Conference on Planning - Strategic Development, Growth and the Economic Challenge

7^th November 2008, Carlton Hotel Edinburgh

Mackay Hannah.

Heritage and Development:

Conflict or Opportunity

Councillor Tom Buchanan

Convener of the Economic Development Committee

The City of Edinburgh Council

The battle between heritage and development is one which, if not resolved, threatens the vitality of our towns and cities, and brings into question our continued economic wellbeing. The City of Edinburgh stands on the frontline of this battle which is being played out in the pages of local newspapers and in our council committees. We read regularly that, "Battle-lines are drawn over city skyline", that developments are, "a threat to world heritage status" or that there is "danger of the Capital being made into a Disney production". This all sounds highly dramatic, and indeed, the language used, reflects the passions felt by the opposing sides. Whilst this makes good copy and helps sell papers, the damage that such a public spat can cause is far more lasting and serious.

The conflict stems from a perception that development and heritage sit at opposite ends of the spectrum and are thus incompatible - either we preserve or we develop, we are either historic or modern, there is either old or new.

In a city such as Edinburgh this view cannot be allowed to prevail. If our historic towns and cities are to continue to serve our needs and provide us with attractive and functional living and working environments, there must be a middle ground. We must strive to find a balance and avoid polarisation.

The need for growth and development

In Edinburgh we sit at the core of a region to which the Scottish Government is looking for a lead in the delivery of its aspirations for Scotland. The Scottish Government has clearly stated that its overarching goal is, "to focus the Government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth". This ambition will only be achievable if we play to our existing strengths, focussing upon priority industries and emerging opportunities where there is potential for advantage.

Edinburgh itself is Scotland's key strength and affords the country a great many opportunities for future growth and development. Our population is forecast to increase to nearly half a million people by 2022 due to a combination of both inward migration and natural growth. We are still, despite recent volatility, a major European financial centre and we house 6 of Scotland's top 10 listed companies. In this city, 9% of the Scottish population generates 15% of the country's wealth and, when viewed together with the Lothians, we account for 53% of Scottish Research and Development spend. Our economy is diverse, ranging from the much maligned Financial Services to the Creative Industries, Education and the Public Sector. Importantly it also includes a number of key growth sectors such as the Biosciences and Tourism. Although in the short term there are likely to be difficulties ahead, we are well placed to ride out the financial crisis and recession, and capitalise on a future upturn in the macroeconomic environment.

Edinburgh is the powerhouse of the Scottish economy and we have a responsibility, when planning for future development, to reflect that status.

Competition for Investment        

But there is no room for complacency. Recent weeks have highlighted just how fragile the global economy is and how even our most cherished institutions can be brought to their knees. Never has it been more important therefore for us to champion investment and facilitate growth. If we do not raise our game, provide attractive opportunities for investment, and allow change we will lose out on the flow of transient investment capital and suffer as a result. There are after all many others waiting in the wings to take up the opportunities we forgo.

We are living in an ever more competitive age and face challenges from cities both home and abroad. Our nearest, and most longstanding rival, Glasgow, has experienced impressive levels of development and regeneration over recent years and has seen its city centre transformed into a vibrant, highly acclaimed retail and leisure destination. Somewhat further a field, cities such as Manchester and Liverpool, which even a decade ago would have given little cause for concern, have embraced change and, as a result have been transformed into confident, ambitious rivals. In all these cities, modern development has been central to the rebranding of the cities' identities and to the generation of a renewed sense of civic pride.

On the international stage the competition is even hotter. Our fellow Northern European capital cities such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Stockholm, offer an enviable quality of life and have struck a successful balance between modern development and historic preservation. An expanded EU has opened up a range of beautiful, historic cities which seek to become new tourist destinations, whilst rejuvenated cities such as Valencia or Barcelona have developed strong events and cultural programmes which stand to rival our own.

