Conserving the city's built heritage (22-Sep-06)

Conserving the City’s Built Heritage

 

The city’s structures – our built heritage – largely define the place where we live.  They deserve appropriate respect, but rarely receive it.  Even structures of acknowledged architectural or historic merit are destroyed (the Inn on the Park or Riverdale Hospital) or are substantially changed (Maple Leaf Gardens will become a grocery store). 

 

As a city and as a society, we need to place more value on what has been built, and we should not be required to make a strenuous case of superb design or historical importance for every building that is to be retained. As in many European cities, there should be an assumption that what is build will not be unreasonably destroyed. .  

 

As well, our built heritage represents a substantial existing investment of human resources and energy which, if destroyed, is wasted.  A statistic from English Heritage concludes there is enough energy embedded in a Victorian town house to fuel a car to drive twice around the world.  An American study concludes that the creation of and construction with five bricks contain energy equivalent to what is in one gallon of gasoline.  It is generally acknowledged that at least one quarter of the total waste in land fill sites is building waste.

  

 

Here's an action plan:

1.  City Council must commit itself to protecting buildings of cultural value (that is of architectural, historic or heritage interest) from demolition.  New structures must fit with existing buildings of cultural value.

 

2.  City Council must commit itself to protecting from demolition existing structures with a floor space of more than 100 square meters. A presumption must be established that such structures will be retained unless there is a substantial public benefit available in no other way than demolition. In that way, the city can encourage new structures to be integrated with existing buildings.

 

3.  City Council should obtain legislation permitting it to say no to unnecessary  demolition.

 

4.  City Council should retain sufficient staff trained in heritage building retention and in building conservation.

 

5.  City Council should set a goal of substantially reducing building waste in landfill sites, establish standards for recycling building materials, and impose significant taxes on building waste.

 

Redrafted: September 22, 2006.