Destination High Street – Our Popular Conference

Held jointly with the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland, our hugely successful conference was well-attended and focused on Destination High Street.

The traditional notion of the high street is changing and the conference explored how these changes are making themselves felt, as well as how it may evolve in future.

Our keynote speaker – the University of Stirling’s Professor Leigh Sparks, Professor of Retail Studies – explored Thinking the Unthinkable, which included the radical possibility that demolition of historic buildings may be one way to aid recovery.

Other observations from the floor included the suggestion that developers be encouraged to invest in town centres rather than on the periphery of settlements, that the high street is very handy for most and we should build on that as a key premise, built heritage is part of us all and important for the future, and that councils could work together more effectively to move quickly on buildings to be demolished and for sale, perhaps taking the example of Glasgow’s Stalled Spaces programme as a lead.