What on earth is going on at Historic Environment Scotland?

What on earth is going on at Historic Environment Scotland?

Over the years the government agency has usually been quite far away from newspaper front pages.

Yet in recent months it has repeatedly come under the spotlight.

A slew of negative press reports suggest all is not well in the organisation which is given around £70m per year of public money to manage, care for and promote the country's built and environmental heritage on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Read More:

• Heritage boss breaks silence after reports of her suspension
• Sir Mark Jones named as new Chair of Historic Environment Scotland
• Chief executive of Historic Environment Scotland suspended

In June this year the Daily Record reported that staff had raised concerns of a “toxic” work environment.

More stories emerged in September.

First that the Scottish Government was investigating claims that a male senior director had paid just £25 for a private dinner in Edinburgh Castle during the military tattoo in a space which usually costs thousands to hire out.

Then the Sunday National reported another senior male official was allowed to remain in post despite a complaint about “racist” language being upheld.

And last week it was reported that HES's chief executive Katerina Brown had been suspended amid an investigation into alleged misconduct.

She just joined the organisation in September last year and has been on leave since June following the launch of an investigation into alleged misconduct, the Scotsman reported.

Then just last weekend, it emerged that another senior female leader at the organisation was sanctioned after allegedly “twerking” (a dance move) in front of actor Martin Compston at an Edinburgh Castle dinner event.

Ms Brown was not the manager said to have been involved in the incident with Mr Compston which took place in 2023 before she joined the organisation.

The paper said that the Line Of Duty star was reported to have been made uncomfortable by the incident at the dinner, also attended by Sir Rod Stewart’s wife Penny Lancaster.

Such an abundance of negative briefings being given to journalists to my mind points to serious dissatisfaction in the organisation.

Ms Brown seemed keen to suggest that all might not have been what it appeared when it came to her suspension.

Over the weekend, she took to the social media networking site LinkedIn, to make an intriguing intervention, which The Herald was first to report yesterday.

"Sometimes we need a wee reminder," she posted to a picture of water which carried the words "the story depends on who is telling it."

So what's going to happen?

The Herald has been told that getting HES to a happier place is now the main challenge for its new HES chair, the highly experienced Sir Mark Jones, who joined the organisation last month.

Sir Mark was interim director of the British Museum from 2023 to 2024 and was chair of the National Trust for Scotland from 2019 to 2025.

He was director of the National Museums of Scotland from 1992 to 2001 during which time he saw the opening of the Museum of Scotland, the creation of the National War Museum of Scotland at Edinburgh Castle and the Museum of Scottish Country Life at Kittochside in East Kilbride. 

Sir Mark Jones, photographed when he was the head of the V&A(Image: Newsqquest)

He was closely involved in the creation of SCRAN, the successful digital millennium project, which provides on-line access to collections held by more than 300 museums, galleries and archives throughout Scotland.

Central to Sir Mark's task will be deciding whether to recruit a new interim chief executive or whether Ms Brown will be asked to return from her suspension.

Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Angus Robertson will be hoping Sir Mark gets on top of the difficult situation quickly.

Mr Robertson cited Sir Mark’s “wealth of leadership experience” when he confirmed his appointment and sources around Holyrood are confident a resolution is imminent.

"It is an organisation which needs to move forward," one insider told Unspun.

"What is going on is really childish. Katerina was appointed as a new broom from outside the organisation and whatever happened people started briefing against each other and it all just kicked off."

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It's not clear what the HES's 1200 members of staff think about what's been going on.

The specialist teams of highly skilled conservators, scientists, historians, archaeologists and guides, who are among the experts HES employ, have important jobs and at a challenging economic time.

They have the day to day responsibility for looking after and providing public access to Scotland's most important buildings and historical sites, including the pre-historic Skara Brae on Orkney, Glasgow Cathedral, St Andrew's Castle and Cathedral and Linlithgow and Edinburgh castles.

Having visited some of these sites as a journalist and for pleasure I know their jobs demand huge expertise.

Maybe they just shrug off all the 'trouble at the top' but it must nonetheless be demoralising.

For their benefit and for Scotland's heritage, HES needs to move on from this crisis.