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Image above: Buttermarket Courtyard. Credit: Lottie Matthews.
The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) is pleased to be announcing its 50th Anniversary Conference: Heritage - Radical. Reimagined. Revitalised.
This year, the AHF celebrates 50 years of transforming historic buildings and supporting communities across the UK. To mark this milestone, we will be holding a flagship conference at the stunningly conserved North Wing at St Bartholomew’s Hospital near Smithfield Market, London, on 18th June 2026.
Join real estate professionals, heritage practitioners, social enterprise developers, policymakers, funders, and researchers, as together we consider the potential for heritage-led regeneration to improve our communities in the next 50 years and beyond.
Expect a range of great speakers and networking opportunities, along with dynamic sessions, including a keynote talk by journalist and former thinktank lead Polly Mackenzie. Panel discussions will focus on heritage housing and retrofit, as well as heritage-led regeneration business models that have the capacity to transform dereliction into thriving local economies. The final session of the day will ask leading practitioners to respond to radical provocations, including ‘What if we didn’t demolish anymore and developers were tasked with adapting existing buildings rather than building new?’ and ‘What if all new buildings needed to last 200+ years in order to gain planning permission?’
A full programme is below. Speakers are still being added.
Arrival | Doors open 1:30pm
Welcome | 2:00-2:15
Keynote 1: Polly Mackenzie | 2:15-2:35
Session 1: Reimagining Housing and Retrofit | 2:35-3:20
Could delivering some of the 1.5m homes we need using buildings that already exist simultaneously address the dual challenges of underutilised heritage assets and revitalising our town centres? Could it also help us meet our climate targets? This is an opportunity to tackle several complex problems at once - but where are our exemplars and how could we deliver this work at scale (including how do we marshal the transformative capital necessary)?
Panellists: Ros Kerslake (Chair); Martin Newman, Giroscope; Darren Barker, Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust
Response to questions | 3:20-3:35
Networking Break | 3:35-4:00
Session 2: Rethinking Delivery Models | 4:00-4:45
London boasts exceptional regeneration projects utilising formerly derelict heritage assets - such as the King’s Cross redevelopment – but this model is not replicable across many parts of the UK. What can we learn about effective delivery models and partnerships from projects that have achieved similar success but in much more deprived locations around the country?
Panellists: Matthew Mckeague, AHF; Lindsey Hall, Real Ideas Organisation; Syreeta Bayne, Muse; Nia Arfon, Galeri Caernarfon
Response to questions | 4:45-5:00
Networking Break | 5:00-5:30
Session 3: Radical Heritage Futures | 5:30-6:10
An opportunity to explore the radical potential of heritage reuse and to consider the future of ‘everyday heritage’. Introduced by Kelcey Wilson-Lee, AHF
Speakers: Richard Upton, Former CEO of U&I; to address the question ‘What would it look like for a developer if we decided not to demolish buildings any longer, and what you had to work with was existing buildings rather than creating new-build?’
Eilidh Henderson and John Brown, PagePark; to address the question ‘What would new-builds look like if there was a planning requirement that they last 200+ years and we built with future adaptation and reuse in mind?’
Keynote 2: Speaker to be confirmed | 6:10-6:30
Networking Drinks Reception | 6:30-8:00
Carriages | 8:00
For more details and to purchase tickets for this event, please go to the Eventbrite page.
