Alistair Hardaker | Image: Whalley Abbey Gatehouse, in Clitheroe, Lancashire, built with local sandstone © Historic England
Historic England research uses England’s bedrock geology to isolate the economic effect of historic buildings, finding higher output in heritage-dense areas.
New research published by Historic England argues that historic buildings actively drive local economic growth, rather than simply being located in places that were already prosperous.
The report, by Rami Zalfou, addresses a long-standing question in heritage policy: whether historic buildings cause local economic growth or were built in areas that were already wealthy. It was funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Culture and Heritage Capital programme.
Historic buildings tend to cluster in places that were already centres of trade or wealth, which makes their economic effect hard to separate from those existing advantages. To address this, the study uses the geology beneath the ground. Before modern transport, building relied on local materials, so areas with durable stone such as limestone or sandstone built structures that were more likely to survive. Because geology predates modern economic patterns, the researcher used it to isolate the effect of historic buildings from other factors.
The research found that areas with double the number of listed buildings have about 4.1% higher local economic output, based on data from 2010 to 2023. The report estimates that a 10% increase in historic buildings could correspond to an uplift of around £12.5-15 billion in gross value added, though it describes this as an illustrative figure rather than a precise estimate.
The strongest effects were in tourism and in property and real estate. The report found that heritage-dense areas showed lower activity in some other sectors, such as transport and low-skill services, which it suggests reflects local specialisation rather than an overall decline.
Ian Morrison, director of policy and evidence at Historic England, said: “From high streets and market towns to the neighbourhoods people choose to live and invest in, historic buildings make places more distinctive, more attractive and more productive. They are not just part of our past – they are part of how communities grow and thrive.”
The study analyses economic data for more than 30,000 neighbourhoods across England, using listing data from the National Heritage List for England and geology data from the British Geological Survey. The report notes its findings are mostly drawn from rural areas rich in good building stone, which limits how far they apply to towns and cities.
The full report is available here.
