Research group: Futures for Defence Heritage

In collaboration with SCT and the University of Portsmouth School of Architecture, a group of academics and conservation professionals have come together to research and investigate the futures for defence heritage buildings and other structures. The group has two principal aims:

• To document and analyse complex changes occurred to defence structures and their uses, and to assist in establishing new frameworks and methodologies that encourage sustainable uses for local defence structures such as barracks, forts, ramparts, dry-docks, military lines, drill sheds, storehouses, roperies, etc.

• To explore international examples and approaches and advocate best practices that can be used to inform socially and culturally routed regeneration approaches for these heritage assets linking their tangible and intangible values and establishing correlations with local communities.

In addition, the group is exploring how land disposal processes and impacts work in different countries; which government department is responsible, their remit, the extent to which these agencies are responsive to local communities' needs and to local government plans, and ultimately who gains and who loses in the process of transforming defence heritage sites to civilian use.

A key focus key is to investigate to what extent the original military values and character are retained in new adaptive uses. Futures for Defence Heritage would very much like to enable the research role in advising the development of best practices that would inform the case for change to the UK system.