Managing heritage resources has become a standard part of the development process. CRM can provide informed, responsible and realistic advice to owners and developers pre-purchase or during the course of a project . We can provide pre-purchase preliminary assessments of issues likely to arise, statutory responsibilities and optimum strategies. We often become part of a development team to advise and carry out work throughout the duration of a project.

Many of the services that CRM offers can be termed strategic planning; archaeological assessments, conservation plans, heritage impact statements are all forms of strategic planning. In addition to these works, though, CRM, has been involved in major asset management studies often for resources that encompass very large geographical areas. For example, CRM has contributed to twenty-six regional heritage studies for places as diverse as Glen Innes, Strathfield, Maitland, Wyong and the Barrenjoey Peninsula in New South Wales. Other examples of this work include an asset management study for the Australian Defence Force and an Industrial Heritage Study of St Marys for Penrith City Council.

As well, CRM has been at the forefront of policy development for archaeological method for many years. The archaeological zoning plan methodology was first developed by CRM for Hyde Park Barracks and the Royal Mint buildings in Sydney in 1981. The archaeological assessment, the basic tool of contemporary archaeological work, was formalised by CRM in a heritage asset study for the City of Sydney CBD in 1988.

In NSW the principal statutory authority for heritage resources is the NSW Heritage Council. The Heritage Act NSW (1977) is the principal statutory regulation as well as regional environmental plans (REPs). Local Councils also include provisions for heritage management in their planning instruments (local environmental plans, LEPS, and development control plans, DCPs). Information concerning the NSW Heritage Council, the Heritage Act and its implimentation through the offices of the Heritage Office of NSW may be viewed at www.heritage.nsw.gov.au. This website also provides access to the State Heritage Register and Heritage Database.

Indigenous archaeological resources are afforded management and protection under the auspices of the National Parks and Wildlife Act (1974). This same Act also affords protection to natural environments and endangered flora and fauna. Indigenous Archaeology is managed through the CUltural Heritage division of the Department of Environment and Climate Change.

For more information go to: www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au

The Historic Shipwrecks Act (1976) affords protection to shipwrecks and any other relics of maritime activity www.maritime.heritage.nsw.gov.au

There are several other planning instruments of relevance to heritage conservation; the Heritage Office website offers an overview of statutory protection.