Coney Green Substation Site, Oswestry
Heritage Statement, building recording and management of archaeological services
The Brief:
Scottish Power required our expertise to reconfigure one of their electricity substation sites. They needed to demolish an existing structure that was situated in a conservation area and potentially harboured the underground remains of a section of medieval town walls. The client aimed to visually unify the site, which had evolved in a piecemeal fashion over the years, and to deliver the scheme in a timely manner.
The Outcome
Our research indicated that the historic building on the site was of little significance and we were able to achieve consent for the demolition of the structure, construction of the new facilities and works to visually unify and improve the overall character of the area. Archaeological conditions were attached to the permission, but due to the close working relationship established early on with the council, these had been anticipated. Our archaeologist provided an archaeological building record of the historic structure on the site prior to demolition and created and circulated a brief for further archaeological works, procuring an archaeological unit well in advance of work beginning on site. .
We Delivered:
We began in-depth historic research of the proposal site and the wider area which included a review of the Historic Environment Record (HER), existing archaeological reports and the holdings of the county archive as well as consultation with local historians and local history societies. We contacted the Conservation Officer and the county planning archaeologist at an early stage to build a working relationship to efficiently deal with the case moving forwards.
We undertook an in - depth site investigation of both the proposal site and the surrounding heritage assets, including the archaeological potential of the site. We delivered a detailed heritage statement for the site which assessed the significance of all heritage assets potentially affected by the proposed works and provided a heritage impact assessment for the proposals, including an assessment of impact upon the setting of surrounding assets.
