'Cultural Cities' report part one: future tourism strategy for the Tower of London
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Image: western approach to the Tower of London
Future Cities Forum was delighted to be hosted by Andrew Jackson, CBE, Historic Palaces' Tower Director, for its 'Cultural Cities' discussion event. Part one of this report records Andrew's contribution to the themes of the conference and the his ambitions for this ancient fortress visitor site.
The Tower of London is facing the need to build itself as a tourist attraction that can welcome new and broader audiences, while funding digital learning and sustainability measures to ensure the future of its historic fabric.
The event looked at questions on how the character of the tourism economy is changing and the role of heritage within this, how are towns and cities evolving to accommodate new cultural attractions and how can the UK City of Culture 2029 help to support this?
In Andrew's opening remarks, he spoke of looking forward to the 2066 millennium celebrations of the Tower of London, its history as a fortress and subsequent roles among others as a medieval palace, infamous prison and royal mint and the need to remain relevant to future generations.
He said there are three pillars that support its future: the first 'Reaching Further', which gives a spotlight to the need to enlarge the attractions audiences with more visitors and from a wider segment of society, 'Mean More', which denotes that whoever comes to visit, should find something that resonates with them, and 'Acting for the Future', the last pillar that reflects the need to embrace sustainability, education and community.
Andrew reflected that one hundred and fifty years ago the Tower of London was the capital's tallest building before the creation of St Paul's Cathedral and he highlighted the concerns for how the City of London would evolve around heritage. He asked the question of how the Tower of London could respond to that, how collaboration could take place in the debate around economic drivers of growth and the protection of heritage and how public realm could be managed well in its work with the local borough Tower Hamlets.
He also mentioned the possibility of reviving the historical procession that English kings as late as Charles II used to make after spending the night at the Tower of London to Westminster.
Andrew commented how useful it was to hold Future Cities Forum's event at the Tower of London for collaboration and to help evolve thinking and partnership.
During the following first panel discussion, Andrew was asked in growing new audiences, was he envious of the V&A's new museum and storehouse in Stratford, starting from scratch with modern buildings and therefore able to get to grips with new digital infrastructure for modern audiences:
'Trying to retrofit anything into the fortress here is a real challenges. We ask ourselves what audiences want and try to find a baseline around this. We must avoid the lowest common denominator. We can do digital and have done it, but with around three million visitors, we cannot do immersive digital. We concentrate on how you look to the future by using new tech in old buildings. We are building up our educational facilities while being aware of the need for sustainable measures such a heat pumps and new radiators to fulfil our targets, but it is a challenge. Of course on the latter, we work with Historic England and I would like to put solar panels on the roof here but told I cannot do that.'
A question was put to Andrew about having to satisfy two very difference audiences - the public with their growing appetite to have their own stories and voices captured in response to the Tower of London's collections and the very different demands of the City of London, which might want acquiescence with the ambition of commerce to build more tall towers. Andrew said:
'There is difference in managing stakeholders and managing visitors. In terms of engaging with the community we are getting quite sophisticated and we have co-curated exhibitions in south Kensington, Hampton Court Palace with the community and also here at the Tower of London with groups from Tower Hamlets. Our community work is really important and also how people experience a place like this. It isn't just about visitors but making spaces available for groups to have community meetings or just meet for a cup of coffee.
On the type of leadership needed to break down barriers with the City of London, Andrew stated that it was about creating better dialogue:
'Physically, we have a big road dividing us from the City which gets very busy but this also acts sometimes as a mental barrier. Its a line on a map and we have to think mentally of ways we can cross it to build relationships. The key type of leadership is to think positively about what we can do to mutual benefit and the type of dialogue which will bring that about, the opposite of language which is confrontational and collaborative.'
In part two, we will be reporting on what Tom Nancollas, Lead for the City of London's design and heritage planning had to say on the balance of preserving historic sites and the growth of commercial buildings.
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