Built EnvironmentForum Scotland ANNUAL REVIEW 2012/13

As an umbrella organisation, BEFS informs, mediates and advocates on strategic issues and policies affecting the built environment, historic and contemporary. Adopting a holistic approach, our aim is to put people at the heart of places that are both valued and of the highest possible quality.

HOW DOES BEFS WORK?

Through its membership, working groups and workshops, BEFS provides a forum for debate and discussion on matters relating to the built environment. Issues are discussed and views presented to key decision makers in national and local government.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

COLLECTIVE EXPERTISE To be recognised as the organisation that offers collective informed independent opinion on issues affecting the historic and contemporary built environment. COMMUNICATION To communicate information, opinion and good practice about the historic and built environment effectively with members, their constituents and across the sector. MEMBERSHIP SUPPORT To support member organisations to build their capacity and operate more strategically and efficiently.

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT To develop a viable organisation by ensuring there is a responsive structure with appropriate skills and resources to deliver the outputs required to realise the vision.

OUTREACH To work with members to develop and promote better understanding of how the historic and built environment contributes to public benefit.

BEFS is a forum that brings together non-governmental organisations with a built environment remit and acts as the national intermediary body for Scotland’s historic environment sector.

In the past year many of BEFS member organisations have been focused on the process leading up to the merger between Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments. BEFS has played an active role throughout this process. We held events in Edinburgh, Perth and Glasgow to enable those who share our interest in Scotland’s historic environment to have a say.

The year has also seen consultations on historic environment policy, architecture policy and planning policy. BEFS’ message is that if “joined up government” is to be meaningful, these three officially separate areas of policy need to be closely aligned and mutually supportive.

In the coming year, BEFS will take every opportunity to reiterate our message, and to monitor and comment on how effective integration is in practice between architecture, planning and the historic environment. The run up to the referendum in September 2014 also challenges us to think about and explain how we see the historic environment contributing to Scotland’s future, and how in the future we will manage our past.

Our 2013 Annual Congress points the way with its theme of “Mainstreaming the Historic Environment”. Ultimately we are looking to shift the mindset so that the importance of the existing built environment is recognised – for its contribution to the identity of Scotland’s places, to the tourism industry, sustainability and indeed general well-being. It is the major element in “Place”, which as Geddes grasped all those years ago, is intertwined with people and with economic activity.

BEFS has a unique role. It is a distinctly Scottish organisation that bridges across the different built environment professions and between the professionals and the much wider body of Scots who have a passion for our historic environment. These are uncertain times, but that makes it all the more important that we all work together: BEFS provides the means to do that.

It has been a busy year for BEFS. Much of our focus has been on the review of the Historic Environment Strategy for Scotland and the proposed merger of Historic Scotland and RCAHMS. These are exciting and challenging times for the historic environment sector. Against a background of economic pressures, climate change and shifting political sands the sector needs many voices to make sure its needs and concerns are listened to by decision-makers in government, national and local.

The fact that historic environment issues are being discussed at Cabinet level in the Scottish Government can only be welcomed. Now is the time for all organisations and individuals, from national bodies to local groups and volunteers, to stand up for our historic environment and promote its value - cultural, social and economic.

As well as contributing to the wide-ranging consultation programme in relation to the strategy and merger, we have been working in partnership with our principal funder Historic Scotland, and our members and associates to deliver a full programme of events and workshops on a wide range of issues including world heritage sites, traditional building skills, historic environment records and planning reform.

Our annual congress, Small Town Scotland, was a success, attracting over 80 delegates. The aim of the Congress was to profile small towns in Scotland, focusing on threats they face, opportunities they present, and their potential to become economic drivers.

Led by our Chairman, Cliff Hague, we have delivered a programme of visits to small towns across Scotland, meeting local representatives and carrying out informal ‘health checks’. Reports on all the visits are available on the BEFS website and we plan to launch a ‘Small Towns’ microsite and publication in late summer 2013.

In 2012/13 we also launched a new website, doubled our Twitter followers, employed a full-time Advocacy and Communications Officer and responded to nine consultations.

We are looking forward to engaging with as many organisations and individuals as possible over the next couple of years to explore areas of common interest and potential collaboration.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORTCliff Hague

DIRECTOR’S REPORTJohn Pelan

We campaigned on behalf of our members to reverse the decision to remove zero-rating on approved alterations to listed buildings. This included writing to HMRC, sending a letter to national newspapers and supporting a Scottish Parliamentary Motion.

We contributed to the consultation on the review of a new architecture policy for Scotland. As well as attending public consultations and other related events, BEFS held a workshop, submitted a formal response to the consultation and had face-to-face meetings with senior civil servants.

We established a new Architecture and Place Group to bring together people from different sectors to test, scrutinise and challenge current policy and issues relating to architecture and place-making.

We held 13 workshops between April 2012 and July 2013 on a range of subjects including: historic environment records; new architecture policy; world heritage sites; traditional building skills; Historic Environment Strategy; and planning reform (SPP and NPF3).

