BEFS have been leading on Prioritisation work for the built and historic environment since Autumn 2018. This work will inform the Built Heritage Investment Plan. Now we are asking for your views.
BEFS have been leading on Prioritisation work for the built and historic environment since Autumn 2018, this will help to inform the work on the Built Heritage Investment Plan taking place within Historic Environment Scotland and the OPiT Built Heritage Investment Group.
Many involved organisations and individuals have given their time, views, methodologies and valued critique to develop a suggested set of Principles for Prioritisation. These Principles were discussed at a public event in Edinburgh last week (25th February 2019) – slides from that event can be accessed here.
After events and feedback from participants and interested parties we produced a short questionnaire designed to aid progress of this valuable work.
**UPDATE – The survey is now closed. Version 2 of Principles for Prioritisation were consulted upon: this is available in PDF here** .
In response to some of Monday’s (25th February) discussion we would offer the following comments:
- Principles in themselves cannot change the competition for funding – but they are designed to perhaps help level the playing field and make decision-making more transparent.
- Principles themselves cannot answer specific questions – such as the VAT concern, but they should enable greater clarity over how this generation wishes to frame the arguments to continue lobbying on such issues.
- Other questions arose, including mainstreaming heritage across Scottish Government departments. This is something BEFS will explore in relation to the data gathered for the Built Heritage Investment Group about investment in heritage already occurring across the vast majority of ministerial portfolios.
- Climate concerns should be at the top of any agenda and any resource directed towards the historic environment will contribute to the sustainability of the existing environment and is therefore implicitly addressing climate change be it through adaptation or mitigation.
We appreciate all those who took the time to complete the survey, a further iteration of the Principles for Prioritisation are being produced and further steps for this work are currently under consideration.
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BEFS Policy & Advocacy Officer, Ailsa Macfarlane asks, is it time to rethink our definition of community and consider how it is applied?
Is the concept of community, like the concept of the ‘housewife’ – somewhat dated, incongruous and failing to communicate the diversity of experience and circumstance? A label applied rather than a label chosen.
The following tweet helped to tease out some of the concerns I find with the current use of ‘community’ as a descriptor:
“How to make communities walkable – and better places to live […]”
It isn’t communities that become more walkable. It is places, areas – a mappable surface of land. Communities are truly formed – by and of – people; the place could be seen as subservient to those located there.
Community is too often used as a short-hand description for an area, with the people implied – but not necessarily central to the issue being discussed. In relation to the text of the tweet above – people will have to do the walking; this may involve difference choices and opportunities – it may involve understanding of behavior, it may require behavior-change; and those things involve individuals.
From a heritage perspective are we torn between place-based issues and communities which may be formed, defined and exist, out-with a locale? Simultaneously attempting to answer the issues of place and the rights and concerns of those involved.
We hear about Community values, community importance, community significance – but what do we really mean by community? I’m suspicious that what was once organic and holistic, (perhaps previously also based on assumption) is now fractured and manufactured. Something which is not necessarily innate.
Whilst it could be argued the formation of communities was always circumstantial – our circumstances seem now to have many more variables: from less homogenous groupings of relations, to further travel for service provision and/or employment, to more single-person dwellings.
If we asked people who their community are –would those around their locale play a central role in the hierarchy? Family, friends, colleagues, (if there are) children- their friends and associated families, the consistent interactions with others where we shop and relax. These aspects of life may be geographically close to ‘home’ or some distance away. This can apply to rural and urban locations – if the local school is now closed, the local council offices moved away, the bus service limited – then the patterns of consistent interactions are reduced and the foundations that formed communities previously – are also eroded.The digital tools of the modern world can further reduce the necessity for human interaction in everyday life, additionally limiting the ability for communities to form organically.
Within a heritage environment it can feel that communities are currently co-created. Created by people and by conflict. There are the obvious examples – the shared (whether through choice or circumstance) groups – of interest, locality or experience.
