UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has issued the UK a warning that it must start doing a better job of preserving its heritage sites. A number of development projects have gotten the green light without any consultation from the committee.
"UNESCO's warning concerns icons such as the Tower of London, over which Renzo Piano's London Bridge Tower, aka "The Shard," would loom. The 1,017-foot skyscraper, scheduled for completion in 2012, would be the tallest building in the country.
Also of concern are sites in Edinburgh, Scotland. UNESCO says the city's medieval Old Town is threatened by the scale and character of the Caltongate mixed-use project, designed by Gensler. The agency says it wasn't given early notice of the project, which involves the demolition of several buildings. 'It's best if they approach us beforehand so that we can recommend adaptations if necessary to ensure the universal value of the site,' says Mechtild Rossler of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris.
The agency also warned that new projects in Bath, a World Heritage City about 115 miles west of London, could jeopardize the historic character of the city center. Other threatened sites include Stonehenge and Avebury, Neolithic ruins at Orkney, Liverpool's Maritime Mercantile City, and famed structures in London's Westminster borough (Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey, and St. Margaret's Church)."
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