The Cabildo de Tenerife has launched a call for the renewal of signage in industrial establishments. This initiative has been criticized due to the lack of references to graphic heritage, conservation, historical value, or the protection of unique signage in its regulatory framework. This concern has been raised by the Canary association dedicated to cataloguing and preserving graphic heritage, Ínsula Signa. They warn that the funding line supports actions such as installation, renewal, or replacement of signage, posters, façade painting, and corporate image redesign without incorporating specific heritage safeguards.
With an initial allocation of €165,000, potentially expandable to €365,000, this year’s call plans to cover 100% of the costs, with a maximum of €10,000 per beneficiary, for actions such as signage, façade renewal, and corporate image redesign. While “it is good news that there are funds to renovate businesses,” states the Canary association, “there are no measures in place to prevent public funds from financing the disappearance of culturally significant elements; not a one.”
The president of Ínsula Signa, Jaime Medina, warns that “the main issue is the total absence of heritage protection criteria within a call designed to intervene in commercial and industrial landscape elements.” Accordingly, the funding guidelines expressly subsidise the installation, renewal, and replacement of signage, as well as façade painting and corporate image redesign, but do not include, according to Medina, “mechanisms for heritage evaluation, conservation criteria, an obligation for historical documentation, or any exclusions for elements of significant cultural value.” He continues, “There is also no consultation with graphic heritage specialists or local councils regarding any existing catalogues or inventories.”
Lack of Filters to Ensure Conservation
The call could provide an economic incentive to replace historical signs with standardised contemporary designs, a concern echoed by the association advocating for graphic heritage. “Many of these elements survive in modest shops purely through continuity of use,” adds the president. “If the government finances their replacement without filters, there is a risk of accelerating the disappearance of an important part of the visual history of the territory,” Medina explains, defending that “we are not just talking about ‘old signs’, but also historical typography, artisanal lettering, neon signs, ceramic mosaics, dimensional letters, traditional painting techniques, or commercial designs linked to specific economic and social periods. When they disappear, a part of the urban, industrial, and commercial history of our cities is lost.”
Incentivising the Protection of Historical Heritage
The proposed solution by the collective does not prevent businesses from accessing these funds. Instead, they advocate for the incorporation of a “heritage evaluation clause for those signs that, due to their age, uniqueness, or quality, may hold cultural interest.” In this regard, they want the establishment owner to, with knowledge of their heritage value, be able to decide freely whether to keep, integrate, or replace their signage. Should a business owner choose to renovate, the encouragement of partial conservation or restoration of the historical sign in the new corporate image should be incentivised. If this is not the case, and a notable element is chosen for removal, “public administrations should contemplate mechanisms for its recovery and institutional conservation, preventing it from being destroyed or abandoned.” This already occurs with old trams, urban furniture, or industrial machinery.
For Ínsula Signa, the issue is not with commercial renewal, but rather that public assistance aimed at modifying the urban landscape could accelerate the disappearance of elements that are part of the visual memory of the territory. The association argues that “a sign can be both commercial and patrimonial at the same time, and its value depends not just on the physical piece, but also on its relationship with the façade, the history of the establishment, and its longevity.” Therefore, they maintain that the guidelines should include a prior heritage assessment based on criteria such as “age, typographic uniqueness, artisanal quality, the use of traditional techniques, or its connection to the economic and social history of the place.” “It is not about hindering the evolution of the city but about preventing a part of its visual history from quietly disappearing without even being assessed,” concludes Jaime Medina.