But that sense of ‘community’ seems to be co-created by circumstance. Often coalesced by reaction/resistance to external (or even internal) factors. Is community now purely defined by ‘the other’? Is formation occurring in order to gain an identity and get a voice?
Who is represented will always be subjective and whilst I’m not sure there will ever be a clear answer to this – if we start with the principle that individuals having a voice and being able to articulate that voice in all circumstances (be they positive, benign, or challenging) is key to enabling informed outcomes – can we now start talk about social voices, rather than a community?
Social voices brought together by – circumstance, locality, experiences, interests. It’s a reflection and expression of society – micro or macro. Community too often implies cohesion and agreement – which when manufactured will be fragile and ultimately contentious.
A society – that’s already fractious and contentious, but also driven by a need to continue.
It almost exists without definition.
Expecting and reflecting the different social voices found within a place will not be easy, but it might be a more honest way forward. When we reduce any group to a simple descriptor we reduce the expression of a variety of experiences. The term ‘housewife’ did little to express the variety of lives lived within the descriptor – perhaps the same is now true for ‘community’.
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BEFS Director Euan Leitch asks, should politicians be influencing the final outcome of planning decisions?
Two recent planning decisions by Scottish Ministers are of note.
Ministers accepted the advice of their Reporter and refused consent for a large scale leisure and tourism development which included over 1000 houses and the consolidation of Loudon Castle, East Ayrshire. Permission was refused on the following grounds:
- There is no certainty that the scale of proposed housing development is the minimum level required as enabling development.
- The scale of the proposed enabling housing development would have an adverse impact on the Loudoun Castle Historic Garden and Designed Landscape.
- The separation of the proposed tourism leisure proposals from the proposed housing for enabling funding purposes is not acceptable.
- Furthermore, the scale of the proposed enabling housing development, and lack of suitable masterplanning mean that, in their present form, the proposals would not result in a well-planned sustainable community.
There is not an infrequent assumption that economics and housing numbers trump other planning matters such as heritage and sustainability, but in this case it is the converse. The full report, while lengthy, is worthy of further examination.
The other decision is in relation to the proposed expansion of Hyndford Quarry into the buffer zone of the New Lanark World Heritage Site. This has been a long running case and the Scottish Government Reporter found the western and southern expansion of quarry to be in line with policy and recommended that the proposals would:
- Contribute to overcoming an identified shortfall in the minerals reserve (landbank);
- Protect and preserve the character, integrity and quality of the New Lanark World Heritage Site, its setting and Outstanding Universal Value;
- Avoid compromise to the integrity of the Falls of Clyde Designed Landscape, its character and the objectives of its designation;
- Safeguard listed buildings, their settings, and any features of special interest they possess;
- Preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the New Lanark and Falls of Clyde Conservation Area;
- Protect scheduled ancient monuments and their settings;
- Not adversely affect the overall quality of special landscape areas;
- Not harm nature conservation interests;
- Support sustainable economic development; and
- Provide an acceptable restoration scheme.
For the western extension of the quarry Ministers found the opposite to be the case, that it contravened a range of regional and local planning policy, and are therefore only minded to grant permission for the southern extension of the quarry. The full report is again worth reading but raises similar questions as before around why East Ayrshire Council , Historic Environment Scotland and the Scottish Government Reporter are interpreting planning policy and heritage values so differently from Scottish Ministers?
As the Planning (Scotland) Bill has been progressing through parliamentary scrutiny, one repeated refrain has been on the topic of Ministerial intervention in the planning process, and the refrain is usually that it should be resisted. But is that wholly desirable? The thousands of people who objected to the Hyndford Quarry extension will be grateful for Ministerial intervention, but when Ministerial decisions go the other way there is usually disquiet expressed about their role. Perhaps we have to accept, or embrace, that planning is fundamentally political.
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A November 2018 update.
