Managing projects across Bath’s UNESCO World Heritage sites

Project management in the heritage sector requires an interesting skillset – one that extends further than the typical toolkit of a project manager with PRINCE2 or similar training to include another set of skills that ensures the conservation of historic buildings is considered, or the heritage of a site / place / collection is understood and managed effectively.

As “The Burra Charter” defines it:

Conservation means all the processes of looking after a place so as to retain its cultural significance. Cultural Significance means: aesthetic, historic, scientific, social or spiritual value for past, present or future generations.

Bath is a rare, double-inscribed World Heritage Site. In 1987 the City of Bath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site and in 2021 it received a second inscription as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe.

It therefore seems curious that the role of project manager for Heritage Services for Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES) is relatively new. Project management within heritage is something of a more recent development. Whereas in the past this role would have been cascaded across other museum or gallery teams, the last decade has seen a marked increase in advertised roles and the professionalism of project management within heritage.

I’ve had the great opportunity over the past two years to manage a portfolio of projects including The Assembly Rooms, The Roman Baths and Pump Rooms, The World Heritage Centre, Bath Record Office and The Victoria Art Gallery, all of which are listed buildings and have different requirements or services. I’ve managed mainly small capital projects of varying complexity with requirements and stakeholders.

The Assembly Room Exit Project required the removal of The Fashion Museum and items belonging to B&NES, in order to hand back the building to The National Trust after a long lease period. Time and resourcing constraints were the main challenge of this project. Ensuring that all tasks were identified, approved and progressed, while maintaining the critical path, and ensuring key stakeholders were updated and informed of key milestones. This was achieved and the building was successfully handed back to The National Trust last year.

The Victoria Art Gallery required a new Learning and Event Space to ensure that it was fully accessible and available to as wide a range of people as possible. Initially this was a stand-alone project, but effectively came under a wider capital maintenance roof works project. So, while in most instances scope change should be avoided, in some cases it can or should be applied if a better outcome can be achieved. In this instance the decision to combine both projects was to minimise the overall disruption to the Gallery rather than closing it multiple times and to reduce costs by engaging a single main contractor for all the works.

Other projects across B&NES included an update to the audio guides and interpretive signage across the Roman Baths site, along with a sustainably designed refit to the main museum shop. The main challenges with these projects were to complete the works within a very busy museum setting. This was achieved with strict programming of the works to reduce loss of income and disruption for the visitor experience. The project team met on a regular basis and almost on a weekly basis in the run-up to the delivery, whilst also testing out all assumptions and constraints ahead of time, building this into a Risk Management plan that was continually updated and monitored.

One major contribution that I made while in post was to compile a Project Management Guide for B&NES Heritage Service, to allow for an approach that was joined up, strategic and measured. I believe that this should be adopted across the heritage sector, to ensure that they can deliver the best possible outcomes and that management teams are aligned and on board.

Managing a portfolio of projects requires strict project management approaches with programme, time and often stretched budgets. However, I would go further and suggest that as with all projects, flexibility towards the requirements of the client or the stakeholder is fundamental. Ensuring that the outcomes match the intended benefits or having a defined measure of success are vital. At the end of the day, if a project manager delivers a project that is not welcomed by the funder or stakeholder, it cannot be defined as successful – therefore it’s the role of the heritage project manager to have an astute awareness of the funders requirements and to ensure they are kept in the loop and updated appropriately at all times.