In 1987 the first step was taken in developing a simple and efficient method for making inventories in Denmark. During 2 years all buildings built before 1940 in 6 municipalities of different size and degree of urbanization were described, photographed and evaluated according to printed forms, and a new system of describing and evaluating groups of buildings as part of a geographic and urban structure was developed after a number of experiments.

Since 1990 the system, called SAVE (Survey of Architectural Values in the Environment), has been finished and has proved its usefulness as the methodical foundation of 40 municipal atlases, each covering one municipality. In positive figures this has resulted in a register consisting of c. 210.000 buildings and c. 1250 developed structures. An average Danish municipality consists of 5-6000 buildings built before 1940, and with a staff of 4-6 people the whole process will normally take 9 months.

The concept of the architectural heritage has gradually changed during the last 30 years from primarily consisting of outstanding monuments or - at least - individual buildings to a more comprehensive conception of built environments whose most interesting elements may be the bulk of more common buildings, the street pattern or the interaction between buildings and landscape. Of course the monuments which may be part of such built environments add to the value.

As the different national states have different law systems nothing definite can be said of this very important question. In some countries the protecting measures will be listing, in others planning will be the answer or a combination of both. The body responsible for the implementation of whatever measures are carried out may be central or local.

As it may have appeared the InterSAVE-system is developed under the premise that the most appropriate instrument would be planning regulations and that the local authority should be responsible for the implementation. In that way the protective measures can be carried out in a comparatively simple way and their fulfilment can be supervised at close.

In the international version of SAVE (InterSAVE) measures have been taken to liberate the system from Danish conditions such as the presence of a Building and Dwelling Register or standardized city maps. The ambition is that the system is applicable in Timbuktu as well as in Toronto. This is obtained by distinguishing between core methods, which are fixed, and the actual procedures which can be modified to satisfy site specific conditions.

In Denmark all data are filed on a database in The State Documentation Centre, which is part of the inter-European network of documentation centres organised by The Council of Europe. The Centre is the organ where information about InterSAVE can be obtained.

The Danish Cultural Heritage Authority
Lis Jensen, tel. 0045 33 74 52 46

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policy

Urban Policy > Urban environment > Cultural heritage

Conservation of historic buildings