1st April 2012, 04:57 PM
kevin wooldridge Wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of our larger commercial archaeological ventures isn't already considering the creation of an HER management operation (that's pure speculation by the way and not in anyway rumour or gossip mongering!!)
In Scotland, there's already one commercial company that acts as both contractor / consultant while also providing advice to three Councils. I don't know the details of their contract with these Councils, but looking from the outside, it doesn't appear that they're running a full HER service, rather they provide advice when planners ask for it. This doesn't seem to be very often - certainly, very little work ever seems to happen in these areas, presumably because the planners don't have enough archaeological experience to know when they should be asking for work, and the consultant is constrained by contractual details from raising issues independently. I'd would note, however, that I've never been particularly comfortable with a company that's a direct rival for work in some areas being in a regulatory position over its competitors in others - surely this gives them an unfair advantage?
You know Marcus. He once got lost in his own museum