Live Visit Study and Invest

For this reason, The City of Edinburgh Council is working hard to ensure that we continue to attract investment capital and skilled workers to the city. Through use of the Edinburgh Inspiring Capital brand we hope to convey the attributes which make the Edinburgh City Region special and show why this city region is such a great place to Live, Visit, Study and Invest.

Furthermore the development of the Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance will see us bring together a range of different tools, allowing us to shout louder and more clearly about the city's qualities and unique values in order to attract a range of fresh Talent, Trade and Tourism. Without doubt, the city's heritage stands to play a major role in achieving this.

Yet all our efforts to stimulate investment and nurture sustainable growth will be futile if we are ourselves unresolved as to whether or not development is right for Edinburgh. If we portray an image of being closed to development and are seen to be fighting with ourselves, then we stand to lose out to our rivals. That is not to say that we must welcome all development. There will be those who propose ill-suited projects and who seek merely to make money at our expense, but if we take a proactive approach and work to drive the process of change, then we will have a much greater opportunity to shape the future of our city.

Growth Pressures

Over the past few years sustained economic growth has been witnessed in Edinburgh and has transformed the face of our capital city. The infamous ‘gap' sites of the 1970s and 80s have long since been filled, replaced instead with a conference centre, cinema and leisure complex or office development. The city's outer limits have also seen much expansion and an erosion of greenbelt land in order to provide shopping malls, business parks and to meet our very real housing pressure needs. If we accept that growth is essential then we must also accept that change, on a scale similar or even greater than that already seen, is inevitable.

You see, through growth and development come great pressures. An expanding population will need new housing stock, new schools and new shops. New offices will be required to meet the needs of business and new infrastructure will be required to serve and connect the increased population. If we are to play to our strengths and maximise the gain to be achieved from our cities, with Edinburgh taking the lead, then we must face up to these pressures and accept the resultant development.

It is not therefore a question of whether or not to develop, but how to achieve sustainable growth and development. That is - of the right quality, in the right place, at the right time.

USP - Place

In order to facilitate future investment we must look at the reasons why we have been so successful in the past. Our status as an Educational hub has allowed us to cultivate a workforce with the highest level of qualification in the UK. Our workforce enjoys a disposable income 28% above Scottish norm and unemployment is considerably lower than the national average.

Edinburgh has also been awarded a range of accolades: for the best quality of life in the UK, for the highest level of resident satisfaction (95%) in the UK, and for the best UK visitor destination. Clearly there is something very good here but what is it that makes us special?

PLACE is our Unique Selling Point.  It is something which nobody can replicate and which has given us a unique advantage over our rival cities, both far and wide. PLACE is our urban landscape, our architectural fabric and our heritage.

Edinburgh is certainly blessed with a magnificent architectural legacy and cultural heritage. We have almost 5000 listed buildings and monuments, including 19% of Scotland's Category A listed buildings. We have 72 Ancient Monuments, 21 Designated Landscapes, 39 Conservation Areas, and our city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Heritage is itself a driver of our economy. It plays a key role in maintaining Edinburgh's position as Scotland's number one tourist destination (in a recent survey, 68% of visitors cited environment as one of the primary reasons to visit) and with Tourism accounting for 10% of city employment, to a value of approx £500 million, this is no insignificant sum. It is also highly unlikely that events such as the International Festival and our Hogmanay festivities would be quite so successful were it not for the city's beauty and cultural heritage.

And tourism is not the only sector in which heritage plays a role. The OECD - the Office for Economic Cooperation and Development - has recognised ‘Place Attractiveness' as one of the most important factors in the choice of location for major corporate headquarters and investments. This year Edinburgh was proclaimed the ‘Best Small City in Europe for Inward Investment' and the 6^th European city overall by the Financial Times' FDI magazine. This award was based not only upon our sectoral mix and fiscal regulations, but was the result of a range of factors which included place and population. The FDI award recognises quality of life and place as key drivers of city competitiveness.

