Watch our Heritage introduction video and discover more about this theme below.
Heritage is who we are. It is our places and structures, our artefacts and traditions. It reflects where we have come from, shapes how we co-exist today, and influences who we want to become.
Heritage creates a sense of identity, of continuity, of belonging. It makes societies more resilient in a rapidly shifting world.
Heritage is not a static or passive thing: it is open to challenge and interpretation. The debate strengthens our cultural voices.
Heritage involves both preservation and change. Arup’s core values, expertise and technical skills help us find the right balance to build a sustainable future.
History and heritage intersect with many aspects of modern life. Understanding where we have come from, and what we have, is vital to our appreciation of culture and identity today.
Discovering this shared inheritance can involve a wide range of activities: from archival research and visual inspections to trials and excavations on site.
With these tools we uncover stories about our past, and how our environment has been shaped and constructed. We learn about the people who came before us, and offer an interpretation of the value and significance of the traditions, artefacts and buildings they made.
We build a rich understanding of the ground conditions for projects: identifying opportunities to utilise heritage for positive change, and quantifying risks associated with historic assets.
Protecting the best of our heritage is a creative task, particularly in a rapidly changing world. External risks to heritage are incredibly diverse, from the natural effects of age through to climate change and human conflict.
Working sympathetically with precious historic material demands an understanding of its provenance and reason for being, along with an honest appraisal of its strengths and weaknesses.Repairs and maintenance require patience and a respect for craft skills which may be rare – or lost entirely.
One of the most powerful ways of protecting our heritage, even where specific objects might inevitably be lost, is to talk about it: to record it, describe it, publish it. Telling the stories of our past is by no means a neutral act, and great care is required to navigate the intersection of history and identity.
Our conservation work has storytelling at its heart: as a representation of the thing to be cherished, and as a message to the future about what we value and why.
Heritage is a living thing: it shifts over time, both physically and conceptually, as our cultures and communities grow and develop.
The contribution of places and buildings to this process is enhanced, and made more resilient, if they remain useful. Ensuring usefulness might involve reviving redundant or unsafe buildings, or expanding the functionality of places which already work well. These actions can trigger urban growth, encouraging radical shifts in how we interact with our environment.
Interventions like these take courage: they might involve changing shape, removing irreplaceable parts, or obscuring aspects of a place’s history in the service of a positive next chapter. Changes must be presented well and diligently justified. They should be discussed collaboratively with wider stakeholders in the community.
Our transformative work adapts the power of heritage for the benefit of the future: bringing the best of the new to the best of the old.
What does history mean for the future? What can be learnt from the past to build the heritage of tomorrow? We are part of a continuum of human culture: the past provides lessons to our future selves.
New development can take the stories of past activity and project them forwards. At its best it can build on the cultural foundations on a place, capturing the distinctiveness it has derived from its history to take it somewhere new.
We believe that fresh new identities can coexist with historic ones: that investing in communities can bring inspiring change without losing sight of their traditions.
This spirit drives our approach to architecture, masterplanning, infrastructure and more. This is heritage as a springboard for progress, guiding decision making and opening new spaces for human imagination.
