Tuesday, 9th January 2024

The start of the New Year normally brings a time to reflect and plan for the future, not this year! Trident Manor staff have already undertaken three cultural property reviews and the rest of January is fully booked.

After the New Year break, there is normally a quiet period where the past year can be reflected upon and planning for the future can take place. This year, the team was straight back into the thick of supporting Cultural venues and operations across the United Kingdom.

Following the completion of outstanding reports the team headed straight up to Aberdeen where a review of a prestigious venue took place to evaluate their security and operational activities. In doing so a quality assurance process is provided for the venue and lender that their venues are suitable, or if work needs to be done to improve the layers of protection.

A few days later Andy Davis and Hannah Miller flew into Northern Ireland to meet with new clients. The first venue was an art gallery that is about to undergo renovations. As a part of the design process, a site visit was necessary so that everything could be contextualised and a feel for the venue, staff, and visitors could be achieved. This is not something you can accomplish by providing recommendations based purely on plan drawings.

The second venue was completely different and had been a museum for over 100 years. The design and structure of this venue were such that the ability to introduce modern security measures was not likely to succeed or be approved by the council. Time was taken to engage with the staff at this venue and over a coffee it was established that it had not been the victim of any crime in over 40 years and that nearly all of the artefacts were social or natural history-based.

Sensible and pragmatic advice and guidance were identified which considered the financial standing of the venue, the low crime levels, and the seemingly unattractiveness of the exhibits to potential criminals. The staff at this venue thanks the team for adopting such a helpful, sensible approach, unlike a previous review that had taken place where the consultants had outlined over £200k of work, that was in the main unnecessary and unsuitable for the museum.

Andy Davis said, “This was three venues across the UK within the first week of 2024. Each had different characteristics and threats that existed and so the treatment and protective approach has to reflect this and be suitable for the client and not the consultant's bank balance.” He added, "It is great to be able to help develop the skills in the team by having Hannah start to put her theoretical learning into practice, a great way to start your first day back at work."

Because of the approach taken by Trident Manor more and more venues, organisations and local governments are turning to our services for sensible and cost-effective solutions to their cultural protection concerns.

If we can help reduce the concerns you may have whether that be for loans, museum accreditation, or for more specialised areas such as meeting GIS (Government Indemnity Scheme) requirements why not contact us?