Equity, diversity and inclusion in the heritage sector

If heritage is for everyone, how can the work we do ensure that a diverse range of people are able to connect with, enjoy and benefit from the historic environment?

Left: The UK’s first black magistrate sat in Nottingham from the 1960s.

Right: A plaque to Benjamin Mayo was added to Nottingham’s local list for its historic value memorialising a man with a learning disability who became a local celebrity.

Equity (providing fairness based on people’s individual needs), diversity and inclusion have assumed a central position in public life in the last decade as civil rights struggles of the last 70 years have become a major public policy issue. As public policy strives for greater equity and inclusion, the perspectives of all communities have been brought into the design and delivery of public services.

Internally, however, data is limited. Information that gives context to the IHBC’s cross-disciplinary membership is also rare. The Chartered Institute for Building has the following statistics about the construction industry’s workforce:

Women make up 15 per cent of the UK construction industry, with approximately two per cent working on site.
Black, Asian and employees from other ethnic minority communities make up six per cent of the workforce (20 per cent of the UK population in 2011 did not identify as White British).
Disabled employees also make up six per cent of the workforce (in 2011 16 per cent of working age adults lived with a limiting long-term illness, impairment or disability).
Sixty per cent of LGBTQ+ employees have experienced homophobic and derogatory terms at work (there are no accurate statistics for the proportion of the LGBT+ in the UK population as questions about sexual orientation and gender identity were first included in the 2021 census).

Hays have conducted annual diversity surveys of professional bodies since 2019. In 2019 this revealed that 78 per cent of black workers in the construction industry claimed to have experienced restrictions in their career progression due to their race or other ‘protected’ factors, such as age or sexuality. In 2021 just 16 per cent of professionals believed their organisation’s workforce demographic was a fair reflection of today’s society, and less than half (46 per cent) of professionals believed there were sufficient efforts across their organisation to recruit diverse talent.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission reported in 2011 that increased diversity of workforce in the construction industry would bring:

Efficiency savings through improved staff retention.

A wider pool of talent available to the industry from under-represented groups.
A more diverse supply chain, with better support for small business.
Improved on-site working relationships based on respect for everyone’s differences.

Many of us have accepted for a number of years that the heritage sector is not reflective of the diversity of the communities it serves. Within the recent past Historic England has published a Strategy for Inclusion, Diversity and Equality to promote diversity through its own work and support the rest of the sector to do the same. The core principle is that ‘Heritage is for everyone. The work we do ensures that a diverse range of people are able to connect with, enjoy and benefit from the historic environment.’

This builds on excellent practice demonstrated by large bodies such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Trust over a number of years. This is demonstrated by the mandatory inclusion outcome of the Heritage Fund that more people will become involved in heritage through their investment, and the statement from the National Trust that ‘The National Trust is for everyone. Our organisation was founded so everyone can benefit from nature, beauty and history.’

One of the biggest initial challenges for equity, diversity and inclusion within the heritage sector is creating an evidence base. We have participation data for museums and heritage sites from the annual DCMS taking-part survey, which demonstrates that non-white people and those from more disadvantaged socio-economic groups are half as likely to visit a heritage site, or go to a museum or gallery. We do not have accurate data for who work and volunteer in the heritage sector and the IHBC. Without this data it is difficult to prioritise action. Historic England has commissioned Warwick University to bridge the evidence gap for the heritage sector but a future action for the IHBC might be to mirror this research within its membership.

What can IHBC do to promote diversity in the heritage sector?

Since 2019 the IHBC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group has been asking members to consider the diversity of the built heritage sector and what we might do to promote opportunities to all communities through the work that the IHBC does. The EDI working group is moving into a new phase, where we will start to deliver many of the actions that we have discussed. The aims of the group are:

To work towards ensuring that the perspective of protected groups (in the Equality Act 2010) is included in IHBC policy, practices and procedures.
To provide support for members to follow best practice in terms of inclusion.
To provide support to people in protected groups in the IHBC.
To champion best inclusion practice within the built environment.
To promote diversity within the heritage sector.

The EDI working group will develop an action plan. Some measures are relatively easily achieved, whereas others will require more resources. The first substantive action is to feature diverse role models on the IHBC website. Seeing positive role models from a diversity of communities and backgrounds sends a strong message that the heritage sector is for everyone. As they say, you can’t be what you can’t see.

One of the biggest areas for the working group will be around inclusive spaces and the built environment. The group will endeavour to signpost best practice advice and case studies; identify training needs and providers for members; and help support the IHBC in delivering as inclusive a historic environment as possible, building on the best practice in Historic England’s guidance Easy Access to Historic Buildings and Easy Access to Historic Landscapes.

Nottingham City Council and Heritage Lincolnshire have worked on moving from institutional recognition of diverse heritage to empowering people from diverse communities to recognise the heritage that they value. Through the delivery of the heritage strategy in Nottingham we endeavoured to recognise the contributions that diverse communities had made to the city’s story.

Examples included a plaque to the UK’s first black magistrate, Eric Irons; a plaque to one of the earliest LGBT+ venues in the city; inclusion of the value of diverse history in the criteria and entries to the Nottingham local list; and the facilitation of the story of the headquarters of Raleigh to be included in the 400,000th list entry on the National Heritage List for England. The story of the place of Raleigh in the local civil rights struggles was from Nottingham Black Archive, which has worked for over a decade to research, collect and preserve black history, heritage and culture in Nottingham.

We have been taking this idea forward at Heritage Lincolnshire through a Historic England Outreach to Ownership project, where we are developing a digital tool to empower communities to recognise what they value in the past.

Through the work of the IHBC we have a key role in the heritage sector to share inclusive practice, case studies and strong policy to enable our members to create an inclusive built environment that reflects the values and needs of all communities.