HERITAGE CONSERVATION PRINCIPLES & PRACTICE

HERITAGE

CONSERVATION PRINCIPLES &

PRACTICE

BOWEN ISLAND HERITAGE COMMISSION WORKSHOP DONALD LUXTON & ASSOCIATES, AUGUST 29, 2019

HERITAGE CONSERVATION PRINCIPLES & PRACTICE

1. Introduction to Heritage Conservation Principles 2. Overview of Heritage Conservation (Jurisdictions)

• World Heritage Sites

• Canada National Historic Sites

• Canadian Register of Historic Places 3. Heritage Conservation

4. Interventions / Additions

5. Heritage Conservation Tools

WHEN DID HERITAGE

CONSERVATION BEGIN IN

BRITISH COLUMBIA?

1890…

The Nanaimo Bastion was relocated by the Native Sons of B.C. to save it from

being torn down.

37 YEARS AFTER IT WAS BUILT…

1950s-1960s

• 1958 BC Centennial – establishment of Barkerville

• Pennsylvania Station in New York torn down in 1963

• National Historic Preservation Act passed in the United States in 1966

• Interest in local museums sparked by Canada’s Centennial in 1967 (e.g. B.C.

Museum, Vancouver Museum, Bowen Island Museum & Archives)

• Founding of local Historical Societies (e.g. Port Moody Historical Society 1969)

1970s

• Birth of the modern conservation movement

• Allied to the environmental conservation movement

• Provincial designation of Gastown and Chinatown as Historic Areas in 1971

• Canadian Inventory of Historic Building 1970-76

• Birks Building, Vancouver, demolished 1974

• Heritage Conservation Act passed in 1977; founding of B.C. Heritage Trust and B.C. Heritage Branch.

• Heritage Branch tackles Nelson in the late 1970s as a test case for historic revitalization.

• Start of heritage inventories throughout the province

• Victoria’s ‘This Old House’ and ‘This Old Town’

• U.S. preservation tax credits enacted in 1976

1980s

• Ongoing development of municipal heritage inventories and heritage programs

• Victoria establishes a Heritage Register in 1980

• Vancouver Heritage Resource Inventory 1983-1986 lists 2,700 sites

• Heritage planning controls enacted in First Shaughnessy in 1982

• RT (‘Retention’) Zoning established in Vancouver in Mount Pleasant and Kitsilano

• Provincial task force on heritage conservation,

‘Project Pride’ that was chaired by Kim Campbell, 1987

1994

• Heritage Conservation Statutes Amendment Act passed in 1994 (new heritage tools for

municipalities)

• Revolutionized municipal heritage planning by including a section on Heritage in the Municipal (now Local Government) Act

• Also amended 21 other provincial Acts including the Cemetery Act, Heritage Conservation Act, etc.

• Enabled the establishment of local Heritage

Registers and Community Heritage Commissions

• Enabled designation of interior features

• Provided enhanced tools and incentives such as Heritage Revitalization Agreements

2003

• The Federal Government launches the Historic Places Initiative, which includes the Canadian

Register of Historic Places (historicplaces.ca) and the ‘Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada’

• Statements of Significance become the standard format for the documentation of Heritage Register sites

• This marks the adoption of ‘values-based assessment’ as Canadian best practice

“Values-Based Heritage Assessment”

”

CONSERVATION PRINCIPLES

Canada’s National

Historic

Framework

Canada, Heritage Value is defined as:

The aesthetic, historic,

scientific, cultural, social, or spiritual importance for past, present or future generations.

HERITAGE VALUE

A Values-Based

Approach to Heritage Conservation

• Considers the multi-valent values of the heritage resource

• Examines the tangible, character- defining elements of these values

• Assesses heritage value through a Statement of Significance

• Discuss the context of the conservation of the resource:

preservation, restoration, rehabilitation

• Strives for minimal intervention

(based on Standards & Guidelines)

• Examines broader environmental, social/cultural and economic aspects

WHY CONSERVE OUR HERITAGE?

OUR HERITAGE:

• Provides a deep and inspirational sense of

connection to the community and landscape, the past and lived experiences

• Is a tangible expression of community identity and experience

• Is a meaningful reflection of the diversity of our

experience

• Is irreplaceable…

W O R L D, N A T I O N A L , P R O V I N C I A L A N D L O C A L J U R I S D I C T I O N S

• International Charters and Conventions (“Doctrinal Texts”) date back to the Athens Charter (1931) and form the basis of World Heritage protocols.

