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This paper aims to provide an exploratory investigation into contemporary interpretation methods used in historic gardens and their fundamental role in enhancing the visitor experience and sense of a place.

A series of semi-structured interviews (n = 65) with Wrest Park visitors – who had the opportunity to experience new interpretation methods provided on-site – have been carried out in an attempt to explore their sense of place through interpretation.

The research suggests that interpretation has a fundamental role to play in “telling the story” of historic gardens, with 92.5 per cent of the sample understanding elements of the place’s history, significance and evolution. The findings further suggest the presence of two distinct visitor typologies – history explorers and leisure seekers.

The study provides implications for theory and practice and recommendations for historic garden practitioners.

The importance of conceptualising and operationalising interpretation in historic gardens has received relatively little attention across the extant body of heritage interpretation literature. English Heritage’s Wrest Park, which is amongst England’s most prominent historic gardens, is used as a case study.

As part of its broader re‐evaluation of heritage policy, the UK Government has reviewed the Ecclesiastical Exemption, a long‐standing system that removes certain ecclesiastical buildings from secular heritage controls. This paper aims to critically review The Future of the Ecclesiastical Exemption and subsequent The Ecclesiastical Exemption: The Way Forward.

The paper presents a detailed overview of the Ecclesiastical Exemption and the Faculty Jurisdiction literature followed by a critical review of recent government proposals.

The post‐consultation evaluation of responses forced a review of the High Level Management Agreement and the introduction of voluntary Heritage Partnership Agreements. But further reviews of the Ecclesiastical Exemption are likely to be implemented in the future.

The paper contributes to the broader appreciation of the “shadow” planning system that the Church of England enjoys.

This study explored an alternative understanding of heritage through the lens of the Igbo cultural group in Nigeria. It used the Igbo concept of “Ihe Nketa” or “Oke” to examine the complex relationship between indigeneity, attachment and sustainability in the context of heritage management and conservation.

A qualitative approach was used, and ethnographic methods of data collection that include interviews and focus-group discussions (FGD) applied. The interview participants included village chiefs and the elderly (men and women), and the FGD comprised village elders (men and women) and youths. The interview guide contained demographic questions to determine age and occupation, followed by interactive open-ended questions stemming from the study's objectives. The interviews were conducted in the language most preferred by the respondents such as the Igbo language, Nigerian Pidgin English and the English language. The evidence generated was thematically analysed in a descriptive and interpretive manner.

The study found that while the Igbo understanding of heritage have related meaning with the definitions offered by the United Nations, their approach to heritage conservation takes a different turn through the concepts of “Ihe Nketa” or “Oke,” which recognises the ephemerality of tangible heritage resources with particular focus on the preservation of intangible heritage–knowledge over objects. The Igbo approach describes the framework for the acquisition, use and transfer of heritage resources in the Igbo society.

This study contributes to the understanding of the concept of heritage through the lens of the Igbo of Nigeria. Against the centralised national management approach to heritage, this paper argues that achieving sustainable heritage management in a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria requires the recognition of the principles that conserve(d) and manage(d) heritage among the indigenous/local peoples.

Built heritage or historic assets (BHAs) constructed in the pre-nineteenth century in the UK are perceived to have certain characteristics which instill cultural significance in them and have seen them become valuable to the economy of the country. The heritage sector makes significant contributions to the UK economy through provision of tourist attractive sites, construction and servicing of heritage assets, heritage conservation, research, and commercial activities carried out within and around heritage assets. These benefits have seen them draw considerable interests from diverse stakeholders within and outside the heritage sector. Hence, a lot of attention is drawn toward restoration of such assets, from stakeholders of different interests, ranging from advocacies for no alteration to complete alteration of the heritage assets. As with construction projects, conflict of interests amongst stakeholders affect the outcome of restoration projects and the purpose of this paper is to examine the critical success factors (CSFs) for managing the stakeholders to achieve the projects’ objectives.

This paper examines the views and experiences of practitioners in the heritage sector who have been involved with BHA restoration projects. A total of 32 CSFs for stakeholder management, obtained through rigorous reviews of literature, were subjected to a severe scrutiny with eight restoration experts to determine the importance of the CSFs in restoration projects. The outcome of the exercise was a modified list of 20 CSFs which were further tested on 52 restoration practitioners in the UK using a structured questionnaire to determine the degree of importance of each of the CSFs in restoration projects and their relationships as perceived by the practitioners.

The results of the analyses performed on the data show that most of the CSFs were perceived by restoration practitioners as truly critical and vital for successful management of stakeholders in restoration of BHAs. The results also indicate that there is a strong consensus amongst over 50 percent of the practitioners on the rankings of the CSFs.

The identified CSFs could be used by the restoration practitioners as a “road map” for the development of appropriate solutions for successfully managing stakeholders associated with the promotion and BHAs restoration assets.

Although CSFs for stakeholder management in construction have been studied by many scholars, no specific research could be identified prior to this study to have been done in defining the CSFs for stakeholder management in restoration projects.