The Planning Bill has now completed Stage 2 – we await formal notification of when Stage 3 will commence, but this close to Christmas we appreciate that no movement is likely before 2019.
BEFS briefed members of the Local Government and Communities Committee for each sitting in relation to the Bill. These briefings were informed by those on the BEFS Planning Taskforce.
BEFS has now produced a summary document of those briefings, and the outcomes in relation to the specific amendments which had been commented upon previously.
Throughout the Bill process BEFS compiled a document of all the amendments as they were submitted. This helped to inform members as to issues arising. This document has also been included on our website – at the end of the document we have included a link to the new draft Planning (Scotland) Bill which incorporates all those amendments passed at Stage 2.
We will continue to monitor progress, and in early January the Planning Taskforce will meet to discuss areas for further development as Stage 3 approaches.
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BEFS Policy Officer Ailsa Macfarlane considers the findings of the recent The State of Heritage Funding Now research report.
This newly released research exists as part of the legacy of the partnership programme Resourcing Scotland’s Heritage (RSH) – along with the new toolkit to encourage and enable fundraising skills across the sector. Programme partners: Archaeology Scotland, Arts & Business Scotland, Built Environment Forum Scotland, greenspace scotland, and Museums Galleries Scotland formed the RSH project to help the heritage sector learn to fundraise from private sources – gaining awareness, skills and confidence, as well as providing networking opportunities. The four year RSH programme was funded by National Lottery players through the Heritage Lottery Fund Catalyst Umbrella Grant programme.
There may be much discussion around reduced funding levels – but what can be evidenced, and how can we mitigate against those reductions? The aim of this research was for a robust report providing analysis and recommendations. This was based not only on intensive desk-based literature reviews into available funding across the heritage sector in Scotland, but also stakeholder consultations, and a widely disseminated sector survey. This is my perspective on the findings – but I encourage you to draw your own conclusions.
Findings & Analysis:
There’s some stark information to absorb.
- National Lottery funding has decreased, and is likely to decrease again – the imminent Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Strategic Funding Framework will require new/enhanced ways of working too. Historic Environment Scotland (HES) continue as a major funder, with no growing pot, and increases in applications – here the competition to achieve funding increases. The dependence on these funders remains a risk for the sector.
- Local Authority collective spend on Cultural, Heritage, Museum & Gallery and Library services has reduced by 7% between 2007/8 and 2014/15. There are also known reductions across Planning & Economic Development budgets, departments where many heritage-skills professionals are based. These reductions in funds are not due to reverse any time soon.
- Direct donations to the arts and sports/recreation make up only 3% respectively – whilst potentially small, these can be a key part of fundraising from private sources.
- There is a continued dependence on Trusts and Foundations across the sector – there are now concerns arising that the levels of grant support supplied by some are outstripping the performance of the endowments that funded them. This raises questions as to whether future levels of support can be relied upon.
- Business investment in heritage, via sponsorship/partnerships is an area well developed by some, but ignored by many smaller organisations. Improving this through commercially based approaches and advocacy, which not only increases awareness of heritage generally, but highlights the wider benefits heritage can and does provide, could entice further business investment in the sector.
- Tourism has been a boon financially over the past few years for many organisations; both market circumstances and global media have provided positive drivers for those wishing to visit Scotland and its heritage. However, both factors bring with them opportunities and challenges, factors which in themselves need resourcing appropriately. They are also subject to fluctuation – so planning for both triumph and disaster may be wise.
- Non-grant finance is an area where many funders already operate (Architectural Heritage Fund), or are considering developing their offer (HLF). Research highlighted within the report shows that this is an area which many find controversial, perceive to be high-risk, or actively avoid. Here a knowledge base needs to be developed and expanded to find solutions which fit the organisation in question. Information on particular aspects is available from specialist organisations, such as Community Shares Scotland. The squeeze on other funding types may make these forms of funding more appealing for organisations in the future – increased awareness and knowledge of this area will be of great benefit to the sector.
