July saw the publication of IEMA’s Principles of Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment, produced in partnership with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation.
Despite the recent loss of Liverpool’s UNESCO World Heritage Site status, the UK is still home to 23 such sites, along with a breathtaking variety of buildings and structures, monuments, parks and gardens, battlefields, townscapes, landscapes, seascapes, archaeological sites, myths, festivals and traditions. Safeguarding these assets through professional impact assessment (IA) is an important aspect of achieving sustainable development. The importance of cultural and natural heritage is explicitly recognised in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 11 (to ‘make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’): Target 11.4 highlights the need to ‘strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage’.
This publication provides a useful set of guiding principles to supplement existing guidance and give a consistent framework for cultural heritage IA in a variety of settings. The application of these principles and good practice will enable practitioners to improve the standard of their assessments, regardless of their specialism within the discipline.
Download the publication at bit.ly/IEMA_HeritageIA