The closing date for applications is: 11 June 2010

The Tentative List was last revised in 1999. This is the chance for all aspiring sites to be considered for possible nomination over the next five to ten years. Please spread the news of this process to appropriate organisations who might have an interest in suggesting a site.

All applications will be assessed by a panel of independent experts appointed by Government.  The new Tentative List will be submitted to Ministers for approval before going forward to UNESCO in 2011.

Full details of how to apply including the necessary forms  and an application pack can be found on the DCMS web-site at:  http://www.culture.gov.uk/consultations/6740.aspx

ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) has decided that the theme for International World Heritage Day 2010 is the Heritage of Agriculture. Whilst Liverpool’s World Heritage Site has no significant agricultural heritage, its role as the supreme example of an international seaport has resulted in an outstanding heritage in the storage and transportation of agricultural produce. Liverpool City Council has therefore organised five free guided tours of different areas of the World Heritage Site on 17^th and 18^th April 2010, looking at the agricultural exchanges, headquarters of insurance companies, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the Triangular Trade across the Atlantic and the merchants’ activities around Duke Street. The tours will be led by qualified tour guides.

For further information and for details on how to book, view the Liverpool International World Heritage Day 2010 leaflet and/or visit www.liverpoolworldheritage.com

Cultural World Heritage Sites are incredibly diverse, ranging from individual monuments and sites, such as Stonehenge and Avebury, to historic areas and cities such as Bath, Liverpool and Edinburgh. The defining characteristic that links all cultural World Heritage Sites is that the asset or property must be recognised as being of ‘outstanding universal value’.

In many countries, World Heritage Sites are provided with statutory protection under national planning and/or development legislation. This is not the case in the United Kingdom, although the outstanding international importance of the site does constitute a key material consideration to be taken into account by local planning authorities in determining planning and listed building applications. Local authorities are also required to formulate specific planning policies for protecting World Heritage Sites.

This course introduces participants to the processes of WHS nomination and inscription, and explores the impact of WHS designation on the management of a site. It will discuss some of the practical issues that flow from WHS inscription and the need to manage and protect a site’s ‘outstanding universal value’. It is aimed at professionals who would like to know more about the position of World Heritage Sites in the planning process (in England and the rest of the UK), and to those who are keen to improve the quality, relevance and effectiveness of World Heritage Site management plans and planning.

Audience
The course is open to all, but will be of particular interest to:
• World Heritage Site co-ordinators and managers or those providing advice to other property owners/managers in the vicinity of a WHS;
• Planners who have to consider the potential impact of development proposals on a WHS or within the setting or buffer zone of a WHS;
• Heritage practitioners who wish to understand the importance and impact of World Heritage Sites or who might become involved in preparing a WHS management plan or a conservation management plan for a heritage asset in close proximity to one;
• Practitioners who have an interest in working on projects for UNESCO internationally.

More information

If you have any questions about this course, please email professional.arch@conted.ox.ac.uk

A 1-day event aimed at people involved in the planning system within World Heritage Sites, including Planners, Conservation Officers, WHS Co-ordinators and Councillors.

The event, which is being held at two alternative venues, has been organised jointly by the Local Authority World Heritage Forum (LAWHF), English Heritage and ICOMOS-UK.

The Telford event will be chaired by Gillian Clarke, Secretary of LAWHF and the Newcastle upon Tyne event by Susan Denyer, Secretary of ICOMOS-UK.

For more information please e-mail jbl.telshrops@blueyonder.co.uk or telephone Jonathan Lloyd on 01952 587615

Download the programme and booking form

Please join an evening looking at contemporary architecture in the context of a World Heritage City with a special guest from Canada, Herb Stovel, an expert on World Heritage matters, to speak about his experiences with the changing landscape of international world heritage cities.

Please contact Glasgow City Heritage Trust on 0141 552 1331 to reserve your place (limited spaces available).

Maritime Greenwich World Heritage site

In celebration of 2009 “International Sites and Monuments Day”

WORLD HERITAGE AND SCIENCE

Some of the presentations are now available online – see below.

One Day Workshop 7th May 2009, 10am-4pm

Venue: The Museum of the Order of St John
St John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, London EC1M 4DA   

The history of the development of science and its application through technology is as important as any other part of our heritage to an understanding of the nature of modern human existence.

Many scientific achievements such as agriculture and industrialisation have been recognised on the World Heritage List, while other areas relating to scientific knowledge are under-represented, particularly the natural sciences (physical sciences including astronomy, chemistry, and geology, and biological sciences).

A distinguished panel of speakers explored these issues and highlight the wealth of associations between milestones in scientific thought and World Heritage and Tentative list sites in the UK.

