The National Trust for Scotland has launched an ambitious plan to protect its lands and buildings
One of Scotland’s biggest charities has said it will invest £60m in Scotland’s built and natural heritage over the next five years.
The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) is aiming to increase annual donations to £10 million a year, from around £6 million in 2017, in order to fund this.
In an ambitious new five years strategy, it also outlines plans to boost visitor numbers by two thirds, promising to entice five million people a year to visit its properties and lands across Scotland.
NTS is Scotland’s biggest conservation charity looking after 129 historic buildings and caring for over 76,000 hectares of countryside, including the World Heritage Site St Kilda.
It has a membership of 375,000 but plans to increase this to 490,000 by 2023.
Among its priority projects over the next five years will be to protect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House in Helensburgh. An urgent campaign to raise £1.5 million is already underway, allowing crucial conservation work to commence in the coming weeks.
The strategy outlines NTS's ambition to build on recent work restructuring the organisation so it can safeguard Scotland’s heritage for generations to come.
It recognises that more needs to be done to improve its properties, not only by investing in maintenance and conservation, but by enhancing the experience of visitors and enriching the way it tells Scotland’s story.
In particular, it describes how significant investment in its technological systems will improve customer experience and assist volunteers and staff in their jobs.
Simon Skinner, chief executive of the National Trust for Scotland, said: “Our charity is unique in Scotland in that its remit is to protect the full spectrum cultural, built and natural heritage. Our independent charitable status also gives us the freedom to take a long-term view about what is best for heritage, to make our voice heard when it is needed and to take radical action, just as we are doing at The Hill House.
“This plan for the next five years sets out how we can make the trust fit for the future, through investment in every aspect of our organisation – our people, our places, and delivering the technology that both of them need in an ever-changing world."
Other key projects over the next five years include Brodick Castle on Arran and Inverewe Garden.
The charity also plans to create active learning experiences for more than 100,000 people each year and introduce new, engaging and more inclusive ways to present its collections, gardens and the stories of Scotland.
The strategy also reinforces the role the trust has in collaborating in wider discussions such as sustainability and climate change – harking back to the campaigning roots of the organisation.
Skinner added: “Celebrating the past, while looking firmly ahead, we will ensure our heritage is valued by all and kept safe for generations to come.”
