Watchdog MPs have grilled property chiefs from two of government’s biggest departments over the state of their heritage buildings, following concerns from Historic England.
Members of parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee yesterday asked senior Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence officials why they are struggling to take adequate care of listed buildings that form part of their vast property estates.
Their concerns came after government heritage adviser Historic England identified the MoJ and the MoD as poor performers in terms of protecting their heritage assets.
Select committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage referred to evidence from Historic England that some organisations adopted a strategy of “managed decline”, effectively allowing some assets to deteriorate safely.
She asked Defence Infrastructure Organisation director of strategy and plans Maj Gen Andy Sturrock how far that was the case at the MoD.
“I don’t think we’d recognise ‘managed decline’ as a positive policy action,” he replied. “As far as our heritage buildings are concerned, we’re keen to look after them.”
Sturrock said that heritage buildings like Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and historic air-bases were an important part of the Armed Forces’ power and identity.
“We want to look after all of our buildings, whether they are new or whether they are historic, as best we can,” he said. “But there is a reality that budgets don’t stretch as far as we would wish, and therefore there is a question of prioritisation.”
Sturrock said that the MoD has 688 buildings that are listed. Of those, 47 are assessed as being in poor condition. Twenty-six are on Historic England’s “heritage at risk” list.
Sturrock said that 11 of the risk-list buildings are on training areas, some of which are used for live ammunition firing.
“Where we can use historic buildings for operational purposes, they are well looked-after – or as looked-after as the rest of our estate,” he said. “The trouble we come across is when there is an inability to use a building, or it’s difficult to repurpose a building for operational use. Then it does become harder to look after it, because the prioritisation for funding for those assets will inevitably be lower.”
Sturrock said that buildings in areas where there is live ammunition training cannot be occupied and “inevitably become much harder to manage”.
Turning to the MoJ, Dinenage said Historic England’s most recent Biennial Report on the Care of the Government Historic Estate had seen the department come out worst in terms of its custodianship of listed buildings.
MoJ chief property officer Richard McSeveney said he accepted Historic England’s position.
“The justice system is one that is under strain and has been for some time,” he said. “Every pound and penny that we do invest in the estate is very much about keeping prisons and courts operational.
“The reality is that has had an impact on other things, like the heritage estate, and it would be wrong for me not to say that.”
McSeveney said that across the courts and prisons estate, the MoJ had more than 185 listed assets, two thirds of which are within prisons. He said the majority of listed buildings on the prison estate are inside prison walls.
McSeveney said that the overall MoJ estate had a £3.1bn maintenance backlog, and that this year approximately £350m is being spent on the prisons and prevention capital estate alone. He said that 1% of the current capital spending is directed at the heritage estate.
The chief property officer added that MoJ also lacks clear information about the condition of its heritage buildings.
“One of the things we have in flight at the moment is updating our condition-survey information on the heritage estate, because I don’t think we actually have that up-to-date position,” he said.
“I think it’s only when we do have that we’ll then be able to develop a more strategic plan for bidding for funding, for managing the risk, for managing that element of the estate.”
Both McSeveney and Sturrock said they were keen to work with Historic England to identify innovative ways their heritage buildings could be better maintained and repurposed – and, in some cases, sold off.