Priority 3: Building a wellbeing economy

Understand how our historic environment can help current and future generations to live well and our local places to thrive.

Where we are

Our approach to achieve our outcomes is to facilitate and coordinate a wide range of actions, development, and dissemination activities that move us forward. You can find more information on our current work underway to achieve each outcome on these pages.

All our work will be reported against our original baseline assessment of the sector’s performance.

Outcome 7

The historic environment makes a responsible contribution to Scotland’s economy

There are short-term and long-term actions emerging for this area, including the important need to harness better and more detailed data on the economic impact of the historic environment.

A crowd of people walking down a street next to a pub with a green statue in the distance.

Short-term

  • HES to produce new economic impact data (SHEA 2024)
  • Sustainable Investment Toolkit (SiT) roll out
  • Disseminate successful approaches to Responsible Tourism (also Priority 1)
  • Year 2 Development: Wellbeing Economy Advisory Activities

Long-term

  • Expand economic data sources/case studies and communication of this economic impact evidence
  • Identify quick wins to harness the data on and potential of the historic environment to Community Wealth Building and to raise the profile of this
  • Maintain strong relationships with historic environment stakeholders and funders
  • Harness the power of the current or future long-term structures/structural investment surrounding the historic environment through effective collaboration

Outcome 8

The historic environment provides Fair Work

There are short-term and long-term actions emerging for this area, including the need to build greater understanding of the importance of Fair Work within the sector.

A young woman in a black zip up fleece with a 'Stirling Castle' logo on the chest stands arms folded in front of a castle.

Short-term

Long-term

  • Further the implementation of Fair Work First and employers paying the Living Wage and target any areas that require support
  • Targeted employability programmes through implementation of the Historic Environment Skills Investment Plan (SIP)

Outcome 9

Improved wellbeing through engagement with the historic environment

There are short-term and long-term actions emerging for this area including the need to agree an approach and definition of wellbeing as it relates to the historic environment.

A man and woman sit either side of the 'happy to chat' bench at Stirling Castle.

Short-term

  • Agree a common definition for wellbeing in the historic environment sector and identify work packages to develop this evidence base and its influence
  • Improving Access Project (Phases 1 &2)

Long-term

  • Improving Access Project (Phase 3)
  • Targeted work packages that address known barriers to engagement with the historic environment

Wellbeing Economy Advisory Activities

From August 2024 onwards we will collaborate on or commission advice to inform work packages that will tackle current priority needs in this area, which are:

  1. Identify critical actions required to harness better collaboration, data and more widespread recognition of the specific economic impact the historic environment provides and can contribute towards a Wellbeing Economy.
  2. Identify what actions will quickly or most effectively influence support for and collaboration with and across the historic environment to support Community Wealth Building.
  3. Identify the best approaches to harness collaboration and maximise impact across the historic environment current delivery structures and over the long-term - e.g. local, regional and national structures/groups (also relevant to Priority 1 and Priority 2).

Please contact us if you would like to be involved in this work. Further updates on events or consultations will be communicated here.

A client works within the workshop at the Ridge; the client is clothed in work gear and is sanding a piece of wood

Case study: The Ridge

Changing lives through the historic environment at The Ridge

The Ridge in Dunbar was set up in 2012 and has grown organically since. They provide training and support to help people find employment locally, often through the maintenance of historic buildings. They offer a range of practical support to allow more vulnerable members of the community to overcome barriers.

They also promote and make available the health and wellbeing benefits of the historic environment to the local economy. They do this by improving Dunbar town centre as a tourist attraction, as well as an attractive place for local people to live, work, and shop.

Read more about The Ridge

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