Our Forward Plan 2
Promoting knowledge, essential skills and excellence
Surveys undertaken by the Advisory Committee in its first 2 years demonstrate the lack of facilities, support services, skills and sources of materials available to look after historic vessels (and indeed other vessels requiring specialist skills). In order to rectify this, we shall:
- Publish a directory of skills, facilities and services for historic vessels in the UK, available free of charge to all users of our website from autumn 2008
- Publish in hard copy form definitive conservation guidelines for historic vessels as the pivotal volume in our 3 part series Understanding Historic Vessels - Recording Historic Vessels and Deconstructing Historic Vessels have already been published through our website. The conservation guidelines will be published in the Spring 2009.
- Promote the creation of Centres of Excellence incorporating highly skilled boat and ship building yards; facilities; training opportunities; and research and development programmes with practical applications for historic vessels. Centres of Excellence will be limited in number and strategically-placed to deliver support across the UK. We intend to see 4 Centres established by 2010/2011.
- Give direct support to key historic ship projects, particularly those which have the capacity to deliver wider heritage benefits.
- Publish case studies on our website which reflect best practice.
- Continue to deliver a small grants programme focused on independent charitable trusts and private owners to help secure a sustainable future for ships on the National Register of Historic Vessels by raising standards of conservation, training and management. By 2011 we are looking to have invested at least £150,000 through the small grants scheme.
- Introduce an awards scheme to reward excellence in conserving, managing, operating and interpreting historic vessels.
- Develop a Board Bank holding the names of people with heritage, business and organisational skills who would be willing to serve on trusts looking after historic vessels.
