Built by architects, for architects.

SOANE Architects built HeritageAI to handle the research and documentation behind its own listed building work. Now it does the same for yours.

Book a 15-minute call See a sample Statement of Heritage Significance →

Why we built this

We built this because we needed it

SOANE Architects Ltd is a conservation practice with more than seventeen years specialising in listed and historic buildings. As the heritage workload grew, so did the hours spent on the parts of the job that aren’t design — pulling designation records, checking policy, compiling planning history, structuring statements to Historic England’s guidance.

We systemised it so we could take on more work without lowering the standard. Then we realised every practice working on old buildings has the same problem, and that the system was worth sharing.

HeritageAI is that system. SOANE Architects still uses it every day.

You stay the designer. We handle the drudgery.

The research

Designation, policy, planning history and historic mapping, retrieved from the registers and compiled with sources — not from memory, and not from a search engine.

The structure

Documents built to Historic England Advice Note 12 and the current National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), in the register a case officer expects to read.

The learning

Most architects were never taught how to read an old building. This teaches you, on your own project, while producing the document.

The support

SOANE Architects is a call away when a building, a case officer or a policy question needs a conservation architect — on the same account, whenever you need it.

Two ways to work with us

You produce it

£500 per document, paid on download.

You get full access to the system from the onboarding call. Run the research, upload your existing plans and location plan, build the Statement of Heritage Significance, review the evidence, make the judgement calls. The system checks your drawings against the statement as it’s generated, so the pack is consistent before you submit. Download when you’re ready.

Responsibility

You are the author. You check it, you sign it, it’s your document. Confirm with your broker that your professional indemnity insurance covers it, as you would for any application you submit.

SOANE produces it

Price on application.

SOANE Architects visits the site, carries out the research and produces the document as your appointed heritage consultant, against a written brief and scope agreed with you. Before anything is submitted it is checked against your authority’s validation checklist, and where it helps we correspond directly with the case officer and obtain pre-application advice. You mark it up and bill your client as you would any sub-consultant.

Responsibility

SOANE Architects is the author, under its own professional appointment and its own insurance. Its name appears on the document.

Alongside you, every step

Start with the system on a straightforward Grade II house. When you hit a Grade I, a difficult case officer, or a building you can’t read, the same account brings in SOANE Architects to take that piece on. You don’t change supplier. You change gear.

A conservation architect — RIBA Chartered Architect, ARB Registered, RIBA Conservation Registrant — available to you on any project.
Direct correspondence with the case officer and pre-application advice, where it helps.
On the SOANE produces it route, everything checked against your authority’s validation checklist before it’s submitted.

Where a person checks the work

When you produce it

The person checking is you. The system gives you every source it used — designation, policy reference, date — so you can trace each line back and make your own judgement. It checks your uploaded drawings against the statement so the two agree. It won’t hand you a conclusion to rubber-stamp.

When SOANE produces it

The checks are ours: a person confirms the right building, the right list entry and the right records before drafting; the draft is read back against the sources; and the finished document is read once more by a conservation architect before it leaves us.

No subscription. No retainer. Nothing to pay until you download.

Full access to the system from the onboarding call, for as long as you want it.
Pay £500 only when you download a finished document.
Download when you’re ready — which means you can invoice your client for it first.

Documents

Statement of Heritage Significance (SoHS)£500 — Live now
Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA)In build. Ask about it on the call →
Planning & Heritage Statement (P&HS)In build. Ask about it on the call →
Design and Access Statement (DAS)Planned
Schedule of Works (SoW)Planned

Prices are per document, on download. The SOANE produces it route is priced on application once we’ve seen the brief — and covers any of these documents today.

Book the call

Fifteen minutes with the founder. Bring a live project. We’ll run the Preliminary Planning and Heritage Appraisal (PPHA) on it while you watch, at no charge, so you can judge the output on a building you actually know. If it’s useful, you leave the call with a login.

Book a 15-minute call

Built with SOANE Architects ↗

RIBA Chartered ArchitectRoyal Institute of British Architects
ARB RegisteredArchitects Registration Board
RIBA Conservation RegistrantRoyal Institute of British Architects
17+ yrsSpecialising in listed and historic buildings

These are the credentials of the practice that built HeritageAI. The product outputs are AI-generated and should be reviewed before submission.

Frequently asked questions

Is HeritageAI a competitor to my practice?

No. HeritageAI was built by SOANE Architects, a conservation practice, to handle its own research and documentation. It never contacts your client, and under the You produce it route your name is the only name on the document. If you’d rather SOANE produced it, SOANE acts as your appointed heritage consultant — the same relationship you’d have with an ecologist or a structural engineer.

Do I need a heritage accreditation to sign a Statement of Heritage Significance?

No accreditation is required to produce a Statement of Heritage Significance, a Heritage Impact Assessment or a Planning & Heritage Statement. You need to be competent to do the work and insured for it, as with anything you submit. HeritageAI gives you the researched, sourced evidence base to work from; the judgement and the signature are yours.

What does "nothing to pay until you download" actually mean?

Exactly that. There’s no monthly fee and no retainer. You can run the research and build the document at no cost. You pay £500 when you download the finished document — and you choose when that is.

What happens when I get stuck?

Call. SOANE Architects is on the same account and can advise, take on a difficult section, or produce the whole document as your appointed consultant, priced on application. That’s the point of the two routes: you’re never on your own with a building you can’t read.