Heritage Sector International Commercial Offer
World Heritage UK were pleased to be invited by Historic England to an evening reception at Wellington Arch, London, on Monday 28 November. Invitees included leading practitioners of heritage conservation and restoration work overseas, and representatives of relevant bodies and colleagues from government departments.
The Culture White Paper issued by the Dept. for Culture, Media and Sport asked Historic England to work with other heritage and related organisations to develop the heritage sector’s international commercial offer. The purpose of the evening was to help set the agenda for this. Historic England Chairman Sir Laurie Magnus confirmed what we all know, in that the UK is a world leader in heritage management. The heritage sector has however, lagged behind others such as the leading UK museums in successfully sharing these skills commercially overseas or attracting inward investment. It was time, he said, to ‘take the bushel off our light’, to be proud and open about our expertise and look to see if overseas partnerships could be made, with Heritage England and DCMS support.
WH:UK members have a varied and impressive range of skills including, management planning, museum management, heritage education and heritage tourism to name but a few. A range of suggestions from the membership relating to potential commercial opportunities has already been gathered to submit to Historic England, but if you have any further ideas please do contact Chris Mahon chris.mahon@worldheritageuk.org
Tony Crouch
City of Bath World Heritage Site Manager