Adaptive Release: Guidance Framework for Sites Affected by Coastal Erosion and Flood Management
Author(s): Sefryn Penrose, Nadia Bartolini
This report focuses on Adaptive Release as a new management option and has been produced with special consideration of those sites that are affected by Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) delivery, and where environmental change is likely to lead to loss and/or landscape alteration. There is a specific challenge in FCERM strategy delivery about what happens to heritage that will not benefit from protection. Without active protection, these sites are threatened by environmental processes, and currently there are no clear answers regarding how their future will be managed, and no clear pathway regarding responsibility for determining this future and making difficult decisions. Adaptive Release is a positive, proactive option that supports the transformation of a heritage asset (including its values and significance) within the landscape context. Within the heritage sector, there is widespread recognition that the accelerating effects of climate change will force a reconsideration of the care of at-risk monuments and sites. In some instances, it is and will be possible to prevent further damage to heritage that is at risk, but for many assets, there will be a point at which their current preservation becomes unsustainable. For these assets, it might be necessary to investigate options that favour processes of transformation and even decline. Invariably, any acceptance of change to one asset might have an impact on the wider landscape. Practical strategies and guidance to support both cultural assets and the natural environment undergoing this type of change are currently limited. As statutory advisors on the historic environment, Historic England are engaged in the delivery of FCERM. This report presents a case study of a composite heritage asset at risk and proposes a framework to guide stakeholders in delivering Adaptive Release in areas affected by erosion and flood defence management. The framework guidance was developed in collaboration with Historic England and the Environment Agency.
- Report Number:
- 85/2022
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 36
- Keywords:
- Flooding Coastal
