Success Stories

"Visitors have been fascinated by Skara Brae since it was uncovered by a storm in 1850. Who lived there? What did they eat? How did they survive? These are just some of the questions modern visitors have asked about the Skara Brae people of the past. This visitor centre can help to answer these questions."

Stephen Watt, Historic Scotland

The 5,000 year old village of Skara Brae nr Kirkwall in Orkney gives visitors a chance to see what life is like in the Stone Age. The houses in the village pre-date the pyramids and Stonehenge. In recognition of the importance of Skara Brae, it is part of the ‘Heart of Neolithic Orkney UNESCO World Heritage Site’.

Unfortunately, the site had become a victim of its own popularity and action was required to prevent the site becoming degraded. With general visitor numbers and cruise ship visitors increasing the monument was suffering wear. Sometimes as many as seven coach loads of visitors would arrive at once and causing massive surges in numbers on site at any one time.

The challenge to upgrade Skara Brae’s visitor facilities was accepted by Historic Scotland in partnership with the Orkney Islands Council and the local land and property owner. The partnerships agreed to a new visitor management concept that would improve the overall visitor experience and help to protect the site and its setting in the Orkney landscape.

Prior to redevelopment, access to the site had been via half a mile of sand dunes on a rough path unsuitable for disabled and less mobile visitors. This denied the site to many less able visitors as well as making a visit to the site dependent on weather conditions. The existing facilities (simple display/museum with small shop, car park and public toilets) were increasingly unable to cope with high visitor numbers.

 To tackle this, an all-weather visitor centre was built close to the site but still at a discreet distance from the monument with a formal graded and surfaced link path. The new visitor centre was designed to help spread the load by absorbing some of the visitor pressure that would otherwise be concentrated solely on the monument. The new centre has interactive displays, original artefacts and an audio-visual show to tell the story of the village and its people. There is also a shop, toilets and café.

The centre also has separate coach and car parking with specific parking for disabled visitors. As a commitment to sustainable transport parking for cycle and service buses has also been provided.

The area around the monument was also opened up to allow improved circulation of visitors. Earlier on-site interpretation had consisted of a number of boards and a guidebook that required good weather and a lack of crowding to be most effective. Better placed and more numerous interpretive boards and an improved guidebook helped to ease this problem. The interpretation focuses on environmental changes that have effected the surrounding landscape. The aim being to educate people about the environment and also encourage connections to be made between local culture and local environment.

The site is monitored monthly by local works managers, annually by architects and every five years a detailed condition survey report is produced by specialist conservators.

A replica house is a particularly popular and useful exhibit that helps prepare and inform visitors before they go to the real village site. This has also reduced wear on the site as periodic visitor surveys have shown that some people no longer feel the need to visit the monument itself. The replica also has wheel chair access and thereby allows people to actually enter into spaces that they couldn’t get to at the real village.

The Historic Scotland partnership recognised the importance of other environmental aspects in the visitor management plan, especially in the construction of the visitor centre. Traditional and natural materials were used such as natural stone and slate. The site for the building was carefully chosen to ensure the centre blended in with its surroundings. The design was similar to the repeating gable style found in traditional Orkney architecture.

The main building has a glazed atrium which heats a large thermal mass, a stone slab floor then radiates heat during periods of cloud. In addition, the floor retains its heat during busy visitor periods when the doors to the centre, although arranged in ‘draft lobbies’, are open i.e. heated air may be lost but radiated heat from the floor continues.

Good environmental practice has continued from the construction phase through to the ongoing management of the centre. For example, there is specific storage for recyclable waste such as paper and cardboard, waste water is treated in an advanced at an efficient treatment plant and biological cleaning products are used. Water and power use are recorded and assessed.

The centre has joined the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) and because of the above actions was awarded the highest, gold standard, award. Click here for further information about the GTBS. A list of other GTBS organisations is kept at the centre and promotional material for these organisations is on display.

For further information about Skara Brae, please contact:

Skara Brae Visitor Centre,
Tel: 01856 841815
or visit the Historic Scotland website - www.historic-scotland.gov.uk

All photos: Crown Copyright Reproduced Courtesy of Historic Scotland

This case study was updated on 15 May 2003