24 March 2020
In recognition of the essential restrictions and measures imposed by the Scottish and UK Governments, we have closed all sites, depots and offices with immediate effect.
This follows the closure of all of these buildings - including all ticketed visitor attractions - to members of the public last week.
All HES staff will stay at home now unless specifically requested to support our emergency response or the controlled shutdown of the estate in the coming week.
The safety of our staff, visitors and partners is of paramount importance, and those who are able to will be working from home. This will allow us to continue to implement and manage functions such as our grants programme, the online archive and research.
We will continue to share historic content on our social media channels and will engage with our many partners, stakeholders and visitors virtually until such time it’s deemed safe to reopen our sites.
17 March 2020
In light of updated Scottish Government advice regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19), we have taken the decision to close public access to our staffed properties and offices until further notice, with effect from 5pm on Wednesday 18 March.
This includes:
- All of our staffed historic sites, including Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle and Urquhart Castle
- Longmore House and the Historic Environment Scotland (HES) Archives at John Sinclair House
- The Engine Shed
All planned public events will also be postponed until further notice – full details of these can be found on our Events page in the coming days: historicenvironment.scot/whats-on
The safety of our staff, visitors and partners is of paramount importance and we have taken this decision in line with the latest Scottish Government advice.
Our seasonal sites will not be opening as normally scheduled in April 2020. However, our unstaffed sites, will be open and are free to access.
Any visitors with pre-booked tickets to any of our sites or events at our sites will be automatically refunded. Please allow 30 working days for the funds to show on your statement. You will receive an automated email once your refund has been processed. *
Any Historic Scotland members with queries regarding their membership should contact our Membership team at members@hes.scot.
HES will continue to operate the rest of our business functions as far as possible. Staff have been asked to work from home where they can, and we’re exploring the practical options for staff who aren’t able to do this.
Chief Executive Alex Paterson said:
We have, with great regret, taken the decision to close all of our staffed properties and buildings to visitors. This is a challenging and unprecedented time, and our focus is to do everything possible to protect the safety of all our visitors, staff and partners. We’d like to thank everyone for their cooperation and understanding at this difficult time. We will continue to provide updates as the situation develops."
* This is currently for any pre-purchased tickets up to and including 31 May 2020