Recommendations:
These fall into the categories of Research & Evidence and Ongoing Sector Support. And, here the news can be seen more positively:
- More research, survey gathering, data-collection in various forms are suggested. Not only do we need the information, but I suspect we need to be open to data transparency, and sharing what we know. The steps are sometimes small and tentative, but a more collegiate approach to demonstrate the good work happening across the sector seems to be possible.
- A drive to diversifying income streams is called for. I see a sector working towards better: training, partnerships, collaboration and awareness. Building a greater understanding of where the money is coming from – be it heritage, creative, social, regeneration, or commercial funding.
- The changing funding landscape has been a driver for organisations to demonstrate an understanding of a wider range of outcomes to their ongoing work. Social, community, regenerative and many other factors are beginning to be better evidenced, and better expressed, by heritage organisations. Clearly substantiating not only what we do, but what the associated benefits are – and how this relates to the funder requirements, and even the National Performance Framework will be key to future funding success.
- Many of the recommendations point towards a sector which needs to embrace a portfolio approach to financing the heritage sector – what’s referred to as the ‘golden-tripod’ – with a third of funding coming from each: private, public and enterprise sources.
This report points the way to developing how the sector may be able to improve organisational sustainability, shining a light on aspects of fundraising which could prove extremely beneficial. Further training is needed to enable the sector to gain finance from across a wider range of areas, be that fundraising or earned income – but more than training, a strategic approach which enables the capacity for that work to be done is essential.
Within these findings there is a role to be played by intermediary and development organisations. The value of knowing the wider sector-makeup, enabling connections and collaboration, providing spaces to network, and growing capacity through strategic policy development and training opportunities can help enable organisations to find the time to develop their funding for the future. We
Our activity across the sector is currently framed by the potential effects of Brexit. Income from a wider range of sources can be more flexible, ensure more stability, and provide continued life-buoys of certainty in currently choppy seas.
Read the full report: The State of Heritage Funding Now Report
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As a legacy of the partnership project Resourcing Scotland’s Heritage, a new digital toolkit for the cultural heritage sector has just been launched.
Arts & Business Scotland Head of Programmes Carl Watt (L) and Rosslyn Chapel Trust Director Ian Gardner (R) review the new digital toolkit website in front of historic Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian.
This resource, Inspiring Fundraising Toolkit, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, is specifically designed to build up knowledge and skills in fundraising within the heritage sector. It was informed by successful delivery of fundraising training and advice to 804 individuals from more than 519 heritage organisations throughout Scotland between 2014-2018.
Resourcing Scotland’s Heritage was a four year programme led by Arts & Business Scotland with Archaeology Scotland, Built Environment Forum Scotland, greenspace scotland and Museums Galleries Scotland, which officially concluded in March 2018.
Alongside this resource we are also delighted to share the accompanying report, The State of Heritage Funding Now Report. This specially commissioned report shows a continued strong reliance by the heritage sector on grant and lottery funding with only a third of heritage organisations surveyed currently sourcing any funding from corporate support and levels of corporate support remaining broadly static within the sector over the past four years.
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BEFS invites those open to exploring strategies for the prioritisation within built heritage to submit their ideas.
People want built heritage in all its forms, to: receive the care, protection and examination needed; for heritage to be able to facilitate the greatest benefits; and for those benefits to be widely accessible and understood. But what are those benefits – academic, social, economic, cultural? And in a period of continued constraint in public funding can we have it all, for everything? A forthcoming report on the state of heritage funding arising from Resourcing Scotland’s Heritage project will likely reveal the limits.
Is funding best awarded to ‘whomever shouts loudest’ or to the most adept at completing funding application forms? Is this status quo of funding preferred or are there better ways to prioritise the allocation of resources? We know there are a range of barriers and challenges to achieving the above, from environmental conditions to unmanaged tourism interest – but how do we categorise those problems; are they severe, urgent, incremental?
