Heritage is a key part of a living, developing city, finds new report from Extent Heritage

Last year, the Heritage Council of Victoria commissioned Extent Heritage to compile a report on the value of heritage to the community. This week, we’re proud to announce that our findings have been published.

The report, ‘Why Heritage?’, is the result of an exhaustive review of past studies – local, nationally, and internationally. Written by Dr Leo Martin and Vivian Lu of Extent Heritage and Kate Clark of Public Value Consulting, the report looks at the ways heritage can contribute to a different aspect of society.

The key facts of the report are as follows:

  • ·Services provided by cultural heritage assets to the Victorian economy are worth $1.1 billion annually – and even that is likely an underestimate.

  • Culture and heritage visitors play a vital role in the tourism economy.

  • The heritage sector creates jobs across arts and culture, tourism, in construction and the environment in the public and private sectors.

  • As well as the cultural and economic value heritage brings, its actual impacts on development are minimal: over 90% of buildings on the Victorian Heritage Register are in use every day.

Heritage is also a vital part of a circular economy:

  • ·The greenest building is the one that already exists. If we ignore embodied carbon, we underestimate the emissions from new buildings by 25%. Demolishing an existing building and replacing it with a new one contributes to an increase in carbon emissions.

  • Research from the US suggests that repairs and refurbishments create more jobs than new buildings, and with the need for retro-fitting skills and know-how, this sector is likely to grow.

“We hear so much about how heritage acts as an impediment to development, but we hear very little about how heritage assets can support positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes,” says co-author Leo Martin, National Technical Lead of Extent Heritage’s Heritage Places team. “Any attempt to measure the economic impact of applying heritage controls needs to consider these broader benefits.”

“This report adds much-needed nuance to the conversation.”

The report is available on the Heritage Council’s website: https://lnkd.in/gS7i2ium

Maxine Bengad