Introduction:

After the very successful first ‘London 2030 Skyline’ Symposium on tall buildings, on 5th July 2024, we now turn to the City’s heritage, in particular how modern buildings complement old buildings.

Why do people usually prefer the old parts of cities to the new ones?  Is it the variety and history of ancient buildings? Is it perceptions about their texture, design and longevity? Is it the extent to which a building impacts the heart as well as the head? A challenge, then, for our sector when designing and constructing a new urban development is to create buildings and environments that display qualities that people believe are genuinely positive responses to their perceptions.

Objectives:

Planners, architects, and constructors need to create the new but also care for the old to bring out innate qualities, and to restore a building’s logic. This endeavour and work require great skill and patience. Done well, restoration demonstrates a clear understanding of the original and enhances its qualities. The test is whether the outcome is more liveable, workable and beautiful than before.

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Some of the most interesting discussions occur when opposing points of view are expressed. Such a debate is at the heart of the 2nd symposium! We have impressive speakers who will discuss the relationship between heritage and modernity in the built environment. They will reveal that when both are managed together, effectively, the whole of the City of London is the winner.

On specifics, our speakers will address the need to show our sector’s mettle through:

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•The innovative “don't waste buildings” campaign

•Carbon assessments as a prerequisite for planning, to stem the demolition of old buildings

•Investment in skills to create a regenerative industry; to ‘retrofit, recycle, and reuse

•Living by a new mantra of ‘make do and mend’ that is transformative and less destructive

•Determining the true value of old buildings places - maintaining and increasing a building’s measurable commercial worth, but at the same time placing a value upon less tangible, harder-to-define, elements.

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Context and Change:

The City of London represents two millennia of life and of buildings, as successive generations have shaped it to meet the needs of the day.  There are more than 600 listed buildings in the square mile (including many Wren churches), 28 conservation areas, 48 scheduled monuments and four historic parks and gardens. 

London is constantly changing. The City of London is not just a global financial centre, it is a modern and vibrant hub of work, culture, art, and innovation with world-class museums and galleries. The new Museum of London will soon be one of them! Our is also a diverse and multicultural city. The combination of heritage and modernity makes it unique.