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T H E B U I L D I N G C O N S E R VAT I O N D I R E C T O R Y 2 0 1 4
T W E N T Y F I R S T E D I T I O N
Heritage Training Group: this suggests that
over 100,000 people are already employed
within the sector to work on maintaining and
regenerating heritage buildings.
Within the wider education sector,
heritage sites and contexts provide rich
opportunities for learning, both inside and
outside the classroom, on a daily basis.
There is not a subject in the curriculum
which cannot use aspects of heritage in
demonstrating ideas or practical applications,
and schools benefit from diverse educational
resources provided by large and small
organisations on different types of site (from
understanding the structures of buildings
using physics to using the settings of historic
properties to generate creative artistic
responses or creative writing). Formal
education sees heritage at the heart of history,
art, archaeology, architecture and many other
subjects in secondary and tertiary education
environments, and subjects allied to heritage
remain popular with students. Academic
outputs (journal articles, reports, books, etc)
associated with heritage subjects continue
to grow year on year. The opportunities that
heritage provides as a glue which binds us
to locations in the world around us have far-
reaching value for aspiration, inspiration and
creativity as part of the wider cultural sphere.
One of the major values which is
accorded to the built heritage is through the
generation of tourism revenues from visits
to individual historic visitor attractions
and larger entities, characterised by their
historic buildings and streetscapes. Again,
there is a wealth of statistics and evaluation
of impacts from tourism, and yet there
continues to be a surprising amount of
distrust in the relationship between the
sectors. The heritage sector often considers
that tourism is exploitative and fails to
invest in the asset base, and that the tourism
experience and engagement with the visitor
is often undemanding, with visitors unable
to fully appreciate the cultural value of the
resource. Conversely, the tourism sector
considers the heritage sector to be far too
precious and purist about the management
and interpretation of its resource, and
un-businesslike in its operation.
This is perhaps taking some stereotypical
views to an extreme, but the tenor of these
views persists, despite heritage tourism being
one of the most successful growth markets
in the global economy, and Britain being
consistently in the top destination brands
for its cultural heritage offer. The heritage
tourism experience in Britain is generally
excellent, and soundly based on the important
work of the craftspeople and conservation
professionals who maintain the heritage fabric
of our buildings and places.
However, the industry cannot be
complacent: the visitor offer must compete in
a crowded and competitive market for leisure
time and spend from both global and domestic
consumers. The experience and service must
therefore be constantly enhanced, and therein
lies the tension between the areas. Regardless,
heritage, often through tourism-led initiatives
such as festivals or events, has clearly moved
into the realm of ‘lifestyle experience’, a fact
borne out by continued heritage society and
organisational membership, and the extension
of heritage as a theme into the branding of
consumer goods, foods and other products:
the appetite appears unabated.
This brings us back full circle to heritage
being very much a mainstream theme
within society and the way it behaves,
socially, politically and economically.
Wherever people are looking after and
engaging with the fabric of our heritage,
longer term outcomes and spin-off benefits
are emerging that the sector has really
only just begun to quantify, including
improvements in health and quality of life.
More could be said about developments
in technological approaches to heritage
preservation, maintenance and interpretation,
and the changing frameworks for managing
heritage as new models of management and
enterprise embed themselves in a fast-
changing economy, and as civil society takes
on more responsibility from what was once
expected as a public service function. More
too could be said of the divergent approaches
in policy between England and Scotland
towards heritage which are quickly emerging.
However, from the perspective of an academic
sitting in a university business school,
surveying the industry as a whole, the over-
riding impression is that the heritage industry
has already emerged as a clearly defined sector
with business complexity and a varied set of
value propositions that start with the fabric
and reach far beyond.
Further Information
Ecorys/Heritage Lottery Fund, The Economic
Impact of Maintaining and Repairing
Historic Buildings in England, HLF,
London, 2012
Heritage Counts
Heritage Lottery Fund, New Ideas Need Old
Buildings, HLF, London, 2013
Historic Environment Advisory Council for
Scotland, Report and Recommendations
on the Economic Impact of the Historic
Environment in Scotland, HEACS,
Edinburgh, 2009
National Heritage Training Group
Scotland’s Historic Environment Audit
UK Heritage Research Group
ukhrg.wordpress.com
IAN BAXTER
PhD FRSA FSA FSAScot
PIfA is the head of division of Tourism,
Heritage & Events at University Campus
Suffolk Business School. He has worked in
heritage management for 25 years, and
has contributed to the development of
the Heritage Counts and Scottish Heritage
Audit programmes as well as other policy
development initiatives in Scotland and
England. He is currently developing heritage
management as a strategic subject area for
UCS (see
).
A Heritage Open Day at Wilton Windmill, Wiltshire (Photo: Susie Brew)
A conservator carries out masonry repairs at
Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire
