What will Forest City mean for listed buildings, heritage, and archaeology?

Every listed building keeps its full legal protection—a development corporation has no power to change that, and we wouldn't want it to. Churches, halls, and historic buildings within the area will be integrated into the city with their settings respected, as they were when villages like Hampstead were absorbed into London.

Archaeology gets more attention with Forest City, not less. Much of this land has never been professionally surveyed—whatever lies under the plough soil has sat unexamined for centuries and is degraded a little more each year by agriculture. Before construction, the entire site will need to undergo systematic archaeological survey and recording, likely the largest such programme in the East of England's history. What's found will be preserved, recorded, and displayed in the city itself.