Capitalising on military heritage: REPAIR Final Conference
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09 October 2017Former military or heritage sites provide excellent potential to act as the catalyst for urban regeneration, many consist of historic buildings dating back over centuries and the source of rich cultural heritage. REPAIR- Realising the Potential of Abandoned Military Sites as an Integral part of Sustainable Urban Community Regeneration - is an URBACT project gathering 10 partners whose challenge was to transform these abandoned sites into thriving sources of economic activity, employment and social cohesion. The REPAIR Project Final Conference was held on the 15 and 16 June 2011 in Avrig and Sibiu, Romania.
The REPAIR project partners manage a wide variety of former military sites, ranging from disused bases in Eastern Europe (some heavily contaminated) to protected cultural heritage buildings in historic city centres.
The challenge was to transform these sites into thriving sources of economic activity, employment and social cohesion, working in an integrated and sustainable manner so as to address priority issues such as energy efficiency, use of renewable energy sources and sustainable transport. The REPAIR project activities have been organised around four policy themes or ‘pillars’:
- Pillar I Energy & waste management
- Pillar II Heritage conservation
- Pillar III Transport & accessibility
- Pillar IV Local jobs for local people.
REPAIR partners demonstrate a broad range of re-uses for their military sites and buildings, ranging from nature protection and green infrastructure to housing, retailing and large scale enterprise and employment creation schemes.
They also demonstrate different approaches for achieving these outcomes, including the use of a variable mix of local, regional, national and EU policy instruments and funding sources. Day One of the final conference was held at Marsa Military Site, located close to Avrig about 25 km from Sibiu. Day Two was held at the Ramada Conference Centre in central Sibiu. A wonderful example of a walled Saxon town, the capital of Transylvania and the European City of Culture in 2007.
The Mayor of Avrig, Arnold Klingeis, welcomed project partners and political representatives to Romania. Councillor Jane Chitty of Medway Council, responded as Lead Partner on behalf of the project.
This Final conference focused on the analysis of Local Action Plans developed by each partner; Pilot regeneration Actions focused on two locations – 
Download 1_URBACT_REPAIR_Thematic_Report_PRA_FLorence_10_May_2011revised_260511vj.pdf (383.96 KB) and Download Paola_URBACT_REPAIR_Thematic_Report_PRA_Paola_REVISED_260511.pdf (477.46 KB); endorsement of Download REPAIR Policy Recommendations Guidance (396.57 KB) and the completion of the Download Final Policy Framework (1.42 MB) for publication.
Mr. Liviu Bailesteanu, guest speaker from the Romanian Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism provided an overview of the work of the European Ministers in connection with the E.U. Reference Framework. He recognised the importance and value of the work of the
REPAIR Project in capitalising on military heritage to create the broader sustainable redevelopment of urban areas.
Read more:
- REPAIR - URBACT website
- REPAIR Policy Framework - PDF
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