What does the future look like for Scotland’s past?

Policy Manager, Sarah-Jane Marsden , shares insights into how Scotland's national strategy for its historic environment was created.

Our historic environment is a vital asset for Scotland. It creates jobs, enriches our communities, and helps to tell Scotland’s story to the world. It’s an integral part of our transition to net zero and in helping local places thrive.

At the end of June this year, we launched a new mission-orientated five-year national strategy for Scotland’s historic environment. The mission of Our Past, Our Future (OPOF) is to sustain and enhance the benefits of Scotland’s historic environment for people and communities; now and into the future.

Creating a strategy for Scotland’s historic environment

OPOF is the result of nationwide engagement and contribution, but it isn’t Scotland’s first historic environment strategy. So when we were asked last year by the then Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, Neil Gray MSP, to review and refresh the then-existing national strategy, Our Place in Time (OPiT), we had a good place to start.

Our Place in Time launched in 2014 and set out broad thematic areas which helped align strategic planning in the heritage sector. The strategy also helped us collaborate across sectors to produce programmes such as the Skills Investment Plan , Make Your Mark volunteering campaign and the sustainable investment toolkit. All of these are still ongoing and are incorporated into the new strategy.

However, things changed. The whole world changed, and facing evolving policy pressures and economic challenges, it was the right time to take stock of the aims for Scotland’s historic environment and the role it should play in national life.

To work towards OPOF’s mission, the strategy has three clear priorities. These are big, national-level challenges requiring innovation and collective effort to achieve. Together, they demonstrate the historic environment’s contribution to a range of positive societal, environmental, economic, and cultural outcomes.?

Priority 1: Delivering the transition to Net Zero

Priority 2: Empowering resilient and inclusive communities and places

Priority 3: Building a wellbeing economy

By giving particular focus to these priorities in activities and planning, anyone working with Scotland’s historic environment – whether directly or indirectly – can ensure they are delivering against some of the nation’s most important challenges.

Having three priorities means this is a more action-focused strategy than its predecessor. It's better integrated into national targets and objectives and broader in its scope and ambition, whilst still remaining led by the benefits of the historic environment.

Collaboration is key

Collaboration and partnership working is central to the strategy’s delivery approach. But creating the strategy has also been a collaborative process.

The project team consisted of Historic Environment Scotland, The Scottish Government , Built Environment Forum Scotland and The National Lottery Heritage Fund .

The strategy’s development process was overseen by a steering group consisting of the heads of Historic Environment Scotland, National Trust for Scotland , The National Lottery Heritage Fund , Volunteer Scotland , Built Environment Forum Scotland , Historic Houses Scotland , Museums Galleries Scotland , Heritage Trust Network , Historic Churches Scotland and Society of Antiquaries of Scotland .

After a short period of sector and macro-level analysis, we began the engagement process quickly. As a team, we knew this was the most important and valuable part of the strategy’s development, so we built it into each stage. We started engaging with different people and organisations in the summer of 2022, after launching the review at Scotland's Historic Environment Forum in June.

Along with Built Environment Forum Scotland (BEFS), we ran a series of online and in-person workshops across the country. Some of these sessions were for the heritage sector and core stakeholders, but we also held specific sessions for youth groups, refugees, and equalities groups.

Regionally, we reached out to many different stakeholders, policy leads, decision-makers and community representatives for their input.

What we heard is reflected in the principles of the strategy. These principles are to: put people at the heart of decision-making, pledge to act on the climate and biodiversity crises, protect and promote the historic environment, and nurture and grow an inclusive, diverse and skilled workforce. They also recognise the importance of collaboration across sectors and working together to make good decisions.

The three themes of the priorities emerged clearly during this stage too. Wherever we went and whomever we spoke to, the climate emergency, helping local communities and places to thrive, and the need to act responsibly and sustainably were raised.

Within the same breath, people were commenting on the potential of the historic environment to deliver in these areas. This potential really drove us to develop a strategy which was mission-orientated and grounded in transformational change.

What outcomes do you want to see?

Following this period of engagement, we reviewed and analysed everyone’s comments. We then developed the identified priority themes into workable deliverables. Then, in November 2022, we went to public consultation, carrying out more face-to-face and virtual feedback sessions during this time, and we received 140 written responses from individuals, organisations, and representative groups.

Public consultation helped refine the strategy and resulted in the creation of a set of outcomes for each priority. These outcomes are a way for everyone working with Scotland’s historic environment to better work together and know where to concentrate efforts and resources. It also means we know what to measure to ensure that delivery is benefits-led.

The outcomes pick up many of the cross-cutting themes identified during the engagement and consultation. They also see the principles, such as skills, sector resilience, and equalities, become more embedded in the activity of the strategy.

Through regular reporting and measuring, the outcomes will be our test at the end of the strategy period to see if we have made the difference we want to make and achieved our mission.

Our Past, Our Future – a shared journey

We celebrated this shared journey with the launch of the Our Past, Our Future at an event in Glasgow. The new Minister for Culture, Europe, and International Development, Christina McKelvie MSP, formally launched the new strategy, declaring our historic environment as a national asset of international significance and reinforcing Scottish Government’s commitment to look after Scotland’s heritage.

Our Past, Our Future sits alongside other national strategies such as the Culture Strategy, Tourism Outlook 2030, Heat in Buildings Strategy, the National Gaelic Language Plan, and the Museums Strategy.

This is just the start though. Keep up to the date with all the developments of Our Past, Our Future

Find out more about the journey of Scotland’s strategy for its historic environment and hear from the partners: