Cultural Heritage Impact Consultation

What a cultural heritage impact consultation is

A cultural heritage impact consultation is the procedure before the regional culture authority by which a prior ruling is requested on the possible effect of a project on assets of historical, cultural or archaeological heritage, ahead of the start of the project's processing or its environmental impact assessment. It is a routine procedure and, in many autonomous communities, a mandatory step before beginning the environmental impact assessment of renewable energy and infrastructure projects.

When it is needed

• As a prior consultation before drafting the Environmental Impact Study, to establish whether catalogued heritage assets exist within the project area and which archaeological studies will be required.
• Where the project lies within the setting of a listed cultural asset (Bien de Interés Cultural, BIC), for which a specific compatibility analysis may be required.
• As a mandatory requirement of the culture authority before it issues its sectoral report within the environmental impact assessment procedure.

What documentation it includes

• Description of the project and its exact location.
• Prior archaeological surface survey of the area, where available.
• Consultation of the regional authority's archaeological charts and heritage asset catalogues.
• Identification of sites, ethnographic features or catalogued assets within the direct and indirect area of influence.

The authority's response

The culture authority responds by indicating whether the project requires additional archaeological studies (intensive survey, test pits), whether there is any direct impact on catalogued assets that would condition the project design, and what heritage protection measures must be incorporated into the Environmental Impact Study. This response guides the drafting of the heritage annex of the environmental impact assessment.

Regulatory framework

The procedure is grounded in Spanish and regional heritage law, notably Law 16/1985 on the Spanish Historical Heritage and the applicable regional heritage act, under which the competent authority is the regional culture department. Requirements and deadlines therefore vary between autonomous communities.

Why choose Ideas Medioambientales

We manage cultural heritage impact consultations before the various regional culture authorities, with our own archaeologists who carry out the necessary prior survey and coordinate the response with the drafting of the Environmental Impact Study.

With more than 25 years of experience and an in-house multidisciplinary team that includes archaeologists, biologists and environmental scientists, we work across the whole of Spain from our offices in Albacete and Madrid. Our management systems are certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001.

Tell us the location of your project and we will advise whether there are known heritage records and which procedure you need to initiate.