Foreword

'Effect of the Historic Built Environment on Local Economic Growth in England: An Instrumental Variable Approach'

This report makes an important contribution to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Culture and Heritage Capital (CHC) programme - an ambitious initiative that seeks to tell better and more robust stories about the true value of culture and heritage across England. At its heart lies a simple but vital ambition: to ensure that heritage is recognised not only for its cultural significance, but as a form of capital that generates enduring economic and social returns, and to equip decision-makers with the tools needed to reflect those benefits in policy, appraisal and investment.

Heritage is all around us. More than one in five of our buildings is over a century old, forming the fabric of our towns, cities and villages, shaping how places look, feel, and function. These buildings are part of our shared story - embodying generations of craftsmanship, identity and memory. Yet they are not simply relics of the past. They are active, lived-in assets that continue to add economic value and are central to the character of our communities today.

This study offers a major step forward in how we demonstrate the contribution of heritage to the economy. It uses an innovative and rigorous method, that draws on England’s deep geological history and data on the availability of durable building stone, to isolate the causal effect of heritage on local economic outcomes. Put simply, for the first time, we can show that heritage does not just accompany prosperity; it helps to create it.

The findings carry important implications. They demonstrate that heritage is economically productive. Areas with a richer stock of historic buildings experience consistently higher levels of economic activity, with effects that persist and accumulate over time. Moreover, the research sheds light on the ways in which heritage influences growth, highlighting particularly strong contributions to tourism, the visitor economy, and the property sector, and showing how historic environments help shape the economic specialisation of places.

These insights are timely. As local and national policymakers grapple with questions of regeneration, productivity and place-based investment, it is essential that heritage is understood as part of the economic fabric of communities. Not as an optional add-on, but as a structural asset with enduring value. This research underscores that point powerfully. It shows that caring for our historic environment is not solely an act of preservation, but a forward‑looking investment in the prosperity and distinctiveness of the places where people live and work.

Historic England’s purpose is to protect, champion and enable the benefits of the historic environment. This study reinforces why that role matters. By quantifying the economic contribution of the historic built environment with new clarity, it supports a more informed, evidence‑driven approach to heritage policy and strengthens the case for sustained stewardship of the historic places that contribute so much to the nation’s wellbeing and economic life.

This report shows that heritage is not just a legacy of the past, it is a critical asset we can actively use, one that continues to generate value, opportunity and meaning for generations to come.