Golden Goose

So it can easily be argued that one of the primary reasons why Edinburgh has been quite so successful is due in a great part to its heritage. People choose to live here because it is attractive, inspiring and facilitates a high quality of life. The key therefore must be to allow development but not kill to the golden goose.

And this is where we meet conflict - how do we balance the competing interests of the heritage lobby with those of the development community?

Opportunities for Growth

Whilst there is much to celebrate in our city, our self image is sometimes based upon perception rather than reality. Yes, our Old Town is worthy of praise, its atmosphere is second to none, and are many wonderful examples of architecture and public space. However, if you dig deeper, the remains of an industrial past can be seen and, in places, there is considerable dereliction and decay. It is by no means perfect, and can certainly be improved upon.

The New Town too, whilst pure in form and overall a triumph of urban design, has its fair share of weaknesses and failings. The streetscape is far from ideal, the roads congested and, on Princes Street in particular, there are a fair number of second rate and under used buildings. Though we receive much acclaim, our city centre is, in parts, still something of a ‘rough diamond'.

This city is a living entity, and as such there is a need for adaptability and flex in our built environment. Changing needs and new uses will require historic buildings to be adapted. Our urban heritage cannot be seen as static.

Conflict

The city's status as a World Heritage Site has been symbolic of the conflict between development and heritage. In August I myself was quoted in the press as doubting the value of the city's world heritage status and questioning whether such an accolade was merely a bauble that is nice to have but ultimately worthless. These comments may have been somewhat inflammatory and I would like to clarify my position. While I do somewhat doubt if people choose to come to the city as a direct result of its World Heritage Status, I recognise that it places us alongside a range of exemplary sites such as the Taj Mahal, Versailles and the Kremlin. On Wednesday I attended a conference which sought to determine how and if we are ‘World Class', well, our World Heritage Status means exactly that - in terms of heritage, we are in the top league.

It is not that I feel we should abandon or ignore this status, indeed quite to the contrary, it is something to celebrate, but we must not allow it to be used as a tool to fight against change.

UNESCO will next week be visiting the city to assess the state of heritage preservation, having previously voiced some concern about a number of recently approved major developments. I hope they will remember that our World heritage Status was awarded to Edinburgh as a living city, not to us as an isolated monument or structure. UNESCO must expect and accept change in Edinburgh, while we must ensure that change acts to enhance and improve the city.

But it is not just major developments which see anti-development forces peddle fears about the impact upon World Heritage Status. Regularly we see the WHS being used as a tool to champion stagnation and fight against almost any development in the city - both within and outwith the WHS itself. In this circumstance it is in danger of becoming not a badge of honour for the city, but a symbol of our lacking confidence and fears for the future. It is the value of this use of our heritage status that I question.

Facilitating Quality Development

If we accept the principle of focussed sustainable development then we are in a much stronger position to use heritage as a tool to achieve planning gain. Edinburgh is special, developers know that and are willing, if pressed, to invest more. We can thus use our heritage status, listed buildings and international acclaim to set a standard for development which is well above average. As a result, development will take place in a manner which is in keeping with the quality of our city's existing architectural fabric.

But to gain in this manner we will have to change our approach to planning and engage more. We must become champions of change,  ‘development friendly', though by no means individual developer friendly.

We must foster an environment where developers feel able to make larger, calculated investments. This will mean providing:

• 1. A degree of certainty that development of some form will be allowed
• 2. Clear and concise planning guidance
• 3. A speedy and efficient planning process

New Planning Act

The new Planning Act Scotland 2007 recognises this need and seeks, through legislation to deliver such an environment. The Act requires Local Authorities to take a proactive role and encourages engagement between planning authorities, developers and the local community at the earliest stages of development formation. Early engagement allows views to be taken on board and changes made without the incurring of excessive costs. Ultimately, the aim is to achieve a tri-partite parity of esteem between key development stakeholders.

