Future Lab is a three-year initiative from Historic Buildings & Places that explores how we can best respond to the changing needs of heritage and the communities we serve. Developed in partnership with the Heritage Innovation Laboratory Oxford (HILO), the project brings leading academic research together with practical heritage experience to help us test new ideas, strengthen impact, and shape our future direction.
Future Lab creates space for research, experimentation, and collaboration. Over the course of the project we will:
Review HB&P’s purpose and priorities in today’s heritage landscape.
Identify areas where we can make the greatest difference.
Explore innovative approaches, partnerships, and business models.
Test small-scale pilot projects to understand what works in practice.
Build tools to measure our impact and support evidence-based decision-making.
The work draws on insights from Project 0.5, our sector-wide research exercise mapping the priorities of hundreds of heritage organisations across the UK.
HILO is an interdisciplinary initiative at the University of Oxford that helps organisations trial new ways of working through co-developed, research-based approaches. Their expertise supports us in examining emerging challenges, assessing new opportunities, and grounding our decisions in robust evidence.
The project is guided by an external advisory group of heritage and academic experts, working alongside HB&P’s Innovation Group of trustees. HB&P members will be invited to share ideas throughout the project, ensuring our community plays an active role in shaping our next chapter.
Progress updates will be shared through our magazine Heritage Now, across our digital channels, and on the news page of our website as the programme develops.
We welcome enquiries from partners, researchers, funders, and members interested in contributing to this work.
To find out more or discuss potential involvement, please contact: office@hbap.org.uk.
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