The Science, Engineering & Technology Award Shortlist

Historic Scotland Conservation Team

The Historic Scotland conservation team – David Mitchell, Lyn Wilson, Chris McGregor, James Hepher, Maureen Young and Alan Simpson – is spearheading an ambitious £1.5m five-year project to laser scan and digitally document all five Scottish UNESCO World Heritage Sites and five international sites.

The Scottish Ten project is being delivered with Glasgow School of Art and has led to the creation of a limited liability partnership to promote Scotland’s conservation expertise. The team have digitally recorded iconic sites at home and abroad, developing Scotland’s diplomatic relationship with the governments of the USA, China, Japan and India. Developing the data to create photo-realistic 3D digital models of buildings or monuments provides incredible opportunities for educational resources and interpretation for visitors.

They have had to develop exceptional working relationships in each of these countries and overcome the logistics of transporting the team and its equipment to remote and challenging sites in order to record them. This has allowed the team to work on Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna; Rosslyn Chapel and Stirling Palace in Scotland as well as the five Scottish World Heritage Sites – The Heart of Neolithic Orkney, the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, The Antonine Wall, St Kilda and New Lanark – Mount Rushmore, Rani Ki Vav stepwell in India and three international sites still to be identified.

Preparations are under way to sign an agreement with the Chinese government in the coming weeks and discussions have begun with the Japanese government. The project has two more years to run but is already delivering key government objectives by contributing to Scotland’s sustainable economic growth, raising Scotland’s international profile in heritage and technology and building diplomatic relationships.