To celebrate Heritage Open Days and Bristol Doors Open Day, we
decided to make the focus of the September Shape My City session – heritage.
After a summer break the city shapers were joined
by Pete Insole, Historic Environment Officer for Bristol City Council. The session kicked off with the group sharing heritage
buildings that they liked – these ranged from Trooper’s Hill chimney to Acton Court, the Bristol harbourside to Guadi’s La Pedrera.
Next the group looked at a diverse range of photos of
heritage 'listed buildings’ from around the UK – these included a Victorian
gentlemen’s urinals, a rural duck pond, a thatched bus stop, iron railings, a
prison, a crane, a bus depot, some Banksy public art, a power station, a
concrete block of flats, some cobbles and the zebra crossing on Abbey Road
(featured on a Beetles album cover). The group were asked to think about why
the buildings were considered ‘significant’ enough to be listed – the
activity highlighted that reasons for listing were both social and
architectural.
Pete explained about the listed building system and how the Fairbairn steam crane featured on one of the images, and located on the Bristol harbourside is so significant it is designated as
‘scheduled ancient monument’- the highest form of listing. Pete told the group that
there are over 4,000 listed buildings in Bristol and a third of the city is a
conservation area.
Pete shared his career path with the group, from studying
history and archaeology at Bangor University to volunteering for Bristol
Museums on archeological digs including one in Queen Square. Pete became an archaeologist just at the time
when history/archaeology became an important part of the planning process and
for over 10 years he worked as an archaeologist for BARAS. Pete then started working for Bristol City Council on the Historic Environment Register. Pete now works as part of the council's City Design Group, with colleague Nat (an urban designer) who also attended the session. As well as advising on heritage buildings, Pete has developed the Know Your Place website and app – a fantastic resource that reveals historic maps, paintings and photographs of Bristol as well as local list nominations and oral histories contributed by local residents of the city. Know Your Place currently has over 1,000 objects listed on the community layer and is a fascinating way of exploring Bristol’s past.
Pete is really
keen for anyone in the city to share places in their neighbourhood that are
important to them through Know Your Place. He is also passionate about getting everyone involved in the
heritage built environment and placemaking, and works with school and community
groups through an initiatives such as Local Learning and Heritage Schools.
Pete explained to the group that everything we see around us
in the city is there as a result of a decision someone made in the past. He discussed the importance of heritage-led regeneration in cities like
Bristol, and the group went out on the Harbourside and Queen Square to find out
about the layers of history that have shaped what these places look like now.
The group were surprised to hear that up until 2000 a dual carriageway ran
through Queen Square and that it was the scene of violent riots in 1831.
The heritage workshop helped the city shapers get a real sense of how the
landscape of the city is always changing and how decisions made now about
which buildings get demolished, and the style/ quality of new buildings being constructed, will have a big impact for many years to come.
Pete highlighted that urban designers and architects shaping cities now, need to consider the existing heritage and the heritage of the future that they are creating.
Other useful heritage links:
Festival of Archaeology
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