Heritage officer

Heritage officers support teams to take care of buildings, monuments and places valued for their cultural and historical importance.


Typical Salary

£18,500 – £48,000

per year

Working Hours

37–40

hours per week

Career Area

Conservation professionals

View related courses

Day-to-day tasks

In a typical day you may:

  • inspect historic buildings and monuments to assess work to be completed
  •  respond to queries and give advice to members of the public and organisations
  •  research information using archives, heritage legislation and conservation standards
  •  review building plans and engineering drawings
  •  attend public events and present project proposals
  •  write reports and produce project plans
  •  make sure work meets project deadlines, budgets and conservation standards
  •  communicate with conservation and planning officials
  •  give technical advice to teams working on conservation projects

Skills needed

  • customer service skills
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • knowledge of building and construction
  • the ability to work well with others
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • administration skills
  • the ability to use your judgement and make decisions
  • excellent written communication skills
  • to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently

How to get into this role

You can get into this job through:

  • a university course
  • an apprenticeship
  • working towards this role

Career progression

With experience and continuous professional development you could become a heritage project manager, a senior inspector or heritage consultant.

To get promotion you may need to relocate to a new area or move between organisations in the public and private sector.

There are lots of opportunities for in-service training through organisations like the Institute of Historic Building Conservation.