John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth has further emphasised the need for a new approach, urging us to establish a planning system which ‘helps, not hinders'.

In Edinburgh, the Council is ahead of the game. We have taken a pioneering role in our actions to improve the efficiency of the planning system and have restructured to make more effective use of available resources. Additional funding has been allocated and specific teams created to help steer major planning applications through the process with benefits already being reported to me by developers and planning officials alike.

The Future

A planning process which is fit for purpose will be essential if we are to achieve our ambitions for the city. From the Waterfront and the Bioquater to the City Centre and the Airport, future development in Edinburgh looks set to be on a scale not seen since the development of the New Town itself in the late 18^th Century.

We cannot hide from this challenge. If we bury our heads in the sand it is most likely that development will happen regardless. However, if we determine our own vision and act as development facilitators then we have a much greater chance of achieving our vision.

The String of Pearls Framework, the ambitious rejuvenation plan for Princes Street and the historic City Centre, is reliant upon just such a process. This highly complex project will only be delivered through close engagement between the Council, investors, retailers and the city as a whole. Engagement is essential if change is to take place and the project's three core principles are to be met. These principles are that:

• 1. The needs of the historic environment must be reconciled with the requirements of contemporary users
• 2. The site's potential must be recognised through retail-led mixed use developments
• 3. A high quality built environment and public realm must be created

United behind a shared vision we stand, through this project, to see major changes to the city centre such as the redevelopment of the St James Quarter, which will successfully blend contemporary architecture, quality environment and a vibrant economy with the existing historic fabric and cultural heritage.

Best Practice

There are of course examples of modern development in the city which sit comfortably within an historic context and of which we can rightly be proud. The redevelopment of St Andrew Square and the Grassmarket have provided us with attractive and contemporary public spaces, the National Museum, Storytelling Centre and the Scottish Parliament are also exciting additions to the urban landscape. And Quartermile, the development of the old Royal Infirmary site, is successfully blending the old with the new. It is particularly worth remembering the significant number of Grade A listed buildings which were demolished in order to facilitate that development, but that ultimately the net gain for the city will be a new and interesting neighbourhood.

However, for truly inspiring examples of best practice we must look to some of our international competitor cities. These cities show that you do not undermine your status through allowing high quality design and development, indeed much to the contrary you improve upon it.

Borneo Sporenburgh in Amsterdam is an outstanding example of modern urban planning - creating in Amsterdam's eastern docklands a strikingly modern, yet quintessentially Dutch townscape.

In Copenhagen, the Dutch National Opera House or Operaen sits at the heart of the city, opposite palaces and churches and is unashamedly monumental in scale.

Meanwhile Barcelona has made a name for itself though exciting, radical buildings by architects such as Gaudi, Miralles and Calatrava which sit comfortably alongside its historic core.

There are many other examples of a successful fusion between development and heritage, historic and modern to which we can look. We really should not be so fearful of change.

Conclusion

A city that is complete is a dead city. Edinburgh is not complete but is a living organism and must therefore continuously evolve and adapt. Yet heritage is what makes Edinburgh special and gives this city a competitive edge over rivals both near and far.

As much as we do not seek to become a tourist theme park with heritage as the only string to our bow, we do not want to see unchecked development dilute our Unique Selling Point. We do not want to be Anytown, Anyplace, Anycountry.

If our aim is to achieve sustainable economic growth, then that must be more than just increased GDP and reduced Carbon emissions, it is about Economy, Society and Environment. We must nurture all three elements if we are to successfully maintain and build upon the prosperity of our past.

Yes we are open for business, but not at any cost. We must recognise this city's value and use our heritage as a tool to our mutual advantage. Heritage and international acclaim will allow us to set a standard far higher than the average, letting us demand and ultimately achieve more.

It is not a question of heritage or development. There should be no battle. We can, and must, preserve the heritage of the past whilst adding the heritage of the future.