The purpose of this paper is to concentrate on establishments that are known as the “built heritage”, often described as “historic houses”. Many operate in a similar vein to small businesses and often have a more diverse range of needs. In the UK historic houses form part of the tourism and leisure market. Heritage encompasses a wide variety of establishments including historic houses, historic gardens, heritage centres, town centres, countryside and museums.

A model was developed for the study to show the information needs of historic houses and the information‐seeking behaviour of those managing historic houses. Data have been collected both via questionnaires to and interviews of those managing properties. The collection of data focused on diversity of activities, information provision, use of information, developments (including technology) and collaboration.

The conclusions discuss the management of information and the difficulties expressed for those managing historic houses as discovered during the research. Properties need to be able to make effective use of this to protect the heritage for future generations. Building on the empirical work recommendations are made on policy making, education, audits, co‐operation and technology to improve the provision and management of information within the sector to support these establishments.

The research represents the first study to investigate the existing situation of historic houses and their information needs in the UK, to try and provide an overview of the sector and information provision and how that might be improved.

It is well understood that maintenance is critical to the survival and in‐service use of any building. Despite recognition that the best way of protecting and maintaining historic buildings is to undertake a combination of proactive and reactive maintenance, it is rarely adopted or implemented, and when it is undertaken it often results in varying degrees of success. Maintenance theory currently exists, but fails to be realised in practical application and implementation. It is the purpose of this paper to ask why this failure is occurring.

The paper is composed of a critical review of existing literature, highlighting some of the major issues affecting maintenance implementation. It also reports the early stages of proposed research ongoing at Heriot‐Watt University.

Despite recognition in the literature of the need to maintain historic buildings, this review suggests that the ways in which maintenance is organised and financed often mitigates against its implementation. In addition, advice to owners of historic buildings could be improved and there is a shortage of skilled operatives.

Unless this situation is improved, much of our culturally significant buildings will be lost to future generations.

The purpose of this paper is to consider heritage for buildings within Enterprise Zones – a programme promoted by central government to improve the UK economy. A central view has been focusing on economic growth, with little thought given to the wider implications of heritage when imposing these zones of deregulation.

An illustrative case study of Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone is used that includes primary interviews with key stakeholders involved in the zone. This is synthesised with secondary literature review allowing an investigation of the way in which heritage issues are being dealt with and the resulting implications for both Bristol and in other zones in the UK.

Conflicts are demonstrated between the objectives of the Enterprise Zone scheme and those of heritage protection, indicating that they are not natural partners. It is argued that existing statutory protection is not necessarily enough to safeguard the heritage of these areas, given that the balance of power is now tipped in favour of economic growth.

If lessons can be learnt from this study then potential heritage issues from similar zoned developments can be avoided. The study encourages positive engagement with heritage by central government. Furthermore, it presents the first academic study that considers heritage within the latest tranche of spatially targeted fiscal incentive programmes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the background issues that influence the level of central government funding of the care and maintenance of the provincial Anglican medieval cathedrals in England.

The paper presents a detailed review of the evolving government policy and funding agency practice. The paper critically examines the levels of financial support provided to specific cathedrals since the introduction of the Cathedral Repairs Grant and the Funding to Cathedrals schemes.

Since 1990, central government, via English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, has offered a comparatively modest level of financial support for the care and maintenance of provincial medieval cathedrals. Yet this funding is balanced by an increased bureaucratic process that ironically increases the cost of care. The budget for grant aid is being reduced annually, ceiling levels to grants are imposed regardless of the cost of the work and previously successful applicants are being excluded from future bidding rounds. More public funds should be available for the care programmes and the support should be more real than rhetorical.

The paper contributes to the broader appreciation of the funding system for the care and maintenance of the cultural built heritage under an evolving financial regime based on efficiency reviews. The paper highlights the longer‐term implications of the increased bureaucratic system.

This paper presents a review of the literature pertinent to the management of the maintenance of historic buildings. First, literature on the philosophy and principles of conservation is considered, followed by a review of the more recent subject of the management of conservation and its processes. Throughout the review the maintenance management requirements of heritage and non‐heritage buildings are compared and contrasted. Key themes are identified for best practice (including those for condition surveys) and the paper concludes with the identification of perceived gaps in knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the history of heritage inventories in England and look at the requirements for a future vision of networked, digital heritage inventories to support heritage protection in England as outlined in the Heritage Information Access Strategy (HIAS). The strategy, led by Historic England, the UK Government-funded agency for heritage in England, is proposing a more formalized network where the prime sources of data relating to non-designated heritage assets will be the local authority historic environment records.

This paper looks at the historic development of the inventories from paper-based publications to digital data sets and the proliferation of data. The Monument Inventory Data Standard Heritage will also be discussed in the context of providing a common framework.

The present loose network presents several challenges for the multiple organizations maintaining similar data sets on disparate IT software, namely, the duplication of content, ownership of content and different approaches to recording practice and standards. There is a need for common data standards and controlled vocabularies in order to facilitate data exchange and interoperability across the network.

The findings are based on the common experience of heritage inventory providers in England, but are relevant to any country where multiple inventories exist. It is anticipated that the implementation of the HIAS will provide a future-proofed environment for a shared national inventory.

This paper presents the HIAS in its historic context. It is hoped that this may be of value to inventory programmes from outside the UK.