Choose Professional Cultural Heritage Assessment Services

Heritage assessments should be carried out by an individual who understands the heritage assessment process and who has training and experience in the area. An assessment must be rigorous, and must be detailed enough to present a clear argument to justify a decision on registration, including sufficient information to support the findings contained in the assessment. However, it should not be so detailed that it becomes unwieldy in length and contains irrelevant information that, while it may be interesting or even historically important, is not critical to an understanding of the heritage values of the place or object.

Cultural heritage includes the tangible things that are seen as deserving of safeguarding for the future on account of their impression of an overall population identity. It also involves immaterial qualities and conventions that are passed beginning with one time then onto the following. A Cultural Heritage Assessment is a study to determine the impact of a propose development on the cultural heritage value of a property and to recommend an overall approach to the conservation of the heritage resources.

In assessing a particular place or object, the criteria of the Act must be applied thoughtfully and rigorously. Careful consideration should be given to the ways in which a place or object meets a criterion, and each statement against a criterion and the broader statement of significance for the place or object must clearly articulate the reasons why a place or object is considered to be of significance.

The wording of the statements against each criterion should reiterate the words of the criterion, clearly demonstrating the way/s in which the place or object meets that criterion. All assessments must satisfy the context and the threshold indicators of the relevant criterion/criteria. Assessment statements should not repeat facts except where the fact is central to satisfying a criterion. As well as gathering information and relating it to the place or object, an assessor needs to evaluate its comparative importance – i.e. its significance compared to similar places or objects.

In some cases, this may not apply. The knowledge and values of the community can be important to the assessment process, particularly in regard to assessing criterion – ‘has a special association with the ACT community or a cultural group within the ACT for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.’

Cultural heritage assessments are undertaken based on information available at a certain time. The availability of information changes over time. This could be the result of further research or additional information, or further investigation of the place or object or of comparable places or objects. It is possible that such further information could increase or decrease the values of a place or object.

In these situations, updated assessments may be made by the Council as resources and priorities allow. An assessment is a collaborative process between qualified heritage professionals and the expert and public representatives of the Council. Heritage professionals either in ACT Heritage or acting as consultants for the Council prepare a draft initial assessment. The Council is then responsible for reviewing the draft assessment and requesting any changes they deem appropriate.

So, protect heritage sites with responsive Cultural Heritage Assessment services.

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Heritage 21 Joined: November 13th, 2018