The Programme included:

Prof. Alec Boksenberg, Chair UK UNESCO: What are the key scientific ideas we should be capturing?

Prof. Frank James, Chair of Science & Technology Network, Royal Institution: Understanding the development of ideas through physical evidence

Susan Denyer, World Heritage Advisor, ICOMOS & Secretary ICOMOS-UK: Acknowledging scientific ideas associated with World Heritage Sites

James Simpson, Partner, Simpson & Brown Architects:
Edinburgh and the Scottish enlightenment

Prof. David Mabberley, Keeper of the Herbarium, Library, Art & Archives, Kew: Kew Gardens and the evolution of plant classification

Prof. Adrian Phillips, former Chair of IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas: Landscapes that reflect Darwin’s evolutionary ideas

Prof. Hugh Torrens, Emeritus Professor of History of Science and Technology, Keele University: Dorset & East Devon Coast, Giant’s Causeway and the History of Geological Science

Prof. Ian Wood, Professor of Early Medieval History, University of Leeds:
Monkwearmouth & Jarrow and the early scientific ideas of the venerable Bede

Dr Rebekah Higgitt, Curator of Science & Technology, National Maritime Museum: Greenwich as a centre for the development of horological/ astronomical thinking

Contact:
Camilla Massara
Events Co-ordinator
ICOMOS-UK
Tel: 0207 566 0031
camillamassara@icomos-uk.org
 

This event was organised in collaboration with The Museum of the Order of St John

Launched in 1996 and issued every two years, the World Monuments Watch calls international attention to cultural heritage around the world that is threatened by neglect, vandalism, conflict, or disaster. The 2010 Watch will continue this tradition of identifying endangered sites, while also encompassing sites with compelling issues or progressive approaches that could inform the field at large.

Watch listing provides an opportunity for sites and their nominators to raise public awareness, foster local participation, advance innovation and collaboration, and demonstrate effective solutions. The Watch nomination process also serves as a vehicle for requesting WMF assistance for select projects.

Since the program’s inception, 544 sites have been included on the seven Watches. Nearly half the listed sites, representing 79 countries, have received WMF grants totaling $50 million. These WMF monies have leveraged an additional $150 million in assistance from other sources.

As the flagship advocacy program of the World Monuments Fund, the Watch is emblematic of WMF’s commitment to inspiring heritage stewardship, forging partnerships, and advancing conservation.

In sponsoring the Watch program, WMF seeks to highlight emerging issues and opportunities in the field, confront urgent challenges, foster community engagement, and build capacities and constituencies for sustaining heritage protection in the long-term.

For more information: http://www.wmf.org/watch.html

Stenness, Orkney; Copyright: Historic Scotland

Scottish Ministers announced today their decision to refuse planning permission for the proposed development of three wind turbines at Merranblo, Stromness, Orkney. The application was considered at a local public inquiry in January 2008. ICOMOS-UK appeared at the inquiry along with other organisations, such as Historic Scotland, Orkney Archaeological Trust, Orkney Skyline Concern and Scottish Natural Heritage.

The World Heritage Site (WHS) in Orkney was inscribed on the World Heritage List as “a major prehistoric cultural landscape that provides a graphic depiction of life in a remote archipelago in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago. [...] The monuments of Orkney, dating back to 3000-2000 BC, are outstanding testimony to the cultural achievements of the Neolithic peoples of northern Europe” (UNESCO World Heritage Centre). At the Inquiry ICOMOS-UK expressed concern about the adverse impact of the turbines on the historic environment of the WHS and its setting, as we believed that the site of the proposed development was located within the area of visual impact of the WHS.

The World Heritage Convention in 1972 was set out to identify, protect and preserve for future generations cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding universal value to humanity. ICOMOS-UK believed that the erection of the proposed wind turbines would compromise this very sensitive Scottish landscape and therefore have a detrimental impact on the outstanding universal value for which the WHS was inscribed in 1999.

The report by the Scottish Ministers concluded that “given the international importance of the cultural heritage resources of the area [...] the objective of preserving these monuments within an appropriate setting is consistent with the fundamental objectives of national policy”.

A Joint conference organised by the Royal Town Planning Institute, Royal Institute of British Architects and the Belper Civic Forum. This significant annual conference will be held in Belper to closely examine problems such as the conflict between economic development and conservation in a World Heritage Site context. Concessions available for local residents and Civic Forum members.

“New Challenges in Urban Design” Conference Poster

Conference Booking Form

The Bath Chronicle reported that Dyson abandoned his plan after the Government’s rejection of a funding proposal and after facing a planning inquiry last August, which was called due to opposition from the Environment Agency.

The school had originally been due to open this autumn. Read full article on the Bath school plans.