Heritage Assets

At Birketts, we are passionate about preservation. By bringing together one of the UK’s largest and highest ranked real estate, planning and environmental law teams with the passion and specialist knowledge of our charity sector group, we have created a dedicated, cross-disciplinary heritage law team of heritage lawyers and heritage solicitors.

The team is uniquely positioned to support clients with the complex legal, regulatory and practical challenges that come with owning, managing or developing heritage properties and heritage estates. Our lawyers are true specialists, many with experience of working inside local planning authorities, giving us a rounded view of the heritage planning system and the legal protections governing the conservation of heritage.

Our heritage law work spans a comprehensive range of services:

• Property law: sales, leases, easements, and development of historic estates
• Planning and environmental law: from applications to enforcement
• Charity and ecclesiastical law: governance, endowments and legal compliance
• Construction and procurement: sympathetic restoration and capital works
• Dispute resolution: including criminal prosecutions and judicial reviews

We regularly advise on matters involving:

• Grant funding for heritage projects from organisations such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council
• Listed buildings, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, and historic parks and gardens, including restoration and redevelopment
• Heritage planning law, including enforcement hearings, planning appeals, and judicial review
• Heritage Partnership Agreements and statutory consents, including negotiating complex section 106 and article 4 directions
• Ecclesiastical estates, including churches and cathedrals
• Charity Commission applications, and charity trustee advice on legal and regulatory duties and decision-making.

We are active participants in the heritage sector, including membership of the Heritage Alliance and attendance at key sector events, and have worked with Historic England and the National Trust on high-profile heritage property projects. Our team shares a genuine passion for preserving the past while enabling sustainable use of heritage assets for the future.