The IHBC has warmly welcomed the new report from Historic England (HE) and partners on ‘Developing Taxonomies for Arts, Culture and Heritage’ a project ‘describing how arts, culture and heritage create flows of benefits for people and communities’.
IHBC Director Seán O’Reilly said: ‘This substantial and cross-cutting research reflects well the same holistic appreciation on valuing heritage in conservation that we prioritise in our own accreditation and practice. That said, it’s very strategic in nature, and may not be to everyone’s taste.’
‘However the work has the quality assurance ‘stamp’ of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, and so boasts sound methodologies and equally sound conclusions. These are founded on the highest levels of relevant expertise available today, from both inside and outside the UK.’
‘This is a remarkable step forward for our discipline. It forms an important thread of evidence and evaluation that adds substantial weight to our own overarching practice principles and guidance, as captured most notably in the IHBC’s joint Conservation Professional Practice Principles.’
Historic England writes:
Historic England has published a report on its ‘Developing Taxonomies for Arts, Culture and Heritage Project’, funded by DCMS and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project aims to develop a framework and linked taxonomies to better articulate the economic, social and cultural value of arts, culture and heritage. It forms part of the wider Culture and Heritage Capital programme and will inform future approaches to valuing culture and heritage in decision-making.
HE writes:
The ACH Taxonomies Project has developed an economic framework and taxonomies describing how arts, culture and heritage create flows of benefits for people and communities. The framework aims to provide a consistent structure and common language that can help arts, culture and heritage organisations, public bodies, funders and researchers make stronger evidence-based cases for investment, policy support and long-term stewardship. Funded by the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the project brings together researchers, practitioners and sector partners to develop a systematic approach for understanding, classifying and evidencing the contributions of arts, culture and heritage to wellbeing.
This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council [Grant Ref: AH/Y000552/1].
The Executive Summary writes:
The ‘Developing Taxonomies for Arts, Culture and Heritage’ Project (The ACH Taxonomies Project), is funded by the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports and the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. It seeks to develop a framework and linked taxonomies to better articulate the value of arts, culture and heritage on an economic platform.
The ACH Taxonomies project is part of the wider UK Culture and Heritage Capital (CHC) programme which aims to create publicly available statistics and guidance to improve the articulation of the economic, social and cultural value of culture and heritage in decision-making….
This report introduces the ACH Taxonomies project, summarising the project’s background, approach, main project outputs and the core research findings about the rationale and definitions of the final framework and taxonomies…
The ACH Taxonomies Project
The ACH Taxonomies project is a three year project that commenced in September 2023, bringing together a consortium comprising an Independent Research Organisation (Historic England), three Universities (University of Glasgow, University of Leeds, and University of Manchester), five collaborating organisations (Public Value Consulting, The Heritage Alliance, The Audience Agency, Heritage Strategies International, IPSOS) and advisors from The Arts Council England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The project was structured around four core stages of work. Firstly, best practice research on classification and taxonomy development (Leeson et al., 2026a); on natural capital classification systems (Leeson and Bayfield, 2026) and on operationalising economic frameworks (Leeson et al., 2026b). This evidence provided the parameters for the second stage of the research which included a systematic review of cultural economic literature (Ahmed and Riganti, 2026); quasi-systematic reviews of arts and humanities academic literature as well as ‘grey’ and policy literature (Bennett and White, 2026) and reviews of existing taxonomies from grey literature and practice as summarised in O’Brien et al. (2026). The third stage of the research included thematic literature reviews of ACH assets and stocks (Brown et al., 2026); of Flows of Services (Bennett and Leeson, 2026a) and of benefits (Bennett and Leeson, 2026b).
Finally, the research was informed by a large qualitative research programme with the final framework iteratively and collaboratively produced through deliberative and participatory methods with the ACH sector and non-sector stakeholders. A purposive sampling approach was employed and to reduce bias open calls for participation were issued via social media and via the ACH Taxonomies consortium members’ websites or networks.
Group-based methods were used in focus groups and workshops to facilitate creative thinking, generate data and create opportunities for challenge and deliberation. 40 stakeholder sessions were held between September 2023 and April 2026, engaging over 130 individuals, across more than 80 organisations (Bennett, 2026a, 2026b). Eight cases studies and a national and international survey of ACH sector experts (n =70 and n=103, respectively) were used to test, check, challenge and refine the framework (Rypkema el al., 2026).
The DCMS framework Embedding a Culture and Heritage Capital Approach (ECHCA) (Sagger and Bezzano, 2024) provides the foundations for the ACH Taxonomies research and the outputs of the ACH Taxonomies project will feed into the next iteration of the ECHCA.
See the IHBC’s Conservation Professional Practice Principles
See more background on the IHBC’s Research and Guidance HERE, including the ‘Developing Standards’ tab
See the report HERE
See HE on the work HERE
See more on the Culture and Heritage Capital programme.
