Edinburgh World Heritage

Question 1

Origin of EWH, size

Answer 1

• Old and new towns of Edinburgh became WHS in 1995
• 4.5km, 4500 buildings, ancient monuments, landscapes, conservation areas

Question 2

Why is Edinburgh a WHS

Answer 2

• Celebrated as a city of international importance
• Ancient royal burgh, medieval old town, C18th and C19th new town

Question 3

Who manages Edinburgh

Answer 3

• EWH
• City of Edinburgh Council
• HES

Question 4

Governance

Answer 4

8 board members

Question 5

How many projects

Answer 5

1500

Question 6

2016 management reflection

Answer 6

• Management asked the public to reflect on Edinburgh’s WHS and issues related
• The themes that scored the lowest became the main focus of a 5 year action plan:

1) Care and maintenance
2) Control and guidance
3) Awareness of WHS status
4) Contribution of new development
5) Visitor Management

Question 7

5 year plan: Care and maintenance

Answer 7

• Objective: ensure ongoing investment in conservation
• Action: raise awareness of grants and public realm, support research demonstrating WHS best practice

Question 8

5 year plan: Control and Guidance

Answer 8

• Objective: improve tools for sustaining outstanding universal value, enforce planning laws, protect skyline
• Action: ensure OUV of the site is taken into account, integrate WHS values into city wide decisions

Question 9

5 year plan: Awareness of the WHS status

Answer 9

• Objective: Co-ordinate actions to ensure a broad understanding of WHS
• Action: clarify the qualities of WHS to help understand OUVs, publicises actions taken, produce events

Question 10

5 year plan: Contribution of new development

Answer 10

• Objective: ensure new development is high quality, architecture embraces WHS context
• Action: Provide guidance on OUV use in the planning process, advocate importance of the skyline study, influence new developments positively

Question 11

5 year plan: Visitor Management

Answer 11

• Objective: Advocate for sustainable tourism within WHS and the city in response to conserns over concentration of visitors on the royal mile, tourist shops, inform signage
• Action: explain the value of WHS to tourism industry and business community, encourage street cleanliness via waste and cleaning improvements plan, promote importance of sustainable tourism

Question 12

Grant Programme -

Answer 12

• Funding programme enables vital conservation and repair throughout the city’s historic buildings and public spaces
• Targeted to support communitis, build environmental capacity, and enable economic recovery

Question 13

Available Grants

Answer 13

• Building Conservation and Repair
• Historic Shop Front Improvements

Question 14

Available Grants: Building conservation and repair

Answer 14

• Funding stonework for roofs, limework, restoring original architectural details, repair of original windows

Question 15

Available Grants: Historic shop window

Answer 15

• Can fund fees for professional services to develop a sympathetic shop design
• construction costs associated with the shopfront improvements

Question 16

Available Grants: Community public spaces

Answer 16

• Protet, enhance, educate, support wellbeing

Question 17

Available Grants: Climate emergency

Answer 17

• Energy efficiency improvements to historic windows etc

Question 18

How do the grants work

Answer 18

• EWHS recieves funding from the City Heritage Trust Grant Scheme and then distributes it through grants
• Programmes designed to protect the integrity of the historic city by encouraging conservation
• Eligible to apply if you or an organisation own a historic property or part, or as a tenant with written landlord consent

Question 19

2023-2026 funding priorities

Answer 19

• Agreed with HES and set every 3 years
• Focus on: canongate, cowgate, lothian rd, tollcross, south bridge, forest rd
• Priority buildings: tenements in multiple ownership, historic storefronts
• Impact criteria: comprehensive external reparirs to historic buildings using traditional materials and conservation techniques

Question 20

Climate change policies

Answer 20

• Increasing the resilience of WHS against current and future impacts of climate change
• (flooding, overheating, inappropriate response actions)
• Facilitating sensetive traditions towards net-zero in the WHS
• Reduction of carbon emissions in historic buildings

Question 21

Climate Change - Manifesto

Answer 21

• September 2020
• EWH published a manifesto which proposes key principles to address these challenges, whilst also stressing the imporance of preserving the heritage values
• Calls for the historic environment to be at the centre of the city’s response to climate change
• bins and trees
• Energy retrofit of traditional buildings in Ediburgh

Question 22

Neighbourhood focus

Answer 22

• Launched June 2022
• Aims to maximise community and public value
• Empower communities to protect thier heritage
• Make buildings more energy efficient through sensetive, virtually unobtrusive means
• Respond to local needs to make the area a better place to live and do business
• Offers grants to residents and business ownsers and advice on external conservation and repair, community realm work, climate change improvements