The Scottish Government

State of Scotland's historic buildings, monuments and environment.

Associated Targets

Improve the state of Scotland's historic buildings, monuments and environment.

Brief Description

Our measure of success will be to decrease the percentage of A-listed buildings on the Buildings at Risk Register (BARR). The condition of A-listed buildings provides a good general indicator of the state of Scotland's historic environment, and provides a starting point. Monitoring trends over time will show how well the historic environment is being preserved and cared for.

Strategic Objective(s) to Which Indicator Relates

The indicator informs progress towards a Greener Scotland by measuring the degree to which the nation's historic environment is safeguarded for future generations. Meeting the target will involve the Scottish Government and Historic Scotland working in partnership.

Greener Scotland:

• We value and enjoy our environment and protect it and enhance it for future generations.
• On climate change, the built heritage is a non-renewable resource with significant embodied energy which should be conserved (i.e. through sensitive re-use of traditional buildings)
• On sustainable places, preserving the historic, as well as the natural, environment enhances civic pride and social responsibility.

The indicator also informs progress towards a Wealthier and Fairer Scotland.

Wealthier and Fairer Scotland:

• Scotland's historic environment is a key attraction for domestic and overseas visitors.
• The historic environment provides employment through tourism and through the management and conservation of the resource.
• The historic environment plays a key role in regenerating places and communities.

More Detailed Definitions

Definitions of Keywords

Historic buildings refer to listed buildings which are 'buildings of special architectural or historic interest' -see Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 (c. 9)

Historic environment refers to "any or all of the structures and places in Scotland of historic, archaeological or architectural interest or importance," Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc (Scotland) Act, 2003. A fuller definition is set out in "Scottish Historic Environment Policy" available at www.historic-scotland.gov.uk

Some list entries include more than one building (or structure such as a sundial, dovecot or stables) and where this is the case Historic Scotland goes through a careful and systematic process to decide whether the nature and number of at risk structures (components) within that entry mean the whole entry should be deemed at risk.

Evidence Source

The Buildings At Risk Register is maintained by the Scottish Civic Trust on behalf of Historic Scotland (who fund and manage). BARR can be consulted at www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk

Baseline and Past Trends

Baseline: 8.7% of all A-listed buildings in Scotland are on the Buildings at Risk Register (May 2009).

Historic Scotland has boosted the funding to the Scottish Civic Trust to improve the coverage of the Buildings at Risk Register (BARR) so that it can provide a robust estimate of the percentage of A-listed buildings on the BARR.

Methodology for Data Source

Data Ownership and Quality Assurance

Historic Scotland owns the data and manages the Scottish Civic Trust to quality assure the data.

Publication of Data

Methodology for Recent Change Arrow on Scotland

This will be determined once more data points are available.