BEFS invites those open to exploring strategies for the prioritisation of built heritage to put forward methodologies for robust and open discussion.
Whilst BEFS are keen to explore all ideas, key determinants being considered may include:
- Asset Significance
- Location
- Community Interest
- Long term sustainability
- Scope for collaboration
- Asset’s current use and future potential use
- Typology
These methodologies will be debated, explored and questioned in a workshop for contributors in December 2018. Sustainable ideas demonstrating approaches which excite further exploration will then be supported for further development and wider discussion at a public event in February 2019.
Please submit your ideas in no more than 500 words, to euan.leitch@befs.org.uk by Monday 5th November 2018.
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The background for this event is the perpetual discussion around the absence of a strategic approach to the funding of built heritage and that much good work could be seen as only ‘tinkering round the edges’. We are rapidly approaching a cliff edge due to heightened ecological risks, reducing public funds, stretched human resources, and a continually ageing building stock. Increased community ownership is being seen as one solution but without access to funding communities may well find themselves in the same position as public and private owners of heritage assets.
The desired outcome is a developed Prioritisation Methodology to help funders and heritage asset managers determine where their resources should be best applied. The Scottish Government has tasked Historic Environment Scotland with delivering a Built Heritage Investment Plan and methodologies for prioritisation will form part of that plan. This is an opportunity to engage with that agenda.
Responding to an individual crisis, which then gets resourced due to high profile attention, could seem satisfactory – but these approaches may not be delivering the best long-term solutions for the greatest breadth and depth of our heritage.
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BEFS briefing on the Planning (Scotland) Bill.
The Planning (Scotland) Bill has now had amendments submitted (309 in total) and has progressed to Stage 2.
The Local Government and Communities Committee met for the first time since the summer recess on Wednesday 12th September. Prior to this the BEFS Planning Taskforce met and discussed proposed amendments. From these discussions and further developments (continued submission of inter-related amendments), BEFS produced a Briefing for Stage 2 Day 1 discussions, provided to all Committee Members. Currently the agenda set for Committee discussions may be ambitious, so the alignment of Day 1 – and the discussion that occurred on Day 1 may not align.
BEFS predicts there will be some detailed debates in the Committee chamber before we see resolution on any number of issues.
Download the briefing here.
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BEFS suggestions, from early history to high rise, urban landscapes to bogs, there’s something for everyone.
Sat 11 Aug 17:45 – 18:45 Garden Theatre £12.00, £10.00
Roma Agrawal & Anna Yudina
Meet two women with big ideas about the future of our cities. Roma Agrawal is a structural engineer who helped design The Shard. She’s passionate about the power of engineering to improve lives and shares her enthusiasm in Built. Curator and author Anna Yudina has a different perspective: in Garden City she argues that our urban spaces must incorporate more nature, more greenery, more biodiversity. Chaired by Andrew Franklin.
Sun 12 Aug 15:45 – 16:45 Spark Theatre on George Street £12.00, £10.00
Barry Cunliffe
THE RHYME OF THE EXPERT MARINER
In On the Ocean, Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology Barry Cunliffe turns his attention to the history of man and the sea, asking what inspired early man to voyage out into the great blue unknown. From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, from the simple first vessels to the sailors of the 16th century, he documents our restless quest that has been a driving force of human history. Chaired by Andrew Franklin.
Sun 12 Aug 19:30 – 21:00 Garden Theatre £12.00, £10.00
ReimagiNation Debate: Housing
HOW DO WE PROVIDE A HOME FOR EVERYONE?
Scotland’s 5 New Towns were built to alleviate urban overcrowding and poverty. Just over 70 years later, we have similarly pressing problems: housing shortages, a privately-owned rental market, and widely unaffordable house prices. Examine the future of housing with our panel: Roma Agrawal, structural engineer and author of Built, and John Boughton, author of Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing. Chaired by architectural historian Diane Watters.
