Written evidence submitted by the
English National Opera

What are the most significant challenges facing owners and operators of built heritage assets, and how are they affecting what those sites can offer?

Like many theatres in London, the London Coliseum is over 120 years old and currently requires fundamental infrastructure work totalling £50m over the next eight years.

Heritage assets like the London Coliseum are dependent on earned income as part of their business model and to deliver the public good in their charitable missions. However, underinvestment in buildings and essential infrastructure threatens the London Coliseum’s ability to generate revenue alongside maintaining output and delivering public good. The London Coliseum is not only home to English National Opera but serves as a vital venue for the subsidised theatre sector. Partners including the successful Christmas residency of English National Ballet rely on earned income to sustain their own business model. Visiting company hires also contribute significantly to ENO’s and the London Coliseum’s financial stability. A sustained lack of investment in built heritage buildings puts audiences, jobs, and our businesses at risk.

Owners and operators of heritage assets are facing a downward spiral – the sustained lack of investment has led to short term and costly fixes. These temporary ‘sticking plaster’ solutions skirt around the substantive capital interventions that are needed to ensure the long-term protection of assets that will in turn ensure sustainability goals are met. Delivering business models has become increasingly reliant on earned income in charities including the London Coliseum, while delaying investment in capital interventions ultimately proves more costly and puts heritage at risk.

To deliver substantive heritage-appropriate and sustainable solutions, venues must also be able to secure funding to cover any pause in income generating activities while critical works are undertaken. And they must continue to be attractive to commercial opportunities, which means maintaining a quality offer. For the London Coliseum this means providing a venue and technical offer that is attractive to visiting commercial producers, and for example to those who wish to film here because of our heritage interior.

Built in 1904, we proudly preserve the heritage of the London Coliseum, whilst trying to make sustainable choices that will ensure that the building is efficient and future proofed. However, maintaining a heritage asset comes at a premium, not least the specialist craftsmanship that can double or even triple repair or restoration costs, further underscoring the need for strategic investment.

How effective are the current funding and finance models for built heritage?

Current models are not effective. The sector has gone without sustainable public investment in physical cultural and heritage infrastructure for over two decades. A report by SOLT & UK Theatre found that one in five theatre and performing arts venues require a minimum investment of £5m in the next ten years to continue current operating, and nearly 80% of venues risk closure or will be unusable on safety grounds if funds are not found. 

At the London Coliseum, which offers the largest stage and auditorium in the West End, £2.8m has been invested over the last 18 months to ensure we can continue operating. All £2.8m-worth of items were regarded as urgent and have addressed both the fabric of our Grade 2* listed Frank Matcham masterpiece and failing or outdated stage and technical equipment. Items on this ‘Fix & Fail’ list for the next 18 months will ensure business continuity, compliance with legislation, and that audiences and artists can safely and legally use our spaces are estimated at £4.47m. Part of this activity has been funded through realising the sale of another property (Lilian Baylis House), which is a one-off gain and not a sustainable route to maintaining our venue. The need to invest in and preserve the heritage assets is impeding our ability to deliver our charitable mission to create extraordinary encounters with opera. In the next five years, developing Fix & Fail costs are reckoned to be a further £12.05m.

This identified urgent capital need (of Fix & Fail), is in addition to the almost £4m per year that it currently costs to run and maintain the Coliseum as a 24/7 venue for ENO, for our visiting companies, for our location’s economy and for our audiences.

Larger capital works will necessitate the closure of the venue for an extended period, which means anticipating substantial loss of revenue. The forecast for these urgent works – needed to protect the heritage asset, future-proof the venue for audiences and staff, deliver energy efficiency and improve sustainability and physical access –  is estimated to cost £33.9m over eight years for the London Coliseum alone. That is in addition to the £4.47m to be spent on fix and fail in the next twelve months and the £12.05m urgently needed in the the next five years- totalling £50m. The closure of the London Coliseum for an extended period of time will result in a loss of earned and philanthropic income to the company making any closure additionally expensive.

If we consider just one area of fundraising, there is an increasing pressure on trusts and foundations to fund capital improvements to cultural venues – greater than it has been in recent decades. This pressure has been exacerbated by many trusts and foundations closing or shifting their focus. This in turn puts increased pressure on the few key players who are still active within the cultural sector.

What should long-term public funding for the sector look like?

With DCMS facing a range of demands for capital expenditure, the sector would welcome the committee exploring the impact that mass failure of cultural infrastructure could have on communities across the UK, and whether HM Government is doing enough to address the crisis. 

The new £85 million Creative Foundations Fund to support urgent capital works at cultural venues is welcome but small considering the need across the sector. Securing increased annual funds to support the built heritage is urgently needed.

