Irish Georgian Society observation on ‘Culture Compass - Sharing the Future of Culture and Heritage in Europe’ (May 2025)

The Irish Georgian Society made the following submission to the European Commission in response to its request for views on the need for a more strategic policy approach to culture, including built heritage, so as to embed it in overarching policy goals and ensuring it becomes more accessible for all. The Commission has called for a new Culture Compass that would provide an overarching strategic framework to guide and harness the multiple dimensions of culture.

The Irish Georgian Society welcomes this opportunity to respond to the call for evidence on the new Culture Compass.

The Irish Georgian Society is a membership organisation that promotes awareness of and the protection of Ireland’s architectural heritage, designed landscapes and gardens, and decorative arts. These goals are achieved through the Society’s scholarly and conservation education programmes, through supporting large and small-scale conservation projects, through campaigning for endangered buildings, and through its membership events programmes.

The Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe, Granada, 1985 (Granda Convention) states that “architectural heritage constitutes an irreplaceable expression of the richness and diversity of Europe's cultural heritage, bears inestimable witness to our past and is a common heritage of all Europeans”. Signatories to the Convention have committed to legally protect architectural heritage through national policies; ensure the identification, protection, conservation, and maintenance of heritage assets; promote the use of traditional materials and techniques in restoration; and prevent the disfigurement or demolition of heritage assets.

While measures to statutorily protect Europe’s built heritage have been introduced throughout the European Union, the success of such national legislation can depend on issues such as funding for conservation and maintenance works, planning enforcement, and knowledge of conservation principles and of traditional building skills. It is with some concern that the availability of practitioners in these latter fields remains a challenge.

The Irish Georgian Society suggests that the objectives of the Granada Convention play a central role in the development of a new Culture Compass for Europe. In particular, the potential of devising European led training initiatives in the field of traditional building skills should be explored with the aim of increasing the availability of skilled workers and ensuring correct conservation standards are achieved in the management of Europe’s built heritage.

Given its capacity to work at a local level, and its objective to make the green transition in built environments and beyond enjoyable, attractive and convenient for all, it is suggested that the New European Bauhaus could present a vehicle to guide such a training initiative at a European level.