HeritageAI early access: for practices that write heritage statements for listed buildings

HeritageAI is now opening early access to architecture practices and heritage professionals who produce heritage statements for listed buildings. It starts with a video call with me. On the call I run a live Preliminary Planning and Heritage Appraisal on a real project, and then show how it becomes the first stage of a Statement of Heritage Significance.

Last week I wrote that the HAI-SoHS Wizard was not yet open to the public. That is still true. Early access is the next step, and it is deliberately small.

Who is HeritageAI for now?

HeritageAI is now built for professionals only: architecture practices, heritage consultants and others who write heritage statements for listed buildings as part of their work. It is no longer aimed at homeowners.

The reason is simple. The people who feel the time cost of heritage research most sharply are the practices doing it week in, week out. They are also the people best placed to check, sign and stand behind the finished document.

Reports are written to planning policy in England. Enquiries from elsewhere are welcome.

What happens on the early-access call?

The call is a working session, not a sales pitch. In about 30 minutes we:

• Pick a real project. Ideally one of yours that involves a listed building.
• Run a live Preliminary Planning and Heritage Appraisal (PPHA) on it, so you can see the research being gathered: the listing, what is protected, the consents likely to be needed, and the planning policies that apply.
• Walk through the next stage. I show how that appraisal feeds the Statement of Heritage Significance (SoHS), step by step, in the wizard.
• Talk honestly about fit. Whether HeritageAI suits your practice, and what you would want it to do differently.

What to bring to the call

• A site address or postcode, and the local planning authority
• The list entry number, if you have it
• A rough idea of the proposed works, if any
• Any survey drawings or photographs you are happy to share

How does the appraisal lead into the Statement of Heritage Significance?

HeritageAI follows the Vision to Value™ method, which splits a heritage project into four stages: READY? · READ… · …RESPOND · RESOLVE!

• READY? — Preliminary Planning and Heritage Appraisal (PPHA): what is listed, what is protected, and what consents and policies are likely to apply.
• READ… — Statement of Heritage Significance (SoHS): what matters about this building, and why.
• …RESPOND — Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA): how the proposed design affects that significance.
• RESOLVE! — Planning and Heritage Statement (P&HS): one compiled statement for the application.

The PPHA is the READY? stage. The research it gathers carries forward into the Statement of Heritage Significance, so you are not starting again.

The Statement of Heritage Significance is structured to Historic England's Advice Note 12 on Statements of Heritage Significance (HEAG279). It stops at significance. It does not assess the impact of the proposal. That belongs to the next stage.

Why does significance deserve its own document?

Because national policy asks for it. Policy HE5 in Chapter 20 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) says: "Development proposals affecting heritage assets should be accompanied by an assessment of the significance of the assets affected (including any contribution made by their setting) and of the potential effect of the proposal on their significance."

It adds that the level of detail should be proportionate, that the relevant Historic Environment Record should be referred to, and that "appropriate expertise" should be employed where necessary. The NPPF applies in England only.

We covered what this change means in more detail in The NPPF just made heritage significance assessment a formal requirement.

Who is the author of the finished document?

This is the question practices ask first, and it deserves a straight answer. There are two routes.

• You produce it. Your practice does the work, using the wizard. You are the author: you check it, you sign it, it is your document. There is no review by a SOANE architect; your practice reviews it. Price: £500 per document, paid on download.
• SOANE produces it. SOANE Architects does the work as your appointed heritage consultant, and is the author under its own professional appointment. Review by a SOANE architect is part of that appointment. Price on application.

On the self-serve route HeritageAI shows you every source it used, with the designation, policy reference and date, so you can check the evidence yourself. It also checks your uploaded drawings against the statement, so the two agree.

What does HeritageAI not do?

• It does not decide. Your local planning authority decides. No report, and no architect, can guarantee consent.
• It does not grade significance for you. Judging significance is a professional judgement, and it stays with the author.
• It does not search the open internet. It queries a fixed set of sources, including the National Heritage List for England, council planning records, historic Ordnance Survey mapping, Heritage Gateway, the local Historic Environment Record and MAGIC.
• It does not replace design judgement. That belongs to a person.

Where a list entry number is given, the listing is checked against the National Heritage List for England (NHLE).

What does it cost?

One price list for everyone. No subscription, no retainer, and nothing to pay until you download. Early-access practices pay these list prices.

• Preliminary Planning and Heritage Appraisal (PPHA): £195, including a video call with Giles Paul Shorter, RIBA Chartered Architect
• Statement of Heritage Significance (SoHS): £500
• Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA): £500 per project, all rounds, paid on download of the submission version
• Planning and Heritage Statement (P&HS): £500

The PPHA itself is generated automatically by HeritageAI from the details you give, and sent by email. It is a first read, not professional advice, and it is not individually reviewed by a person before sending.

What this means for your practice

If you write heritage statements for listed buildings, the useful test is whether HeritageAI saves you research time without taking the professional judgement away from you. The early-access call is designed to answer that on one of your own projects, rather than on a demo.

Places are limited while we test across different grades, building ages and kinds of proposal.

Book an early-access call with Giles — or see how HeritageAI works for practices.