolution of immigration
• Demand the UK stops “short-changing” Scotland on city and region deals and urge the UK Government to deliver Growth Deals for those areas of Scotland yet to receive them
• Support a more ambitious Islands Growth Deal
• Call on the UK Government to examine a reduction in VAT for the hospitality sector
• Call for a reduction in VAT on energy efficiency improvements in homes
• Put the transition to net-zero at the heart of the Scottish National Investment Bank’s work
• Oppose Conservative plans to introduce a minimum salary threshold for admittance to the UK

Full manifesto details Stronger for Scotland

Green Party

Remain in the European Union and enshrine Freedom of Movement as a core principle of the EU.

Full manifesto details If Not Now, When?

Labour Party

• Establish a “humane” immigration system built on human rights to meet the needs of the economy and public services
• Provide Scotland with at least £100bn of additional resources over two terms, which Labour want to see £10bn from our new National Transformation Fund invested in the building of 120,000 council and social homes in Scotland over the next ten years, creating up to 50,000 jobs
• Invest £6bn in retrofitting houses across Scotland, which will help tackle the climate emergency and lower bills, end fuel poverty and create 35,000 jobs
• Provide the Scottish National Investment Bank, under Scottish control, with £20bn of lending power to deliver funds to local projects and Scotland’s small businesses

Full manifesto details It’s Time for Real Change

Liberal Democrat Party

• Maintain EU freedom of movement by stopping Brexit
• Continue to develop city deals in Scotland

 Full manifesto details Stop Brexit: Build a Brighter Future

You will also find interesting analysis of UK manifestos from the Heritage Alliance and the Carbon Brief.

Image © John Gilbert, Under One Roof

Under One Roof, the information website for flat owners and their advisers in Scotland, needs to secure further funding to continue in existence. They need to know how people use the website and want to offer users an opportunity to shape how the project should develop in the future.

You can help with this mission by completing a short survey that Under One Roof has set up via this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JPF5WB3.

• There are just 5 “tick box” style questions with options to add a comment or story if you wish.
• Just answer from your own personal experience and point of view.  There is no need to consult your colleagues. (You can forward them this email so they can complete the survey for themselves and Under One Roof will cope with any duplicate responses.)
• You will only be shown questions which are designed for your type of user.
• There is only 1 compulsory question – this is the one that directs you to the set of questions most applicable to your role.

We all appreciate just how valuable Under One Roof has been. As the Scottish Parliament considers new tenement legislation, issues of climate change come ever more to the fore and incidences such as tenement collapse and stone falls continue apace, this does not seem like an opportune time for this valuable resource to cease to exist.

There is no deadline – but why not just do it now as it won’t take more than a few minutes?

Built Environment Forum Scotland are signatories of an open letter to Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, regarding the introduction of minimum standards for whole lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for new buildings under Section 6 of the Scottish Building Standards.

Open letter to Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, the Scottish Government

Dear Mr Stewart,

We, the undersigned, are writing to call upon the Scottish Government to introduce minimum standards for whole lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for new buildings under Section 6 of the Scottish Building Standards.

We note that the new Building Standards are due to be introduced in October 2021, with changes published one year in advance and, given the wealth of expertise in this field available to the Scottish Government, we do not see the time available to draft the necessary changes as at all prohibitive.

We further note the findings of the recent report by AECOM for the Committee on Climate Change on incorporating targets for embodied and sequestered carbon into the building standards framework, which concludes that mandatory regulation is more likely to be effective for addressing life-cycle emissions and sets out a number of options for achieving this, dependent on the level of ambition for such targets. We also note the findings of the Committee’s recent ‘Net Zero’ report, which serve to highlight the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the economy. And we note the conclusions of the recent report on energy efficiency to Westminster’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which found that the Government is off-track to meet its targets, that policy gaps exist, and that the UK’s building stock remains one of the most inefficient in Europe [3].