Consideration could be given to:

• Ensuring Lottery funds make provision for cultural assets that are also heritage buildings, especially where public engagement with the heritage is difficult to achieve.

• Exploration of alternative finance models, for example, low-cost loans for investment in green energy that are paid back long term in line with energy savings.

• Exploration of funds from major polluters and contributors to the climate crisis that are reinvested in green technology solutions for heritage assets.

• Government-led funding initiatives and incentives to help listed buildings reach net zero.

• Designated funds to support the feasibility stage of energy efficiency projects. Due to the specialist nature of interventions on listed buildings these initial explorations are expensive, and knowledge can be limited, especially within local government. Support to develop plans and financial models would be beneficial.

• Whether within Westminster, which has more listed buildings that any other area in the UK, a diversion from any tourist tax could be invested in built heritage assets.

• Charitable exemptions and rates for heritage works, possibly aligned with the need to preserve artisan skills in particular areas of restoration.

• How public investment can play a significant role in catalysing private funding to turbocharge growth and opportunity. Championing and investing in philanthropy and pulling the levers that can unlock private investment must also form part of the solution.

• To incentivise giving to capital campaigns the Government could use match funding to drive philanthropy. On average, match funding generates x2.5 times more giving. A matched capital infrastructure could galvanise support for preserving and protecting our heritage in sustainable ways.

What role does built heritage play in the regeneration of local areas and in contributing to economic growth and community identity?

With a capital crisis looming for the cultural sector this could have a devastating effect on communities across the UK. Without buildings that are safe for staff, performers and audiences we cannot build communities, employ staff, and stimulate the wider economy. Each year, the London Coliseum employs over 250 contracted staff plus more than 150 freelance creative practitioners; and we welcome nearly 600,000 visits to performances. SOLT UK research shows that for every £1 spent at the theatre a further £1.40 is generated in the local economy through visits to local restaurants, bars and shops. This impact is jeopardised without proper investment in capital infrastructure.

How can heritage buildings be supported to increase energy efficiency and contribute to the Government’s net zero targets?

Retrofitting sustainable and green initiatives to listed buildings, like the London Coliseum, is a complex endeavour. Plus, outdated equipment drives up heating and lighting costs and hinders achieving sustainability goals. Government investment could transform landmark sites like the London Coliseum into exemplars for the heritage sector – a flagship of sustainable retrofitting within the charity sector.

Sharing best practice on the unique challenges of delivering sustainable initiatives for listed buildings would help the sector collectively deliver more impact.

Targeted Government funding initiatives and incentives would help listed buildings reach net zero goals whilst preserving their historic integrity.

Access to the specialist professional advice and guidance needed for these projects is expensive. Creating designated funds to support heritage buildings explore the complex and multifaceted needs of energy efficient interventions would help create more thorough plans that could be shared across the sector.

What are the financial, regulatory and practical barriers to preserving built heritage?

There are multiple heritage agencies and planners that have interests in heritage, and because the needs of preserving heritage can rub against the need to conserve heritage, decision-making processes can be slow. Planners have become more flexible, but policy to support creative and appropriate solutions would be beneficial.

What policy changes are needed to make restoring historic buildings easier and less expensive?

When new legislation is enacted, the speed of implementing changes necessary in heritage assets should be a consideration.

As above, due to complex multi-agency considerations, securing the appropriate decisions can take longer than compliance sometimes demands. A reduction in bureaucracy and the ability to have pragmatic risk-based solutions must balance preservation, conservation and sustainability.

Dedicated DCMS or ACE funds that support capital (like the very welcome announcement from Secretary of State Lisa Nandy at the Jennie Lee lecture) will help. This was initially announced for one year. Making this an annual investment in key infrastructure would be welcomed by ENO and the wider sector.

What policies would ensure the UK workforce has the right skills to maintain our heritage assets?

Maintaining heritage skills through apprenticeships and other vocational routes is crucial to ensure that we have the workforce of the future that can work with bespoke and original heritage systems. Apprenticeships in artisanal skills around historic building maintenance such as ornate plaster and terracotta to preserve, protect and repair heritage assets. For example, the London Coliseum uses hydraulic technologies and historic engineering systems, and it is feasible that within a generation, necessary skills will be lost as many venues upgrade their systems. There are currently no apprenticeship pathways that teach these skills. Niche heritage skills need to be passed on and preserved for future generations.

Jenny Mollica                            Stuart Turner                            Marina Jones

CEO                                          COO                                          Executive Director, Development & Public Affairs

English National Opera and London Coliseum Ltd