• Informed international discussion has defined the principles that form the basis of recognized heritage conservation practice.

• Values-based heritage principles are now globally recognized.

• Different levels of heritage value are recognized by different authorities in different jurisdictions.

INTERNATIONAL HERITAGE PROTOCOLS

WORLD HERITAGE SITES

In 1972, the Member States of UNESCO adopted the

Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (better known as the World Heritage Convention). The Convention complements heritage

conservation programmes at the national level and provides for the establishment of a World Heritage Committee and a World Heritage Fund.

Current Count: 1,052 – 814 cultural, 203 natural & 35 mixed properties in 157 States Parties.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list

Canada is one of 165 States Parties signatory to the WHS Protocol, with 8 cultural sites and 10 natural sites.

CANADA’S NATIONAL HISTORIC SITES

National historic sites are places of profound importance to Canada. They bear witness to this nation's defining moments and illustrate its human creativity and cultural traditions. Each national historic site tells its own unique story, part of the

greater story of Canada, contributing a sense of time, identity, and place to our understanding of Canada as a whole.

There are more than 976 national historic sites in Canada; of these, 171 are administered by Parks Canada.

Canada’s National

Historic Framework

• Parks Canada, as part of its National Historic Sites System has revised its thematic framework

• This framework is a way to organize or define history and to identify and place sites, persons and events in context

• The thematic framework for National Historic Sites provides a

comprehensive way of looking at Canadian history

• The thematic framework organizes Canadian history into five broad, inter- related themes, each of which has a number of sub-themes

• The categories of this broad thematic framework can be used as an

overarching organizing element for the development of local thematic

frameworks

PARKS CANADA THEMATIC FRAMEWORK

BRITISH COLUMBIA HERITAGE BRANCH

• Enables Local Government Planning

• Also responsible for Archaeology

CANADIAN REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

Sites listed on Federal, Provincial, Territorial and Local Registers

Historic Urban Landscape (HUL)

• Originally adopted in November 2011; has been updated

• Does not replace existing conservation

approaches; it is an additional tool to integrate policies and practices of conservation of the built environment into the wider goals of urban

development

• Recognizes a “historic layering of cultural and natural values”

• Aimed at preserving the quality of the human environment and enhancing the productive and sustainable use of urban spaces, while

recognizing their dynamic character, and promoting social and functional diversity.

• Integrates the goals of urban heritage conservation and social and economic development.

• Traditional and innovative tools adapted to local context:

– civic engagement tools;

– knowledge and planning tools;

– regulatory systems; and – financial tools.

UNESCO PROTOCOLS

INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICE

Certified Local Government Program

Jointly administered by the National Park Service (NPS) and the State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs), each local community works through a certification process to become recognized as a Certified Local Government (CLG). Once certified CLGs become an active partner in the Federal Historic Preservation Program. . Each community gains access to benefits of the program and agrees to follow required Federal and State requirements.

A Certified Local Government must meet the following minimum goals:

• Establish a qualified historic preservation commission.

• Enforce appropriate State or local legislationfor the

designation and protection of historic properties. In most cases this is done in the form of a local ordinance.

• Maintain a system for the survey and inventory of local historic resources.

• Facilitate public participation in the local preservation, including participation in the National Register listing process.

• Follow additional requirements outlined in the State's CLG Procedures. Each state has Procedures for Certification that may establish additional requirements for becoming a CLG in that State.

UNITED STATES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICE

HERITAGE CONSERVATION

HERITAGE

CONSERVATION

• The physical and planning processes

involved in looking after a cultural place to retain its cultural significance into the future.

• Ultimately based on a respect for existing

fabric, use, associations and meanings and

requires a cautious

approach of changing as much as necessary but as little as possible.

XXX

NINE STANDARDS FOR ALL HERITAGE PROJECTS

1. Conserve the heritage value of a historic place. Do not remove, replace, or substantially alter its intact or repairable character-defining elements. Do not move a part of a historic place if its current location is a character-defining element.

2. Conserve changes to a historic place, which over time, have become character- defining elements in their own right.

3. Conserve heritage value by adopting an approach calling for minimal intervention.

4. Recognize each historic place as a physical record of its time, place and use. Do not create a false sense of historical development by adding elements from

other historic places or other properties or by combining features of the same property that never coexisted.

5. Find a use for a historic place that requires minimal or no change to its character-defining elements.

THE STANDARDS

NINE STANDARDS FOR ALL HERITAGE PROJECTS

6. Protect and, if necessary, stabilize a historic place until any subsequent

intervention is undertaken. Protect and preserve archaeological resources in place. Where there is potential for disturbance of archaeological resources, take mitigation measures to limit damage and loss of information.

