11.4 - The Strategic Approach

The National Planning Framework (NPF) (particularly NPO 17 and NPO 60) highlights how our built, cultural and natural heritage has intrinsic value in defining the character of urban and rural areas and adding to their liveability, attractiveness and sense of place. It also emphasises how Ireland’s built heritage assets are a non-renewable resource that merit being nurtured in a manner appropriate to their significance as an aid to understanding the past, contributing to community well-being and quality of life, as well as regional economic development.

The Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) states that cultural heritage is the fabric of our lives and societies, that it surrounds us in the buildings of our towns and cities, our landscapes, natural sites, monuments and archaeological sites, and that it brings communities together and builds shared understandings of the places we live.

The overarching strategic policy approach in both plans supports quality place-making and exemplar urban design. This has a clear synergy with the sense of place and character created by built heritage and archaeology.

In order to ensure the protection and enhancement of the city’s built heritage, the following strategic approach will be pursued:

  • The preservation of the built heritage and archaeology of the city that makes a positive contribution to the character, appearance, and quality of local streetscapes and the sustainable development of the city.
  • Enhance, integrate and protect the special physical, social, economic and cultural value of built heritage assets through appropriate and sensitive development to ensure their preservation for existing and future generations.
  • Ensure buildings of architectural and historic interest are protected and include those structures that are considered, in the opinion of the Planning authority, to be of special architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, technical or social interest in the Record of Protected Structures.
  • Identify and designate Architectural Conservation Areas and Areas of Special Planning Control.
  • Safeguard Monuments and Places listed on the statutory Record of Monuments and Places (RMP) as established under Section 12 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994.
  • Implement and build on the success of the Dublin City Heritage Plan 2002-2006 along with the outcomes of the current City Heritage Plan Review 2021 and promote the role of heritage in fostering creative places that meet local needs and aspirations.
  • Promote the reuse of redundant and underused heritage buildings and continue to promote active land measures such as the Living City Initiative and the Living-Over-the Shop scheme to encourage the sensitive reuse and adaptation of such buildings.
  • Implement policies that support high quality architecture which respects cultural identity and past traditions of building settlement.
  • Promote the environmental benefits of heritage conservation as a crucial contributor to sustainability as it fulfils the interrelated economic, cultural, social, and environmental principles of sustainable development.

Promote best practice in the restoration of the fabric of historic buildings and enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce the vulnerability of heritage in line with the National Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan for Built and Archaeological Heritage (2020).