Historic Environment

Scotland's historic buildings and monuments are unique and irreplaceable; attracting millions of visitors and generating income and jobs.

Summary

Scotland's historic environment, which includes thousands of historic buildings and monuments, attracts millions of visitors each year and generates income and jobs. It provides a strong foundation in building a successful future for Scotland.

The Historic Environment (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2011 will improve the ability of owners, tenants, business, the voluntary sector and regulatory authorities to manage this asset.

Key pressures are: development, changing land use, climate change, coastal erosion and flooding, carbon footprint, renewable energy, funding, visitors, skills and materials and maintenance.

As these assets are irreplaceable, we must care for them so that future generations can enjoy them.

Introduction

Our historic environment includes designated and undesignated assets. Designation aims to identify the most important parts of the historic environment so that their significance is recognised.

Designated assets include:

• 5 World Heritage Sites
• 47,540 listed buildings
• 8151 scheduled monuments
• 386 designed gardens and landscapes
• 641 conservation areas
• 8 protected wrecks
• 7 scheduled wrecks
• 14 nationally important battlefields

Scotland has two National Parks, six Forest Parks and 40 National Scenic Areas. These contain many important historic environment features. These are discussed further in the Landscape topic.

The scale of undesignated assets is indicated by the fact that there are 290,565 records held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) and 265,354 records held by local authority Sites and Monuments Records (SMRs).

These assets are irreplaceable.

Scottish Ministers are committed to the sustainable use and management of the historic environment.

Key reference documents are:

• The Scottish Historic Environment Policy (SHEP)
• Scotland's Historic Environment Audit (SHEA)

Scotland's historic environment makes a valuable contribution to Scotland's economy, generating income and jobs across Scotland, and contributing in excess of 2.6% of Scotland's national gross value added (GVA).

It is a strong driver for tourism and inward investment - attracting more than 15 million visitors each year—and it promotes a positive image of Scotland, at home and abroad, providing a sense of place and cultural identity.   

Heritage-led regeneration benefits both communities and the economy, stimulating regeneration of the built environment and generating work in the construction industry. It also provides strong opportunities for participation and volunteering across Scotland and contributes to education and training programmes in schools and colleges and in up-skilling the construction workforce. It also supports, develops and promotes Scotland's traditional building skills and the use of traditional building materials.

The historic environment plays a vital role in tackling climate change through the sensitive re-use of historic buildings.