7. Evaluate the existing condition of character-defining element to determine the appropriate intervention needed. Use the gentlest means possible for any intervention. Respect heritage value when undertaking an intervention.

8. Maintain character-defining elements on an ongoing basis. Repair character- defining element by reinforcing the materials using recognized conservation methods. Replace in kind any extensively deteriorated or missing parts of character-defining elements, where there are surviving prototypes.

9. Make any intervention needed to preserve character-defining elements

physically and visually compatible with the historic place and identifiable upon close inspection. Document any intervention for future reference.

THE STANDARDS

PRESERVATION

The action or process of protecting, maintaining, and/or stabilizing the existing materials, form, and integrity of a historic place or of an individual component, while

protecting its historic value.

STANDARDS 1 TO 9 APPLY

REHABILITATION

The action or process of making possible a continuing or compatible contemporary use of a historic place or an individual component, through repair, alterations, and/or additions, while protecting its heritage value.

THREE ADDITIONAL STANDARDS RELATING TO REHABILITATION

10. Repair rather than replace character-defining elements. Where character-defining elements are too severely deteriorated to repair, and where sufficient physical

evidence exists, replace them with new elements that match the forms, materials and detailing of sound versions of the same elements. Where there is insufficient physical evidence, make the form, material and detailing of the new elements compatible with the character of the historic place.

11. Conserve the heritage value and character-defining elements when creating any new additions to a historic place and any related new construction. Make the new work physically and visually compatible with, subordinate to and distinguishable from the historic place.

12. Create any new additions or related new construction so that the essential form and integrity of a historic place will not be impaired if the new work is removed in the future.

RESTORATION

The action or process of accurately revealing, recovering or representing the state of a historic place or of an individual component, as it appeared at a particular period in its

history, while protecting its heritage value.

TWO ADDITIONAL STANDARDS RELATING TO REHABILITATION

13. Repair rather than replace character-defining elements from the restoration period. Where character-defining elements are too severely deteriorated to repair and where sufficient physical evidence exists, replace them with new elements that match the forms, materials and detailing of sound versions of the same elements.

14. Replace missing features from the restoration period with new features whose forms, materials and detailing are based on sufficient physical, documentary and/or oral evidence.

Congregation Emanu-el National Historic Site, Victoria (1863)

“The greenest building is the one already built…”

Carl Elefante, Quinn Evans Architects

THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABILITY

Economic

Social

Environmenta l Heritage

Three Pillars of Sustainability

BENEFITS OF HERITAGE CONSERVATION

ENVIRONMENTAL

• Reduced waste and landfill

• Conserved embodied energy

• Reused and recycled buildings and material

• Reduced sprawl and impact on infrastructure

ECONOMIC

• Reduced development costs

• Increased property value

• Less wasteful: Life cycle costing model

• Supports local economies

SOCIAL

• Conserves communities and identities

• Provides affordable housing

• Urban revitalization

Athena Institute: Life Cycle Assessment

ADDITIONS TO HISTORIC BUILDINGS

* Make the new work physically and visually

compatible with, subordinate to and distinguishable from the historic place.

Enabling Legislation: Local Government Act Local governments are enabled with the powers, duties and functions necessary for fulfilling their purposes, including stewardship of public assets, and the flexibility to respond to the different needs and changing circumstances of their communities.

HERITAGE CONSERVATION

TOOLS

Community Heritage Register:

• Is an official listing of properties having heritage value, passed by resolution of local government.

• Inclusion on a Heritage Register is based on

community heritage value, determined through the application of evaluation criteria.

• Inclusion on a Heritage Register does not constitute heritage designation or any other form of permanent heritage protection.

Community Heritage Register:

• Enables monitoring of proposed changes through municipal flagging and the permit process.

• Allows for consideration of development options.

Temporary holds can be placed on approvals.

• Can act as the threshold of eligibility for heritage incentives.

Bowen Island Heritage Register:

• Ten initial sites have been identified.

• Statements of Significance have been prepared.

• As part of an overall values-based heritage

management system, a formal heritage evaluation system should be developed to fully assess heritage value, based on best heritage practice.

Community Heritage Register:

Allows alternate compliance and exemptions under:

• BC Building Code

• Energy Efficiency Act

• Homeowners Protection Act

Heritage Incentives

Property Owners may benefit from heritage incentives:

• financial incentives

• development incentives

• administrative incentives

Thank you.