Conservation Plan for Old Scatness Broch
A wide range of organisations and individuals care for the historic environment across the private, public and voluntary sectors.
| Organisation: | Shetland Amenity Trust |
| Project title: | Conservation Plan for Old Scatness Broch |
Explore options for sustainable protection and preservation of the site at Old Scatness, with help and input from HES at both Longmore House and Fort George.
Old Scatness is a dry stone Broch and Iron Age Village excavated 1995 – 2006. The preservation of structures is unparalleled and the site is one of three on the UK Tentative List for World Heritage Status. However, having been excavated and also being in an exposed location, there are problems relating to stone deterioration and biological attack. Although the aspiration to conserve the site in an accessible way was built into the project from the beginning, everyone involved under-estimated the task.
The Conservation Plan is seeking to find the best solutions to conservation and preservation. The project has discovered that there is no known, off-the–peg solution. It could potentially set the bench mark as to how to deal with excavated sites which seek to remain unexposed.
The project is already generating spin offs, including a project to study sandstone deterioration at Stirling University and a project to use digitisation as a management tool at University of Bradford. Both projects include HES and SAT as partners.
| Which OPiT key performance indicator is the project contributing to? | Main: 09 Increasingly the outcomes of management.. reflect what people value.
Other: 08 Care and protect – improve or maintain the state of Scotland’s historic site and places (Ultimate aims include 12 and 13 too) |
| Contact name: | Val Turner |
| Contact email: | val.turner@shetlandamenity.org |
| Relevant web links: | https://www.shetlandamenity.org/world-heritage-status |
Reviewed: September 2018