In addition to reducing Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions, regulating to reduce the lifecycle emissions of new buildings by accounting for those embodied and sequestered in materials has significant potential to leverage co-benefits to Scotland’s environment, society and economy. These include supporting the development of local, sustainable, supply chains, and associated skilled employment opportunities, and encouraging forestry and land management practices that support biodiversity and create new opportunities for recreation and tourism. This evidence has been highlighted in numerous publications, including a 2017 report for the Scottish Government by Aether UK and Glasgow Caledonian University. Glasgow is also home to the Materials Library, a unique physical and online resource managed by Architecture and Design Scotland, and harnessing this wealth of evidence and expertise would be invaluable for enabling the introduction of such standards and associated guidance [5].

Therefore, we call upon the Scottish Government to commit to introducing standards for whole lifecycle emissions under the current revision of the Scottish Building Standards. We also recommend that, in order to facilitate this within the time available, the Scottish Government should convene a short life working group on whole lifecycle emissions from new buildings. This would establish the level of ambition achievable in the lifetime of the new standards, and agree how accounting for lifecycle emissions should be incorporated into Section 6 in a manner that will facilitate the tightening of these regulations under future revisions. It would also allow the findings of the group to be completed and put out for consultation in time for the publication of the new draft standards circa October 2020.

Organisational supporters:

Common Weal

The Energy Poverty Research Initiative

Glasgow Caledonian University

Built Environment Forum Scotland

If you wish to be a signatory of this letter contact Dr Keith Baker on Keith.Baker@gcu.ac.uk.

NEXT STEPS TO SAVING THE PLANET

From Carbon’s Casualties to Climate Solutions

Sun 11 Aug 19:30 – 21:00

Since 2015, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times photographer Josh Haner has documented the realities of climate change across the globe. His photo series Carbon’s Casualties explores the many consequences of a warming world, offering the space to consider solutions. Join us for a special discussion with Haner, acclaimed Australian novelist and campaigner Tim Winton and Laura Watts, whose Energy at the End of World offers a way forward through Orkney’s role as a centre for energy innovation. In collaboration with Beyond Borders.

REWRITING SCOTTISH HERSTORY

Siân Reynolds & Sara Sheridan

Mon 12 Aug 10:30 – 11:30

Meet two women on a feminist mission. Former Stirling University professor Siân Reynolds is one of the editors of The New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. Join her in conversation with local author Sara Sheridan whose guidebook Where Are The Women? is a radical reimagining of Scottish heritage and landscape to include the women who were there all along. Chaired by Susan Stewart.

POWER OF THE POPULACE

Michael Anderson

Tue 13 Aug 11:00 – 12:00

Distinguished academic Michael Anderson – a stalwart at the University of Edinburgh for 40 years who has been honoured with an OBE – discusses the change in Scotland’s population since the 1850s. Exploring issues such as rural settlement, migration, deprivation and industrial investment, Anderson offers a comparison between Scotland’s population shifts and those in the rest of Europe.

WHEN BAUHAUS MET BRITAIN

Alan Powers

Sat 17 Aug 17:30 – 18:30

In its centenary year, the Bauhaus art school’s legacy continues to gather momentum. Art curator and journalist Alan Powers adds to the discussion with Bauhaus Goes West, which looks at how the movement landed in Britain and America following the closure of the original school by the Nazis in 1933. Through this event, Powers seeks to re-evaluate the influence of Bauhaus on modern art and design.

ENLIGHTENED EDINBURGH

Murray Pittock

Sun 18 Aug 10:30 – 11:30

Professor of English Literature at Glasgow University, Murray Pittock’s work focuses on Edinburgh and its civic development across the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of the main drivers of national cultural change, including newspapers, gentry politics and coffee house culture, were based in the city but what was the real reason for Edinburgh’s Enlightenment? Find out as Pittock discusses his fascinating study with John Gordon.

THE CLEARANCES AND THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE

Tom Devine

Sun 18 Aug 18:45 – 19:45

The Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries helped shape the nation we know today, but historians have struggled to define what happened. Scotland’s leading historian, Sir Tom Devine, brings us The Scottish Clearances, his authoritative, readable and even-handed account. Today, he sets the record straight, conjuring the voices of the dispossessed and exploding myths about this defining period for Scotland and its people.