We contributed extensively to the Historic Environment Strategy review. This included attendance at Review Board meetings, face-to-face meetings with key people from Historic Scotland and RCAHMS, and ongoing advice and input into the review through our Historic Environment Working Group. In June and July 2013 BEFS organised a series of workshops, in collaboration with Historic Scotland, on the Historic Environment Strategy/HS and RCAHMS merger consultation in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth. Around 100 people from the built environment, historic environment and voluntary sectors attended.

We contributed to the Scottish Historic Environment Audit (SHEA), the Scottish Historic Environment Data (SHED) strategy and the Review of Town Centres. We responded to the consultation on the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill. We submitted written evidence to the Local Government and Regeneration Committee’s Inquiry on Regeneration.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITY April 2012 – July 2013

COLLECTIVE EXPERTISE

Below: Attendees at our Historic Environment consultation workshop in Perth. Right: Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, speaking at our Historic Environment consultation workshop in Edinburgh.

We launched a new website at www.befs.org.uk with added functionality and enhanced content including a new blog page; increased our Twitter followers (over 600 followers by July 2013); set up a LinkedIn account with discussion forums; and sent out an e-bulletin every three weeks.

We recruited a part-time Communications and Policy Officer (to January 2013) and then a full-time Advocacy and Communications Officer (from July 2013).

MEMBERSHIP SUPPORT We ran a very successful Annual Congress in Linlithgow in November 2012. ‘Small Town Scotland’ attracted over 80 delegates and included presentations from a wide range of speakers including architect Malcolm Fraser, journalist Magnus Linklater, BEFS Chairman Cliff Hague and Derek Mackay, Planning Minister.

We held regular meetings of the Historic Environment Working Group, looking in particular at the Archaeology Strategy and Historic Environment Strategy review and proposed merger of Historic Scotland and RCAHMS.

We held a presentation skills workshop for representatives of member organisations and facilitated a joint workshop with the Scottish Civic Trust and Haddington and District Amenity Society.

COMMUNICATION

Below: Derek Mackay, Minister for Planning & Local Government, and Sarah Boyack MSP, at the Annual Congress.

Main image: Questions from delegates at our well attended Annual Congress in Linlithgow.

Below: New BEFS website at www.befs.org.uk

ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITY April 2012 – July 2013

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

OUTREACH

We submitted a successful bid to Historic Scotland for ongoing funding to April 2015. This involved agreeing a set of targets and outcomes to deliver the role of the strategic intermediary body for the historic environment in Scotland.

We appointed a fundraising and strategy consultant to help with the development of BEFS and, in particular, sourcing additional forms of revenue.

We were part of a successful consortium Stage One bid to the HLF Catalyst Heritage: Building Fundraising Capacity grants programme, which was devised to enable heritage organisations, large and small, to build financial resilience by attracting private investment through a range of targeted programmes.

Our Chairman visited 6 Scottish small towns as part of the BEFS Small Towns Initiative. Meetings were held with local representatives and informal ‘health checks’ were carried out. The six towns visited were: Dumfries, Arbroath, Kilsyth, Elgin, Stornoway and Campbeltown. We are working to produce a publication and staging an event in autumn 2013. Reports on all the visits are available on the BEFS website.

We met and shared ideas for collaboration and partnership with a wide range of organisations including: Architecture and Design Scotland; Planning Aid for Scotland; Carnegie UK and many of our member and associate organisations.

Above: Participants in our workshop on capacity building.

Below: Arbroath, one of the towns visited as part of our Small Towns Initiative.

6 Board Meetings1 Annual General Meeting

1 Annual Congress

13 workshops

9 consultation responses

SUMMARY OF KEY DELIVERED OBJECTIVES April 2012 – July 2013

22 e-bulletins

Income £139,329.00Historic Scotland Grant £127,308.00Membership Income £7,383.00BEFS Events £3,374.00Other £1,264.00

Expenditure £119,836.00Staff £86,418.00Intermediary costs £12,999.00Office £20,419.00

A copy of BEFS’s latest accounts is available at www.befs.org.uk

Board

Professor Emeritus Cliff Hague (Chair)Simon Gilmour (Vice-Chair) Society of Antiquaries of ScotlandTerry Levinthal National Trust for ScotlandJonathan Wordsworth Archaeology ScotlandSeán O’Reilly Institute of Historic Building ConservationJocelyn Cunliffe Architectural Heritage Society of ScotlandCraig McLaren Royal Town Planning Institute ScotlandDr Peter Burman The Garden History Society in ScotlandLucy Blackburn Independent public policy professional. Co-optee.Bill Pagan Solicitor. Co-optee.

Staff

John Pelan, DirectorJo Robertson, Senior Policy Officer – Historic EnvironmentEuan Leitch, Advocacy and Communications Officer – Historic EnvironmentAnne Wilkinson, Office Manager

WHO WE ARE

CONTACT US

If you have any questions or would like to receive further information about the Built Environment Forum Scotland, please contact us at:

Built Environment Forum Scotland9 Manor PlaceEdinburghEH3 7DN

Phone: 0131 220 6241Fax: 0131 220 6241 (please call first)Email: info@befs.org.uk

www.befs.org.uk @theBEFS

Scottish Charity No. SC 034488 | Company No. 250970Design by Abigail Daly | www.ruskinlane.co.uk

BEFS gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Historic Scotland.