The document discusses cross-border heritage initiatives between Armagh and Monaghan, emphasizing the importance of institutional collaboration and cooperation in planning. It highlights previous examples of cooperation, potential future areas for collaboration such as cultural tourism and traditional building skills, and the need for sustainable management of heritage. Overall, it advocates for maintaining and enhancing built heritage through shared resources and strategic development projects.

1. Conservation without Frontiers:
Historic Buildings of Armagh & Monaghan in Context
Cross Border Heritage Initiatives
Andrew McClelland
Chair, IHBC Northern Ireland Branch
26 June 2015
County Monaghan
@IHBCni

2. ▪ Institutional collaboration and cross-border cooperation in planning
▪ Examples of previous/ongoing cross-border cooperation in heritage
▪ Potential areas of future cross-border cooperation in heritage
▪ An opportune moment?
Presentation Overview
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3. ▪ Cross-border local authority networks:
- East Border Region
- Irish Central Border Area Network
- North West Region Cross Border Group
▪ North South ‘Implementation Bodies’, including:
- InterTradeIreland
- Waterways Ireland
- Special EU Programmes Body
Institutional collaboration/cross-border cooperation in planning
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4. ▪ Ad hoc collaboration focused on strategic issues of
mutual interest, the management of shared
resources, and/or the completion of common
programmes/plans/projects:
- MOU between Newry, Mourne and Down District Council
and the Louth Local Authorities
- Blackwater Regional Partnership
- Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark
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Institutional collaboration/cross-border cooperation in planning
Source: International Centre for Local and Regional
Development, 2010

5. ▪ ‘Evidence-informed’ spatial planning through
GIS-based data mapping, including:
- The Atlas of the Island of Ireland
- All-Island HP Deprivation Index
- SPACEial North West project - www.spaceialnw.eu
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Institutional collaboration/cross-border cooperation in planning
Source: All-Island Research Observatory and the International
Centre for Local and Regional Development, 2015

6. @IHBCni
Institutional collaboration/cross-border cooperation in planning
Source: All-Island Research Observatory – www.airo.ie

7. ▪ ‘Spatial public diplomacy’ through the
Framework for Co-operation for the Spatial
Strategies of Northern Ireland and the Republic of
Ireland
“Supporting the need to protect and enhance the built
heritage, development at all levels must be sustainable.
This requires: i) protection of the distinctive character of
areas […] ii) developments which are in harmony with
the existing natural landscapes, and iii) the creation of
places valued by people.”*
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Source: Department for Regional Development and the Department of
the Environment, Community and Local Government (2013)
Framework for Co-operation for the Spatial Strategies of Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, p.14
Institutional collaboration/cross-border cooperation in planning
*Department for Regional Development and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, 2013, p.28

8. @IHBCni
Examples of previous/ongoing cross-border cooperation in heritage
NGOs and professional
bodies operating on a
cross-border or all-island
basis
Private sector market
interaction on a cross-
border basis
Crossover in
representation on advisory
councils and other
committees
Joint projects / cross-
border initiatives
- UAHS
- IGS
- ICOMOS Ireland
- Irish Landmark Trust
- Follies Trust
- Building Limes Forum
Ireland
- Irish Walled Towns Network
- Institute of the
Archaeologists of Ireland
- Consultants
- Building contractors
- Craftsmen
- Suppliers
- Historic Buildings Council
- Historic Monuments
Council
- The Heritage Council
- Royal Irish Academy
- Mourne Homesteads
Scheme
- Protection of Thatched
Structures in Ireland report
- Great Lighthouses of Ireland
- Mourne-Cooley-Gullion
Geotourism

9. @IHBCni
Potential areas of future cross-border cooperation in heritage
Cultural
tourism
Traditional
building skills
Strategic
development
projects
Shared
inventories /
dataset
mapping /
digital

10. ▪ Cultural tourism
“Effective and balanced management of key natural and
built heritage is essential for growth in tourism that is both
economically and environmentally sustainable.
Ireland’s cultural heritage, including the built heritage sector
(monuments, historic estates, gardens, national parks, and
many other nationally significant protected structures and
antiquities) is integral to our tourism offering.”*
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Source: Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport,
2015
Potential areas of future cross-border cooperation in heritage
*Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, 2015, pp.22, 23

11. @IHBCni
Potential areas of future cross-border cooperation in heritage
?

12. ▪ Traditional building skills
“Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland share a
common heritage in the built environment and much of what
has already been achieved has been characterised by
cross-border cooperation, so continuing in this manner will
have major advantages, not least in the potential for both
economies.”*
@IHBCni
Source: National Heritage Training Group, 2009
Potential areas of future cross-border cooperation in heritage
*National Heritage Training Group, 2009, p.13

13. ▪ Strategic development projects – greenways
“One of the most important aspects of the Vias Verdes
project has been the way in which redundant railway
assets have been restored in an inspirational way. The
project has encouraged the restoration of hundreds of
distinctive railway features such as stations, tunnels and
viaducts so that they can reflect the rich architectural
heritage of the railways.”*
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Source: Lumsdon et al., 2009
Potential areas of future cross-border cooperation in heritage
*Lumsdon et al., 2009, p.64

14. @IHBCni
Source: Committee for Regional Development (2015) Inquiry into the Benefits of Cycling to the
Economy, p.784
Potential areas of future cross-border cooperation in heritage
Source: Butler, R. (2009) Recreational use of Towpaths, p.8

15. ▪ Shared inventories / dataset mapping / digital
“With the current availability and enormous potential of
digital technology, minimal investment could create a link
between these databases [Monuments and Buildings Record
(NI) and the Register of Recorded Monuments and Places
(RoI)] to increase their value as a data source.”*
“Digitisation and online accessibility enable unprecedented
forms of engagement and open up new revenue streams.
E-learning tools promote wider access to cultural content in
homes, schools and universities, and allow people to
generate, reuse and add value to content.”**
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Source: www.buildingsofireland.ie
Potential areas of future cross-border cooperation in heritage
*Cooney, G., 2013, ‘Charting a future path for archaeology in Ireland, North and South’, The Journal of Cross Border Studies in Ireland, p.68
**European Commission, 2014, Towards an integrated approach to cultural heritage for Europe, p.5

16. ▪ Improved working relationships between central
government departments and other agencies
▪ Bolstered local government in both jurisdictions, with
enhanced range of functions and responsibilities, including
community planning
▪ Opportunity to feed into new local development
planning processes – area plans, Local Economic and
Community Plans (LECPs) and Regional Spatial and
Economic Strategies
▪ Increased focus on the need to deliver practical projects
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Source: Rafferty, G. and Lloyd, M.G., 2014, Community
Planning and Spatial Planning in the Irish Border Region
An opportune moment?

17. Aiming to avoid…
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Insensitive treatment of cultural heritage
‘Back-to-back’ planning and development
Source: Private Eye, as reproduced in Larkham, 1996, Conservation and the City, p.265