Which Is the Most Cost-efficient Alternative, a New Build or the Rehabilitation of a Cultural Heritage Site?

Given the choice between the rehabilitation of a cultural heritage site and a new build, recent history in Norway shows that the new build is often chosen, with the justification of cost efficiency. This paper compares approaches to cultural heritage sites from a property development and a protection of cultural heritage point of view to test this judgment. These two professional fields overlap and need to cooperate. Thus, a closer look at their similarities and differences should provide valuable insights. This paper applies a case-study method to a large country estate building at a NATO air base in need of office space. The building has legal protection at the national level. Costs are calculated for three scenarios for new offices: rehabilitation of the protected building, a new build, and renting. All alternatives include legally mandated maintenance of the protected building, as the same public body carries out both tasks. Of the three alternatives, the new build and renting were the most expensive over a thirty-year time span. Rehabilitation was the most economical. These findings indicate that owners of protected buildings should investigate possibilities to activate such buildings, due to not only their cultural heritage values, but also their economic potential

Kulturminner og analyse: Vurdering av vernede bygninger innenfor kulturminnevern, arkitektur og offentlig investeringsanalyse

Analyse av vernede bygninger utføres innenfor flere fag, slik som kulturminnevern, arkitektur og offentlig investeringsanalyse, og på vesensforskjellig vis. De fagfeltene som er involvert i vernede bygninger og ideelt sett skal samarbeide, har vidt forskjellige perspektiver og varierende grad av bevissthet rundt vernede bygninger og verdiene disse besitter. Avhandlingens mest kritiske funn er empiriske data som viser at offentlig investeringsanalyse i dag har manglende diskusjon av både nytte og kostnad forbundet med vernede bygninger. Slik analyse har manglende diskusjon av vernede bygningers verdi og potensiale for bruk, og av følgekostnader for fraflyttede vernede bygninger ved diskusjon av nybyggalternativ. Manglende diskusjon av kulturminneverdier og kostnadene forbundet med dem er viktige funn, fordi offentlig investeringsanalyse veileder politikeres beslutninger ved valg av konsept. Avhandlingens konklusjon er at offentlig investeringsanalyse vedrørende vernede bygninger vil kunne tjene på å vektlegge kulturminner og inkludere andre fagperspektiver i analysen av vernede bygninger, fordi det kan gi et mer komplett bilde for beslutningstager. Samtidig kan arkitektur og kulturminnevern få større politisk gjennomslag gjennom å engasjere seg i offentlig investeringsanalyse i større grad

Cultural heritage in project management: project appraisal and quality assurance in the early phase of major public investments

This paper is an analysis of how cultural heritage values are handled in documentation related to early phase evaluations of major public investment projects in Norway. This study was instigated by an apparent lack in the consideration of cultural heritage values in such documentation. We conducted a case study document analysis to see how cultural heritage issues are addressed in the early phases of projects. Methodologically, the paper analyses the use of vocabulary related to cultural heritage values in the documentation. There is uniform documentation available from these projects. The results suggest that cultural heritage values are mentioned but seldom substantially discussed in the documents. Cultural heritage values tend to be discussed using non-specific language. There is an emphasis on legislation regarding cultural heritage and how the legislation can be a problem. Today’s discussion of cultural heritage values appears to be lacking and in need of a strengthened framework. The methodology applied in this study aims to provide a structured search method for the unstructured discussion of cultural heritage issues in these extensive documents.submittedVersionThis is an [Original Manuscript] of an article published by Taylor & Francis in [Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal] on [12 May 2017], available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14615517.2017.132280

Proposed aspects for evaluation of the value of spaces in historic buildings

There is an unrealised potential for new uses of cultural heritage sites. The purpose of this paper is to identify evaluation aspects for assessing the potential of new uses for cultural heritage places and test the proposed aspects in a case study. The proposed framework serves as a tool for understanding the value of spaces for historic buildings. The paper provides a short introduction to the different aspects typically included in the different types of evaluation. We pursue a broad approach to attain a holistic perspective on evaluating cultural heritage places, including evaluation approaches from facilities and project management as well as architectural and cultural heritage management. Based on the review, we propose a framework that consists of key evaluation aspects. We distinguish among nine primary aspects to assess cultural heritage places: history, architecture, structure, environment, legislation, plans, time, users and economy. The proposed set of aspects is applied to evaluate a pilot case and its potential for new use. Two types of results are presented: the proposed aspects for evaluation of a site and reflections based on their application. The case is “Værnes Hovedgård”, a 19th-century manor house located on an air base. The case study illustrates a situation in which a cultural heritage site loses its original function because of a combination of an unfortunate location and physical characteristics. The historic aspect is clearly relevant to this type of site. The building is sound and healthy, and it receives continuous maintenance. This building has direct funding for maintenance but it generates no income and is rarely in use. We discuss different approaches for alternative use, based on the proposed evaluation aspects. These aspects could be applied to evaluating other cultural heritage sites with special focus on the potential for use