The Committee on Shared Built Heritage

The ICOMOS Shared Built Heritage Committee is one of the International Scientific Committees within ICOMOS. It focuses on common and colonial (shared and mutual) heritage in Europe and around the world.
Started in 1998 as a Scientific Committee on Shared Colonial Architecture and Town Planning the name of the Committee was changed into Shared Built Heritage (SBH) in 2003 after the presentation during the ICOMOS General Assembly in Madrid in 2002. This change was the first step into broadening its mission.
Shared built heritage includes historical urban and rural structures or elements, resulting from multi-cultural and/or colonial influence.
The main objective of SBH is supporting public and private organisations world-wide in raising awareness, safeguarding, management and documentation of shared built heritage. Moreover, the over-all goal is promoting the integration of the heritage into today’s society in a social, functional and economic feasible way. This allows the future maintenance and in fact the very existance of this heritage.
In accordance with the ICOMOS statutes this includes conservation, protection, rehabilitation and enhancement of monuments, groups of buildings and sites.
The committee has representatives from many countries around the world. The secretariat is based in the Netherlands at the Heritage House in Amsterdam.

[see the Tab Mission Statement for more detailed information on Shared Heritage]