01 Identity
Scottish charity record
- OSCR charity number
- SC045925
- Status
- Active
- Regulatory type
- Standard
- Designated religious body
- No
- Geographical spread
- Operations cover all or most of Scotland
- Volunteers
- over 250 volunteers
- Staff
- 1,785
- Postcode
- EH9 1SH
02 Purpose and work
What the charity exists to do
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is the lead body for Scotland's historic environment, a charity dedicated to the advancement of heritage, culture, education and environmental protection. HES is at the forefront of researching and understanding the historic environment and addressing the impact of climate change on its future. The organisation investigates and records architectural and archaeological sites and landscapes across Scotland and cares for more than 300 properties of national importance.
Charitable purposes
- the advancement of education
- the advancement of the arts, heritage, culture or science
- the advancement of environmental protection or improvement
Beneficiaries
- No specific group, or for the benefit of the community
Activities
- It makes grants, donations, loans, gifts or pensions to individuals
- It makes grants, donations or gifts to organisations
- It carries out activities or services itself
Constitutional objectives
(1) Historic Environment Scotland has the general function of investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland?s historic environment. (2) In exercising its general function, Historic Environment Scotland has the following particular functions? (a) identifying and recording the historic environment, (b) understanding and interpreting the historic environment, (c) learning about, and educating others about, the historic environment, (d) protecting and managing the historic environment, (e) conserving and enhancing the historic environment. (3) Historic Environment Scotland also has the function of managing its collections as a national resource for reference, study and research. (4) In exercising that function, Historic Environment Scotland has the following particular functions? (a) preserving, conserving and developing its collections, (b) making the collections accessible to the public and to persons wishing to carry out study and research, (c) exhibiting and interpreting objects in the collections.
03 Annual returns
Income and expenditure history
| Year end | Income | Expenditure | Staff | Return received |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2025 | £144,621,000 | £142,252,000 | 1,785 | 16 December 2025 |
| 31 March 2024 | £136,984,000 | £129,108,000 | 1,785 | 25 November 2024 |
| 31 March 2023 | £115,230,000 | £119,706,000 | 1,785 | 29 November 2023 |
| 31 March 2022 | £97,400,000 | £102,173,000 | 1,785 | 24 November 2022 |
| 31 March 2021 | £93,663,000 | £85,175,000 | 1,785 | 23 November 2021 |
Figures are those reported by the charity and supplied in the OSCR bulk download. Blank facts remain distinct from zero.
04 Contact record
Principal office or trustees address
- Address supplied to OSCR
- Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh
- Website supplied to OSCR
- www.historicenvironment.scot
- Parent charity
- Not supplied
No direct external links on this profile. The official OSCR record and source documentation are available through BritDB’s dedicated source page.
05 Provenance
Source for this profile
© Crown Copyright and database right 2026. Contains information from the Scottish Charity Register supplied by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. BritDB is an independent service and does not claim to be the Scottish Charity Register.