35 years of World Heritage in the UK – challenges and opportunities

The United Kingdom ratified the World Heritage Convention in 1984 and since then 33 World Heritage Sites (WHS) have been inscribed onto UNESCO’s World Heritage List. These including 29 “onshore” and 4 in the UK’s Overseas Territories. While Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) is the common denominator, the UK Sites display great variety and complexity in terms of size, type, context, boundaries, governance, investment, and management requirements. Between 2019 and 2021 a comprehensive audit and review of the World Heritage sector was undertaken by World Heritage UK (WHUK). This paper sets out the context, challenges, and opportunities that were revealed by the review.