3rd Report - Protecting built heritage

Key findings

• Up to 670,000 homes could be delivered through reuse of vacant historic buildings—nearly half the government's current housebuilding target—but heritage-led housing is not prioritised in policy or funding frameworks.
• Heritage organisations face a 'perfect storm' of rising costs (30-50% increases on some projects), fragmented short-term funding heavily weighted to capital projects, and insufficient revenue for ongoing maintenance; 81% cite funding as a major concern and one-third ended 2023-24 in deficit.
• Publicly owned heritage assets deteriorate due to fragmented responsibility across departments without clear coordination, oversight or accountability; government must lead by example.
• Acute shortages of specialist conservation skills, declining expertise in local authorities, and increasing reliance on volunteers threaten sector capacity; coordinated workforce development is lacking.
• Planning system perceived as complex, inconsistent and slow; existing heritage frameworks inadequately capture contemporary cultural value (nightclubs, music venues, grassroots spaces) and intangible heritage; place-based approaches are uneven in impact, disadvantaging rural and deprived areas.
• Significant data gaps: Heritage at Risk Register captures only Grade I and II* listed assets once in serious decline; no comprehensive national dataset on condition, ownership and maintenance of heritage assets exists.

Recommendations

• Introduce a 'heritage-to-housing' scheme combining discounted transfer/leasing of heritage assets with time-limited restoration requirements, financial support and safeguards for long-term occupation, drawing on Italy's €1 house initiatives and renovation tax incentives adapted to UK conditions.
• Establish a high street repurpose programme as core intervention in reuse-first housing strategy: require developers to prioritise reuse over demolition, empower local authorities to designate High Street Regeneration Zones, enforce strengthened use-it-or-lose-it regime for vacant buildings, oblige public bodies to repurpose underused town centre assets, ensure homes meet modern standards.
• Adopt reuse-first approach to housing policy in National Planning Policy Framework; direct departments to assess reuse options for surplus sites; ensure National Housing Delivery Fund and related programmes actively support heritage-led schemes with clear criteria and incentives.
• Heritage minister should have regular and structured meetings with Housing minister for joint oversight of heritage-led housing schemes and clear accountability.
• Establish comprehensive and standardised national dataset on condition, ownership and maintenance of heritage assets across England, jointly with Historic England; publish annually and make publicly available.
• Establish processes for identifying and protecting buildings with high cultural and social value alongside architectural significance, including acknowledging cultural importance of nightclubs, music venues and activist spaces where strong cultural significance can be demonstrated.
• Implement place-based approaches to heritage protection involving models bringing together whole range of organisations; develop community asset transfer and interim 'safe harbour' arrangements; set out how approaches will be delivered consistently across regions including lower-capacity areas.
• Introduce local high street assessment tool to compare cost and effectiveness of interventions; help local authorities select tailored regeneration packages rather than one-size-fits-all approach.

Key actors

Dame Caroline Dinenage, Baroness Twycross, Historic England, Fazima Osborn, Ben Cowell, Camilla Finlay, Michael Kill, National Lottery Heritage Fund