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 The
key to effective heritage planning requires policy used to guide decision-making.
Without proper policy, the assessment, development, conservation, and management
of cultural and heritage resources becomes difficult and inefficient. Commonwealth
has pioneered the writing of clear, articulate planning policy.Thus enabling
our clients to manage their historic resources in strategic and effective
ways.
We firmly believe in
the key role of policy as the precursor to any plans for changes to buildings
or landscapes. Commonwealth has adapted international conservation policies
and principles to Canadian settings, for example, in The Evaluation of Historic
Buildings and Principles of Heritage Conservation. This initiative has enabled
us to develop skills in cultural landscape assessment and in the preparation
of conservation strategies for interventions to heritage resources. We have
also adapted the work of Parks Canada, for their process of preparing Heritage
Character Statements and for their process of preparing Commemorative Integrity
Statements. These principles and processes have been used to address the
needs of our private and public sector clients.
These methods for inventorying
and evaluating settings are standard practice in our firm. Commonwealth
has used these methods in major projects such as the assessment of all buildings
and landscapes on the main campus of Queen’s University. Our use of
heritage character statements in this project has given the university tools
for addressing the concerns of other heritage agencies and for guiding maintenance
and development of university property. At Upper Canada Village, our Heritage
Integrity Statement is the firstpolicy document to clearly articulate heritage
values and has now been formally adopted by the St. Lawrence Parks Commission
to guide conservation and development of the Village and adjacent lands.
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