Mon 13 Aug 10:00 – 11:00 Baillie Gifford Main Theatre £12.00, £10.00
Roger Billcliffe
MACKINTOSH AND THE GLASGOW STYLE
Best known for his architecture and furniture design, Charles Rennie Mackintosh was also an accomplished artist who along with three friends from the Glasgow School of Art were ‘The Four’ at the centre of the Glasgow Style of the late 19th century. In his beautifully illustrated new book Roger Billcliffe maps the graphic language of this illustrious group. Chaired by Susan Mansfield.
Mon 13 Aug 11:00 – 12:00 Garden Theatre £12.00, £10.00
John Boughton
The Grenfell Tower disaster brought home to many how dire our housing has become, fuelling the the housing crisis debate. The rise and fall of council accommodation is the theme of John Boughton’s book Municipal Dreams. The author and housing campaigner has closely examined council estates across the UK and is certain that regeneration and Right to Buy have created more problems than solutions.
Mon 13 Aug 14:00 – 15:00 Spark Theatre on George Street £12.00, £10.00
Dan Cruickshank
Colourful architectural historian Dan Cruickshank returns with his book about a building form, Skyscraper, that in fact originated in Edinburgh. Cruickshank’s focus is on the innovative 1890s, the era not only of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Otto Wagner but of Gilded Age Chicago. He charts the development of the high-rise; a symbol of modernity that’s now tainted by controversy and tragedy. Chaired by Sheena McDonald.
Mon 13 Aug 17:45 – 18:45 Garden Theatre £12.00, £10.00
Kirsten Carter McKee & E Patricia Dennison
SINGING THE PRAISES OF URBAN LANDSCAPES
The development of Scotland’s urban landscapes links the latest works from historians Kirsten Carter McKee and E Patricia Dennison. Edinburgh’s ‘Third New Town’ (aka Calton Hill and the surrounding area) is the focus for Carter McKee who finds that the architecture and design on the hill is a vivid demonstration of Scotland’s cultural identity. Dennison’s The Evolution of Scotland’s Towns considers urban heritage over 1,000 years, asking what we have lost and may continue to lose through neglect and fragmentation. Chaired by Sheena McDonald.
Tue 14 Aug 18:30 – 19:30 The Bookshop on George Street FREE: Book in advance
From Jane Austen to P G Wodehouse, music rooms have been the setting for the blossoming of partnerships and the thickening of plots. But in the memoirs of William Fiennes and Namita Devidayal the music room is a place of calm. Join Ruthanne Baxter, Museums Services Manager at the University of Edinburgh for an exploration of music rooms between book covers and across centuries.
Wed 15 Aug 17:00 – 18:00 Baillie Gifford Main Theatre £12.00, £10.00
Brian May & Roger Taylor
In the 19th century, Scotland was a pioneer of photography. A leading practitioner was George Washington Wilson, whose innovations in stereoscopic photography created some of the most captivating 3D images. Join photographic historians Dr Brian May (also the lead guitarist of Queen) and Professor Roger Taylor as they trace Wilson’s career, show key examples of his work using a stunning new 3D projection system and present their accompanying book, George Washington Wilson, Artist and Photographer, published by the London Stereoscopic Company.
Fri 17 Aug 10:30 – 11:30 Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre £8.00, £6.00
Gilbert Márkus
The period between 0 and 900AD is often dismissed as the Dark Ages but Gilbert Márkus has another view, and uses what he calls ‘luminous debris’ – bits and pieces of literary and material culture from the period – to shed light on the reality. In Conceiving a Nation, the Glasgow University researcher provides an entertaining introduction to Pictish kings, Norse settlements and Scotland’s early days. Chaired by Sheena McDonald.
