Safeguarding cultural heritage using novel technologies: The perspective from a UK volunteer-led site

Abstract

Continuing anthropogenic induced climate change poses risks to Cultural Heritage (CH) across the world. In the UK, concerns about future flood risks, increased number of heatwaves and changes to freeze-thaw cycles are at the forefront for managers of CH assets. Importantly, in the UK, and unlike many European countries, cultural, natural and built heritage sites are often run by or with the help of groups of volunteers, whether that being at a national level working in partnership with organisations like Historic England or at a local level with small community trusts. Mellor Archaeological Trust is one such local charity which aims to preserve, maintain and protect the local CH assets for our community and future generations. Climate change and its impacts are, therefore, a big concern for the trust as it looks to plan for the future. After a successful pilot of the STORM service, Mellor was able to demonstrate how the use of inexpensive and novel technologies can help small and large volunteer-led organisations in protecting heritage whilst ensuring that correct procedures are followed. In this paper, we demonstrate the successful use of the STORM service from a UK perspective explaining the benefits and drawbacks and highlight how such services should be utilised by other organisations.