DESIGNING A BETTER SCOTLAND

Philip Long & Joanna Norman

Mon 19 Aug 10:00 – 11:00

Philip Long is director of the V&A Dundee and co-editor of The Story of Scottish Design. Together with Joanna Norman, curator of the museum’s Scottish Design Galleries, Long presents a broad survey of 500 years of great Scottish design and pioneering designers, from textiles to technology, furniture to video games. Long and Norman discuss the importance of design (and a certain new building).

THE GIRL FROM ANYTOWN

Tracey Thorn

Mon 19 Aug 20:30 – 21:30

Returning to our roots can be tough, revealing and, as Tracey Thorn discovers in Another Planet, inspiring. The singer-songwriter behind Everything But The Girl follows up her bestselling Bedsit Disco Queen with a wonderfully witty walk through the maligned suburbia of her youth. Today, Thorn shares hilarious recollections of the physical and emotional cul-de-sacs of her Green Belt upbringing and its lasting impact.

BUILDING SOCIETIES

Miles Glendinning, Stefan Muthesius & Stefi Orazi

Tue 20 Aug 12:30 – 13:30

Britain faces a housing crisis: what can the nation’s last major building scheme teach us? Architectural historians Miles Glendinning and Stefan Muthesius analyse the high-rise revolution in Towers for the Welfare State. Stefi Orazi widens the perspective with Modernist Estates — Europe, exploring some of the continent’s housing schemes with input from residents. Today they debate the social impact of what we build.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Ellie Harrison & Jemma Neville

Tue 20 Aug 14:00 – 15:00

Meet two activists who dig beneath the stereotypes to real lived experience. Jemma Neville campaigned for human rights law, and in Constitution Street explores global rights issues through the stories of the residents of one road in Leith. ‘Think Global, Act Local’ is the inspiration for artist-activist Ellie Harrison, and in her new book The Glasgow Effect she sheds light on the inequality and disconnection of people in Glasgow communities, putting forward a new vision for sustainable living. The two authors discuss their ideas with fellow writer and social historian Daniel Gray.

SCOTLAND’S ROLE IN SLAVERY

Finlay McKichan

Wed 21 Aug 11:00 – 12:00

Francis Humberston Mackenzie was a complex man: a profoundly deaf Scot who became Governor of Barbados; a benevolent Highland landowner during the Clearances who went on to own a slave plantation – and fight for slaves rights. Historian Finlay McKichan’s study Lord Seaforth, discussed today, reassesses his story, the connections between Highland and Caribbean communities, and the end of the imperial slave trade.

HOW BUILDINGS SHAPE US

Iain Sinclair

Wed 21 Aug 11:45 – 12:45

Among our finest voices on the significance of place, Welsh writer and filmmaker Iain Sinclair health checks our relationships with buildings across the world in Living with Buildings and Walking with Ghosts. From Marseille to Mexico, inner London to the Outer Hebrides, Sinclair wonders whether buildings might be affecting our health. Today he shares discoveries on why we project hopes and fears onto structures.

SO MUCH OWNED BY SO FEW

Who Owns Scotland’s Land?

Fri 23 Aug 10:00 – 11:00

Land ownership has been a contentious source of conflict throughout Scotland’s history. Public access and a belief in sharing the landscape has clashed with the economic power and influence held within the land. We explore these issues and the feasibility of land tax with our panel, which includes Andrew Thin, Chair of the Scottish Land Commission, author of Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power Alastair McIntosh and publisher and former member of the Scottish Land Review Agnes Rennie. In partnership with Quakers in Scotland.

DISASTER PLANNING

Mike Berners-Lee

Sun 25 Aug 14:00 – 15:00

Warnings of looming environmental catastrophe rain down on us with increasing frequency, and only the most ardent climate change sceptics deny we live at a crucial point for the Earth’s future. Join sustainability expert Mike Berners-Lee in conversation with WWF’s Tanya Steele, as he cuts through the noise with practical advice on how we can avoid calamity, drawn from his book There is No Planet B, a ‘Handbook for the Make or Break Years’.

For the full programme visit the Edinburgh International Book Festival website.