ABSTRACT
The re-use of historic buildings for purposes of redevelopment in the name of
‘heritage’ and ‘preservation’ is a complicated, and at times disturbing, global
phenomenon with counterparts in every major city. In England the fabric of
historic buildings, and even whole building types, have been threatened and
lost in the property boom of the 1990s – and the process continues. Some
buildings are not necessarily lost to wholesale demolition but rather to what
has, in fact, been carried out in the name of ‘preservation’. The concerns of
both preservationists and historians have been seriously distorted by powerful
market forces. Indeed, England faces a time when its ‘heritage’ will be read
largely as a generic ‘past’ erased of the lived experience which makes its vast
building stock a testimony to those who came before. The process is distinct
from the familiar re-use of old buildings in cities, understood as organic,
happening over time. It differs in crucial ways – in size, speed and scale of
investment and also in the extent to which ‘heritage’ is used to justify and
support redevelopment rather than oppose it.