Fri 17 Aug 12:15 – 13:15 Spark Theatre on George Street £12.00, £10.00
James Crawford
Few of us experience Scotland’s majesty from above. In his book Scotland from the Sky, based on the BBC Scotland series, aerial photography buff James Crawford gives us a bird’s eye view of our nation in both space and time, starting with what an early aviator saw from the cockpit and building up to the present day. What he finds is a story of conflict, countryside, innovation and people.
Sun 19 Aug 11:00 – 12:00 Garden Theatre £12.00, £10.00
Robin Crawford & Donald S Murray
MOORS AND BOGS DESERVE ANOTHER CHANCE
The moorlands of Scotland and beyond fascinate art historian Robin Crawford and playwright-poet Donald S Murray. Crawford discusses what he found after evaluating the peat areas of the Outer Hebrides for a year, documented in Into the Peatlands, while Murray extends his reach from Lewis and the Highlands to the Netherlands and Australia in The Dark Stuff, unpicking why these landscapes have been represented unfairly in folklore.
Sun 19 Aug 19:30 – 21:00 Garden Theatre £12.00, £10.00
Freedom Debate: Collective Care
In today’s world of individual freedoms and polarising beliefs, can we conceive of a structure of shared social responsibility and be sure it will work for the most vulnerable, those who find themselves at the edges of society? Using our prison and healthcare systems as models, the social activist and author of Radical Help, Hilary Cottam, examines the question with philosopher Edith Hall, designer Alice Rawsthorn, New Zealand artist and Professor Nancy Loucks, Chief Executive of the charity Families Outside.
Tue 21 Aug 19:15 – 20:15 Spark Theatre on George Street £12.00, £10.00
Richard Sennett
Richard Sennett has spent his career thinking about how to create environments in which people can live good lives. Building and Dwelling is the distillation of a lifetime’s work on a topic which has taken Sennett from New York and London to Medellin and Mumbai. Should urbanism represent society as it is or should it seek to change it? Have your say as Sennett discusses his ideas with Glasgow-based architect Jude Barber.
Wed 22 Aug 16:15 – 17:45 The Spiegeltent £12.00, £10.00
ReimagiNation: Scotland’s New Towns
For the last two years, social historian Daniel Gray has been searching for utopia. Appointed by the Book Festival as lead writer on our ReimagiNation project, Gray has gathered the stories of communities across Scotland’s five New Towns. Join him and a cast of local residents from Cumbernauld, Irvine, East Kilbride, Glenrothes and Livingston as they tell Scotland’s New Town story, 70 years after they were created.
Wed 22 Aug 19:30 – 21:00 Garden Theatre £12.00, £10.00
ReimagiNation Debate: Environment
How does our environment impact on our everyday lives? Just over 70 years ago, Scotland’s New Towns were designed to incorporate green space. Today, novelist and architect David F Ross joins author and nature writer Karen Lloyd whose latest book is The Blackbird Diaries, to discuss the interaction of nature and the built environment with social historian Daniel Gray, who has been chronicling the voices of Scotland’s New Town residents throughout the Book Festival’s ReimagiNation touring programme.
Mon 27 Aug 14:00 – 15:00 Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre £8.00, £6.00
Piers Dixon & Fiona Watson
Archaeologist Piers Dixon and medieval historian Fiona Watson have teamed up to produce A History of Scotland’s Landscapes. In this stunning book they present maps and photographs showing patterns and markings in fields, forests, mountains and roads. In doing so, they reveal the myriad ways that land use has changed over the centuries, from the passing of the Romans to the decline of heavy industry. Chaired by Rosemary Burnet.
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Download the slides from BEFS recent Land Value Capture event.
The Land Value Capture event (Riddle’s Court, 31 May 2018) held in association with jhplanning, gathered a wide variety of professional perspectives and approaches. There seemed to be a clear collective desire to continue with collaborative approaches, particularly those approaches which take different views into consideration. There is a need to increase infrastructure and housing provision, these were drivers to the current Scottish Planning review, and this event gave clear messages that there is appetite for vital work to continue in this area.
Download the slides from the event here.
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