Each week, we ask one of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) students working with Historic Buildings & Places (HB&P) and Heritage Innovation Laboratory Oxford (HILO) to share a short update on their project work and their time in London. Their research and analysis will help inform the development of Future Lab.
By Nina Van Ekelenburg
Hello, I’m Nina Van Ekelenburg, a double major in mechanical engineering and environmental & sustainability studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
I am from Abington, Pennsylvania. At WPI, I play field hockey for the team, and my research area focuses on sustainable urban infrastructure. While in London, I have enjoyed getting to explore the city by going on long runs! On the team, I am the liaison to HB&P as well as our case study charities, and I am also the interviewer for our project.
This past week, our team began our case studies. As a part of our project, we are constructing case studies on four other heritage charities to learn about what makes them financially sustainable. The goal of these case studies is to develop recommendations for HB&P to become sustainable. To construct our case studies, we have reviewed each charity’s annual reports and filled out business model canvases. To supplement our findings from the annual reports, we interviewed representatives from each organization to learn more about their finances and best practices. I have had the honor this week of interviewing representatives from the Association for Industrial Archeology, London Parks and Gardens Trust, the Heritage Network, and the Landmark Trust.
This upcoming week, we will be hosting a roundtable with HB&P and HILO. In this roundtable, we will present our findings from the case studies. We will work with both HB&P and HILO to identify which of our recommendations are best for the organization.
