Art and Heritage Law: Contested Heritage

Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi are joined by Lord Inglewood to discuss the balance between private ownership of our heritage property and state intervention. We ask how to make the protection of our heritage financially sustainable, what works well in the current system, and what needs to be strengthened.

Heritage, and architectural and artistic interest in particular, does not need to be old. Richard Harwood and Clarissa Levi talk to Catherine Croft, the Director of the Twentieth Century Society, about some of the masterpieces of the last 40 years. Ranging from Southwark tube station on the Jubilee Line, Number One Poultry, to Dame Elisabeth Frink’s Desert Quartet and Peter Barber’s social housing, they ask how we assess and recognise recent architecture. They also ask: do architects like their work to be made listed buildings?The Twentieth Century Society is the National Amenity Society for post-1914 buildings. It’s Coming of Age campaign looks at buildings reaching 30 years old, which is the usual threshold for listing.

What has art to do with listed buildings? When can a painting or sculpture be a listed building or part of a listed building? How can listed building consent be obtained?Richard and Clarissa talk about Lucian Freud, the Dill case, the Time & Life building, chandeliers and stuffed birds.Check out companion episode 20 Art and Land with David Sawtell discusses related property issues. The Contested Heritage – Removing Art from Land and Historic Buildings book is authored by Richard Harwood, David Sawtell and Catherine Dobson and published by Law Brief Publishing.

What is Acceptance in Lieu of tax, and how does the AiL Scheme operate? Richard Harwood and Clarissa Levi are joined by AiL Panel Chair Michael Clarke, and Arts Council England Director of Cultural Property Sarah Posey. We discuss the benefits and hurdles of AiL, how it works best, and we dispel a misconception or two about the Scheme.

Are there really 1248 sites with outstanding universal value? How does the World Heritage Convention work in practice? Richard Harwood and Clarissa Levi talk to Alexandra Warr, Head of International Strategy at Historic England about world heritage sites, international negotiations, development and Stonehenge.

What do we value from our past, and how do we fund it? We discuss the impact of lottery funding on the UK’s heritage landscape, the additionality principle, and if we should celebrate a John Major Day. Insights from the heart of the heritage world with Dame Liz Forgan.

Pippa Shirley joins Richard Harwood and Clarissa Levi to discuss the UK’s export controls for cultural objects. How does the Reviewing Committee for the Export of Works of Art operate? Who was Viscount Waverley, and are the 1952 Waverley Criteria still fit for purpose?  We talk about how export stops work, how to ensure the process is fair, and why outstanding ugliness is aesthetically important too.

How heritage consultants help, retro-fitting and the three characteristics of Gothic architecture. Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi chat to Dr Emma Wells, Director of Heritage at Heritage Potential about big issues in heritage advice and competitive cathedral building.Emma’s latest book Heaven on Earth: The Lives and Legacies of the World’s Greatest Cathedrals is now out in paperback.

How does tax policy shape our heritage?39 Essex Chambers barristers Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi of Wedlake Bell are joined by Sarah Roller of Historic Houses to discuss the economic benefit of country houses, how they operate as businesses and what our tax policy seeks to achieve. Why and how can heritage property be exempted from tax, and what effect does this have? We discuss what qualifies for exemption, what doesn’t, and the tax changes on the horizon.

39 Essex Chambers barristers Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi of Wedlake Bell talk to Lucy Brown, Chief Executive of the Hugo Burge Foundation, about setting up an arts foundation. We explore how the founder’s vision became a reality, and the gifts of bringing artists and makers together.

What brought a wealth of French artists and craftsmen to London in the 16th and 17th centuries? Tessa Murdoch, Chair of Trustees of the Huguenot Museum, joins Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi to discuss refugees, The French Hospital, the importance of hand skills in a world of AI, and imaginative ways to support the development of a museum.

To live in historic homes we must keep them modernised. This needn’t mean a loss - updating a home for modern living can reveal and celebrate its heritage. Also… we need bathrooms! Clarissa Levi and Richard Harwood talk to Henry Berkeley of Spetchley Park Estate.https://www.spetchleyparkestate.co.uk/

What does a Chief Curator do, and what goes on behind the scenes at an art gallery?Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi are joined by Imogen Gibbon of National Galleries of Scotland to discuss making art work for everyone, whether it's on display or not; with detours via Scottish fisheries, silver bands, curling and the dangers of dressing neatly.

We often talk of the historic interest in buildings, but what does that mean to the historian? How does art help understand our past? Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi from BHL Art Group talk to Dr Elizabeth Norton, a historian specialising in the Queens of England and the Tudor period, and the author of a number of highly readable books, including ‘The Lives of Tudor Women’ and ‘The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor’. We discuss walking the ground, Jane Seymour’s necklaces, what television dramas and films get right, and why archaeological consultants should be punching the air in delight.

It’s good to talk. Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi chat with barrister and mediator Kelly Stricklin-Coutinho of 39 Essex Chambers about how mediation works, and its role in commercial and institutional art disputes. From private disputes to the repatriation of human remains, they look at the role of a third person to facilitate the resolution of disputes. Kelly is the chair of the Civil Mediation Council. The CMC promotes mediation, and holds a register of mediators. It is the recognised authority in England and Wales for all matters related to civil, commercial, workplace and other non-family mediation.

How is the viability of a heritage project considered? When do the numbers stack up?Richard and Clarissa talk to David Tomback OBE FRICS, the Development Economics Director of Historic England about optimum viable use, enabling development and climate change. As well as Modern Movement houses, restaurants and wedding venues …

Gripped by the nation's annual tennis fever, Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi turn to heritage tennis with Robert Dolman. Robert explains Real Tennis from the recreation of monks to the sport of Kings, and describes the important cultural and built heritage left to us by this historic game. The podcast team plays to the gallery.

The restoration of the Great Hall and Hogarth Staircase at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City of London is one of the most exciting conservation projects presently underway. Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi talk to Will Palin, Chief Executive Officer of Barts Heritage, about the project, the health benefits of heritage and a mediation which resolved a planning judicial review.More information about the project, tours of the works and the new book, St Bartholomew’s Hospital 900 Years, are available from Barts HeritageBarts Heritage: https://url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/zvW7CMQ8ycxBjn4IwPF29?domain=bartsheritage.org.uk/

How do we value a work of art? What makes one object sell for millions when a similar object doesn't sell at all? And is that really what those objects are worth? Richard and Clarissa chat with art expert Frances Christie about the alchemy of art valuation and the merits of applying duct tape to a banana.

When is an artwork part of a building or land? Or can you just take the statue with you when you sell up? Dr David Sawtell, barrister at 39 Essex Chambers, talks to Richard Harwood KC and Clarissa Levi from BHL Art Group about Henry Moore sculpture in London’s East End, statues of Greek athletes, tapestries and heirs behaving badly.David is the co-author with Richard Harwood and Catherine Dobson of ‘Contested Heritage’ and of books on the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and the Technology and Construction Court.