Saving Britain’s Industrial Heritage

This policy statement looks at ways in which the industrial heritage sector can retain the traditional skills, specialist knowledge and contextual experience required to sustain engineers' industrial legacy.

In 2010, the British heritage sector contributed £7.4 billion to the economy and provided more than 190,000 full-time jobs. The word ‘heritage’ is often associated only with the built environment or fine and decorative art. Yet industrial heritage contributes significantly to the UK’s overall cultural legacy.

Our nation’s industrial heritage provides a tangible link to our manufacturing history and, most notably, the great technical innovation of the last 200 years which helped transform the world and shape the British Empire. The conservation of our industrial heritage defines our engineering history and has the potential to inspire our future.

The UK’s established national heritage framework has been continually underpinned and supported by the volunteer sector. However, many of these volunteer initiatives exist on marginal business models with limited specialist conservation knowledge and skills transfer programmes in place.

Currently, the UK is experiencing a traditional engineering skills gap, in part fuelled by a generational passing.

This has the potential to significantly compromise our ability to preserve our industrial heritage in the future. Knowledge transfer is key to working towards a more sustainable and self-sufficient solution.

We endorse the work of the many national, regional and local organisations in preserving our nation’s industrial heritage. It also acknowledges concerns regarding issues such as funding, volunteer numbers, knowledge and skills transfer, and specialist training.

Key recommendations

1. The industrial heritage sector should work together to share best practice. We would be willing, as intermediaries, to facilitate in the connectivity between societies, either in general or by specialism or issue if requested.
2. National organisations should act to provide advice and guidance to all industrial heritage societies on how to maintain and preserve artefacts/sites and establish best-practice guidelines. It is in the national interest that these artefacts and sites are maintained, and these organisations are best placed to help establish core values.
3. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport should encourage the relevant national bodies to recognise the importance and potential value of the nation’s industrial heritage.
4. Our members, where possible, should be encouraged to help in the preservation and maintenance of industrial heritage artefacts and sites. The academic and engineering industrial knowledge of our 100,000 members is a valuable asset which could assist local organisations in preserving industrial heritage for the future.