SGSSI Heritage Framework and Strategy

The Government is pleased to publish its Heritage Framework and Strategy for South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI). It provides an overarching heritage strategy for the cultural heritage of SGSSI.  Its purpose is to provide the framework in which the Government’s stated heritage aims and objectives, including those set out in the Government’s Strategy 2016-2020, can be enacted. This publication follows a consultation on the draft strategy earlier in the year, a response to which has also been published here. The documents have been prepared for the Government by heritage consultants Purcell.

Download the Heritage Framework and Strategy for South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands here.

 

Heritage Policy

This page provides an update on how we propose to take forward the Government’s heritage policy set out in the Strategy 2016-2020. The Government intends to develop and deliver these policy objectives in conjunction with stakeholders, with whom we will work to increase outreach and public engagement in the cultural heritage of the Territory. Outreach is an important strand of work cutting across our heritage objectives. We are in the process of developing an outreach strategy which will identify within it some of the key opportunities.

 

A Long-Term Management Plan for Grytviken

The Government is looking to develop a 15-20 year management plan for Grytviken. This plan will need to establish an agreed programme of work, taking into account both capital and maintenance requirements and costs over the period of operation. It will need to operate in the context of our strategic objectives for Grytviken, including in respect of visitor access and outreach, recognising that Grytviken is the only one of the former major whaling stations to which visitors have access1. The plan will need to make provision for the requirements of heritage management plans drawn up for specific structures or artefacts following the cataloguing process set out below.

 

Scheduling SGSSI’s heritage, structures and key artefacts

The Government has commissioned work to schedule historic and culturally significant sites, structures and artefacts in South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands. This will incorporate heritage relevant to whaling and sealing, scientific expeditions and exploration. The information is being drawn from a range of sources and, once complete, each scheduled site, structure or artefact will be assessed with a view to identifying its future conservation and/or management requirements.

We intend to have three categories of heritage asset. Categorisation will be guided by a set of agreed criteria reflecting the significance, location, suitability for conservation (or restoration) and long-term management considerations.

 

Category 1:

Structures, sites or key artefacts requiring directed conservation or restoration with a long-term management plan.

Category 2:

Structures, sites or key artefacts requiring a basic management plan covering minor protective measures and minor works to help prevent or decrease the rate of natural deterioration.

Category 3:

Structures, sites or key artefacts requiring a passive management plan, involving surveys over fixed periods to monitor the natural deterioration.

 

The categorisation process is intended to act as a management tool to differentiate between heritage assets and their management requirements and thus identify management priorities. It does not seek to distinguish on the basis of intrinsic heritage value, or to imply financial or practical commitment although it is inevitable that structures, sites and artefacts falling in category 1 will be a focus for the resources that are available.

New legislation is required to properly protect SGSSI’s heritage and provide the framework to underpin this management approach. In line with current policy, the intention is that this legislation will provide protection for all pre-1983 heritage, along with any more recent structures identified as being of particular importance. A policy on the release and movement of artefacts has already been established.

(GSGSSI has, since 2011, worked collaboratively with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who have jointly funded heritage work. We anticipate that this work will continue over the next two seasons and conservation work to the Nybrakka barracks, the workshop and the main store has been identified.)

 

Development of site, structure and artefact management plans

Following categorisation, management plans will be developed appropriate to the needs of each asset. These will vary greatly in complexity.

It is anticipated that there will be relatively few sites, structures or artefacts falling within Category 1 which will be defined by more active/directed management plans to ensure long- term conservation. Categories 2 and 3 will comprise the vast majority of assets and these will be defined by more basic management plans incorporating, for example, site monitoring and surveying over fixed timelines with a view to monitoring, or reducing, the rate of natural deterioration.

It is proposed that the cataloguing and management plans should follow existing internationally recognised formats and we will explore the potential to link the information recorded to the Government’s Geographical Information System which can provide an effective long-term management tool and reference source.

 

Scoping project to remove waste fuel oil from the former whaling stations

GSGSSI is commissioning a scoping project to review the options for the removal (or management in situ) of residual fuel oils still present in the whaling stations and sunken catcher vessels. The best estimate of the remaining oil in the main tank farms at Husvik, Stromness and Leith is 155m3 (not including pipework and tailing pits and fuel oil still present in Grytviken). Given the potential for future decay of tank farms and associated infrastructure, and for release of oil into the environment, this work is a priority for the Government. This project is currently being planned for either November 2016 or March 2017.