News Release

New HEACS report published on the Infrastructure of the Historic Environment

HEACS submitted its final Report and recommendations on the infrastructure of the historic environment (PDF file size 253K) to the Scottish Ministers on 19 December 2008. This was one of four priority issues on which the Scottish Ministers asked HEACS for advice during its second term (2006-2009).

The final report:

• characterises the diverse range of organisations that make up the sector as a whole;
• traces the development of the historic environment voluntary sector;
• analyses the characteristics of effective infrastructure or intermediary bodies;
• assesses the current infrastructure for the historic environment; and finally,
• considers future infrastructural provision for the sector.

The report especially highlights the role and importance of the voluntary sector for the historic environment. It concludes there is a pressing need for a bespoke national intermediary body which can champion the historic environment.

Liz Burns, Chair of HEACS, said: 'We believe this report will be of considerable interest to the historic environment sector and hope it will help the sector in deciding how best to move forward in terms of organisation and infrastructure. We look forward to receiving the Minister's response in due course'.

HEACS and the Infrastructure Working Group would like to thank the many individuals and organisations in the sector that contributed to this work.

Comments on the report would be very welcome and should be sent to the HEACS Secretariat: heacs@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

Two research reports published

As part of the research for the infrastructure report, HEACS commissioned two further studies during 2008, from:

• Volunteer Development Scotland (VDS) on Volunteering in the Historic Environment (PDF file size 298K); and
• the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), A Comparative Study of the Infrastructure of Voluntary Organisations in Scotland (PDF file size 239K).

For the first time, the VDS report has quantified and characterised the very significant contribution of volunteers working in the historic environment. From the 233 organisations which participated in the research (26% response rate), it was found that some 12,500 volunteers carry out almost 168,000 hours per month. This equates to an economic value of over £28,000,000 per annum.