Hello, I'm Jane Ryder and it's been my great privilege to have been the first Chair of Historic
Environment Scotland since the board were first appointed in January 2015, and most importantly
today because the 1st of October 2015 is when Historic Environment Scotland formally opened our
doors. So this is a really important moment for Historic Environment Scotland and an opportunity
to reflect on what we've achieved - and I think those achievements have been really significant.
Perhaps one of the most important is the almost invisible: that we've managed to successfully meld
together two organisations with very different histories, size, culture but absolutely committed
to history and the historic environment. That's been the bedrock of our success. After this short
introduction you'll see a series of slides with some fascinating facts and figures covering those
five years, not just the 20 million visitors but also developing a new planning policy which is
part of our important regulatory role and awarding over 66 million pounds of grants to individual
projects and to neighbourhood regeneration schemes. What the statistics don't capture is the
importance of our role as the lead public body for the sector, something I think we're really growing
into. The collaborative work particularly, that we've been doing under the umbrella of 'Our Place
in Time', is really important for the future. I was asked last week "what was I most proud of?"
and of course that's really difficult because I can think of initiatives and advances in every
area. I think if you'd asked me six months ago I would probably have highlighted the work we've
done to develop the future of the former archives of the Royal Commission and we've now been able to
locate new, dedicated premises for storage. We're able to build on the digital platform and that
will mean that these images are safe, secure but also much more widely accessible and widely known.
But if you ask me today I'd have to say that it's how magnificently the staff have responded to the
challenges of Covid-19. Within a very short space of time we had to close all our sites,
furlough our staff, allow people to work remotely and to plan for the reopening
of the sites. Our minimum operating standards which set and acknowledge industry standards have
been absolutely invaluable and it's a really happy coincidence that this 1st of October
2020 coincides with the reopening of most of our sites. So looking forward over the next
five years and beyond because I like to say this is an organisation that thinks
in decades. In that context I think Covid has simply been an accelerator for many of the themes
and ideas which were already on our radar. Finance of course is important, including the need for
capital investment to maintain the properties but it's also an opportunity to re-imagine
many, many aspects of our business whether it's use of different premises, staff welfare and
working conditions or how we engage with different communities both geographically and communities
of interest. Critically, we're acknowledging the need to revisit, review, reconsider the
lenses through which we view history and present activity, particularly the fact that traditional
interpretation has been so monocultural. And absolutely fundamental to the future we'll be
following through on the full implications of our pioneering work on climate change
which will impact on all aspects of the natural and built environment including buildings,
including behaviours. So the decades ahead will be challenging, difficult, interesting and
different. But I'm absolutely confident that, with this magnificent staff and board and volunteers,
Historic Environment Scotland is well placed for the decades ahead. Meanwhile,
I invite you to celebrate this important birthday with us. Come and enjoy the properties in person
whether it's churches, castles, industrial buildings or thousand-year-old stones.
Or, if you can't come, explore the website for the fascinating information and images that you
can find there. Whatever you do, wherever you are, come with us and celebrate the historic
environment.