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About HES

At Historic Environment Scotland we believe that the historic environment shapes our identity. It tells us about the past, the present – and even points the way to the future.

We want the historic environment to make a real difference to people’s lives. A difference to our health, to our economy, to our culture, to our environment. We want heritage to involve everyone so that we all benefit.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is one of the most significant cultural organisations in Scotland. It is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) with a Board appointed by Scottish Ministers. HES is also a Scottish Charity, with the Board being the charity trustees. In common with other public bodies, HES receives an annual letter of guidance from Ministers and has in place a Framework Document which provides details of its relationship with the Scottish Government. An unusual feature of HES’ governance is the Scheme of Delegation from Ministers which provides detail of how it must manage the Properties in Care and the associated collections. HES’ internal governance currently consists of a Board of 10 members, an Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee, a Finance Committee and a Staff Governance Committee. HES also has a subsidiary trading company HES Enterprises Ltd. Day-to-day management of HES is the responsibility of the Chief Executive and Senior Management Team.

HES is a major employer with circa 1,350 colleagues, located throughout Scotland. In addition, it employs a number of seasonal colleagues and volunteers. Together they provide an exceptional range and depth of skills and expertise, including archaeologists, historians, conservators and skilled craftspeople, marketing and visitor experience specialists, climate scientists and digital experts.

At the core of HES' activities is a statutory role to investigate, care for and promote Scotland’s historic environment, and to manage the collections as a national resource for reference, study and research.

Under a “Scheme of Delegation”, HES manages the 336 “properties in care“– that is buildings and monuments of national significance - currently in the care of Scottish Ministers. These include iconic buildings and sites such as:

With approximately 167,000 members, and managed sites attracting over 5 million visitors per year pre-COVID, HES is the largest operator of paid-for visitor attractions in Scotland, and a major contributor to Scotland’s economy. In addition, HES is responsible for collections including 5 million drawings, photographs, negatives and manuscripts and over 20 million aerial images of locations around the world which are available for people to access.

Further information on the work of HES can be found as follows: