By Liz Power, Director of HB&P
For HB&P, 2025 was a year of transition and significant progress. It was our first full year operating under our new Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) status. This included holding our first AGM as a CIO, which took place online in September. We also saw the start of our new major partnership project, Future Lab, delivered with the Heritage Innovation Laboratory Oxford at the University of Oxford.
While these big changes were under way, our day-to-day work continued at pace. For our members, we delivered a wide range of events, both online and in person. Personal highlights included Lucy Pitman’s talk on the Walled Kitchen Garden and our visit to the Crystal Palace Tunnels in south-east London. A major highlight for many was our annual lecture, held online in September, where we welcomed Tim Dunn to speak about railways, marking the 200th anniversary of their development.
Members also received our publications, including the Journal and Heritage Now, both of which were very well received. Our reach continues to grow: many members and non-members follow us across our social media channels, and our E-Newsletter now has more subscribers than ever before. All of this helps us share the work and voice of HB&P with a wider audience.
Over the summer, we were delighted to welcome both members and non-members to our summer drinks event. It was a relaxed and enjoyable evening, giving people the chance to talk with staff and trustees about HB&P’s work while enjoying a glass of wine or two.
Our casework role continued at full speed. Ross was, as ever, extremely busy, handling hundreds of cases throughout the year. This included higher-profile work, such as proposals affecting Liverpool Street station, alongside many important buildings in both private and public ownership across the country.
Our role within the wider heritage sector also continued to grow. Through our membership of the Joint Committee of the National Amenity Societies, and in our own right, we have expanded our influence and activity. We developed and delivered a broader programme of sustainability training for the heritage sector, and we remained actively involved in advocacy and policy work as changes to the planning system continue to emerge.
In partnership with the Seaside Heritage Network, we held our first seminar focused on seaside heritage. This was a fantastic day, bringing together people from across the country to discuss the challenges, changes, and successes involved in caring for this important, and often overlooked, part of our heritage.
Finally, during the summer we were very pleased to welcome three new trustees to strengthen our board. We have continued to focus on improving the effectiveness of our governance, and our new trustees bring valuable skills and experience that will be essential as we move into 2026 and further develop the Future Lab project.
