For heritage assets with a positive market value, choosing a method of disposal that generates the highest price should not always be the preferred option. While heritage assets of a readily re-usable form, such as houses used as offices, will often be given a new lease of life through an open market sale, the most appropriate long-term use for a heritage asset is not necessarily the use which generates the optimum financial return. The aim of the disposal of heritage assets is to obtain the optimum value – the best return for the taxpayer consistent with local and national policies for the protection of heritage – rather than the highest price. To help such disposals, Government guidance stipulates that, where the undervalue is less than £2 million, methods of disposal other than open market sale (by auction or competitive tender) should also be considered to secure the most appropriate ownership and sustainable use of the property.

Methods of disposal other than on the open market might occur where:

• The property is kept off the open market to give a community-based organisation time to make suitable plans and raise adequate finance;
• A special purchaser has been identified (this could be a situation where someone who already owns part of the site or an adjacent site can demonstrate that marriage value can be released by combining the interests;
• A committed developer has been identified (with a long standing track record in delivering quality schemes or has the wherewithal to deliver the same);
• Marketing would unduly delay and add to the cost of a disposal;
• A discounted sale or lease takes account of the social value achieved by the community management and ownership; and
• Where the condition of the historic building demands rapid action.

Another useful method to dispose of heritage assets is under a development agreement whereby a local authority draws up a comprehensive development brief for a heritage asset they are planning to dispose of, identifying a new use for the building and the requirements of any renovation scheme. The local authority then competitively tenders the building on the open market for suitable developers/purchasers that are willing to renovate the building using the local authority’s development brief as the basis for the project. The local authority retains the ownership of the building throughout the duration of the project in order to ensure the developer/purchaser is renovating the building as per the specification set out in their development brief and issues a building licence to the developer/purchaser to allow them to begin the works on site. Once the works are complete and the local authority is happy that the developer/purchaser has met all of their requirements, as set out in the original development brief, the freehold or long leasehold of the building is transferred to the developer/purchaser and the disposal process concluded. This useful tool provides local authorities with the ability to ensure the sustainable re-use of such buildings, and gives them the ability to withhold the transferral of the freehold if the works do not meet their original requirements.