Historic England launches new guide to adapting historic buildings for housing

  • New report, Heritage Works for Housing from Historic England aims to address housing crisis with guidance on converting historic buildings
  • Repurposing empty historic buildings could provide up to 670,000 new homes in England
  • Historic housing is attractive to buyers with properties in proximity of listed building worth up to 10% more
  • Read Heritage Works for Housing HERE
  • Images available HERE

Historic England has launched a new report today (3 October) – Heritage Works for Housing, which aims to help tackle the national housing shortage by providing small and medium-sized developers with clear guidance on repurposing historic buildings for residential use.

The Government has been clear that more homes are urgently needed to address the housing crisis in this country. Building new is important but up to 670,000 homes could also be created by repurposing existing historic buildings in England.

Commissioned by Historic England and drafted by Deloitte, Heritage Works for Housing offers comprehensive and expert insight into the benefits and challenges of transforming historic buildings into residential use, as well as providing practical step-by-step guidance at all stages of the process.

This includes expert advice on feasibility testing, stakeholder engagement, heritage appraisal, design development, building consent and ongoing maintenance.

Redeveloping historic buildings can help address the housing shortage in England, whilst also contributing to reaching net zero, through the reuse of the thousands of existing empty and under-used buildings. It is a profitable option too, with properties worth up to 10% more just through their proximity to a listed building.

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive at Historic England, said: “This report demonstrates how historic buildings can be part of the solution to the housing crisis. It is a timely and useful guide for developers who want to adapt historic buildings for new housing, showing that historic buildings can offer attractive and sustainable living spaces that meet the needs and aspirations of modern homebuyers, while retaining their heritage significance and special character.

“It was great to have the support of Deloitte, who drew on their in-depth experience of delivering housing in historic buildings when drafting the report.”

View the report at: https://HistoricEngland.org.uk/HeritageWorksForHousing