Business / Digital bank sign ‘inappropriate’ for conservation area, architecture society says
PLANNING permission has been granted for new signage on the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in Lerwick – but a national architecture society says including a digital screen is “inappropriate” for the area.
The bank applied to the council seeking approval for a new internally mounted electronic screen at the Commercial Street branch earlier this year. It is located within the Lerwick Conservation Area.
The proposed screen would be a similar size to the paper poster already displayed in the building’s window.
RBS said it felt the digital signage would be “respectful of the building’s character and is in keeping with its wider streetscape”.
A planning statement added: “Its installation will not have a detrimental impact upon street views, since it will not be visible until adjacent to, opposite or passing the building.”
RBS also said it would help the company cut back on paper wastage.
Shetland Islands Council approved the application last week, stating that the “proposed signage is acceptable in terms of their locations, scale and colour, and therefore the signs will have no significant impact on the visual amenity of the Lerwick Conservation Area, nor upon the character or setting of the historic environment”.
However, the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) commented on the planning application: “Digital screens are internally illuminated adverts, which are inappropriate in a conservation area. We object to that element of the scheme.”
A member of the AHSS panel told Shetland News that the council’s planning portal only allows comments of 150 characters or less.
The member expanded on their comment saying: “Conservation areas are typically protected from inappropriate modern alterations to shopfronts and business frontages, including modern signage.
“Internally illuminated signs draw attention to themselves in a way that traditional signs do not, and traditional signs can easily be illuminated by spotlights and other solutions, without needing internal illumination.
“This is recognised by many councils’ policies on conservation areas, which explicitly ban internally illuminated adverts, and Shetland has had policies in draft form for many years which include this policy.
“Digital adverts are large television type screens, which if displaying static images function as a large, bright, internally illuminated sign, but which can also change or show video images, which attract even more attention.
“Even the change between static images attracts attention, and draws the eye to this incongruous feature as a focal point, instead of the architectural and other features and focal points of the designed landscape which the conservation area aims to protect.
“They are part of a strategy to move towards digital rather than printed adverts, allegedly for environmental reasons, although the whole-life impact of the TV screens including their manufacturing footprint, shipping, and running costs must surely undermine some of the purported benefits.”
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