Coastal and Inland Waters Heritage Science Facility

The UK's rivers, lakes, coastlines and seas represent, and are home to, some of our most significant and vulnerable heritage assets; from million-year-old tools and footprints, through millennia of shipwrecks, decades of downed aircraft, to historic towns and ports. These assets are part of dynamic environments that are undergoing unprecedented rates of change, whilst simultaneously being exposed to increasing pressure from development, tourism and conservation needs. These environments, however, represent complex challenges for archaeological investigation, being too shallow for larger ocean-going equipment. Heritage scientists, regulators and policy makers are therefore confronted with the problem of quantifying, investigating and managing this resource, while the national capacity to carry out these investigations is curtailed by limited access to equipment, because of high purchase and hire costs. This not only prevents knowledge gain and policy development, but innovation.
This project brings together a constellation of fifteen institutions from across all four UK nations to address three critical needs for heritage science at (inter)national and regional scales. It stems from independent capability reviews, conversations with national agencies and regulators, museums, local government and community groups:
1. Capacity to effectively and agilely collect geophysical and geotechnical data from coastal and inland waters. This will be met through acquiring state of the art uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and sensors for bathymetric and sub-bottom survey, as well as geological sampling. The equipment will be openly advertised and bookable.
2. Access to equipment and expertise for 4D data capture and documentation at a range of scales and resolutions; from landscapes (kms) to architecture (metres) and objects (millimetres). This will be delivered through new assets and sharing existing equipment. Capability will include laser & structured light scanning, photogrammetry, uncrewed airborne vehicles (UAVs) with lidar, multispectral & 360 photography, 3D printing.
3. Capability for data processing, visualisation, engagement & archiving. Lack of access to higher performance computing, appropriate software and expertise has become a key bottleneck. We will support users through acquisition, processing and visualisation via a digital laboratory to ensure best quality data capture, outputs and archiving.
While new infrastructure is required, people remain the greatest asset within heritage science. This facility will develop this asset through creating an inter-disciplinary community of practice to support heritage scientists operating in marine, coastal and freshwater locations. It will train researchers, community groups and other stakeholders on how to make best use of this resource and the outputs it can generate. It will pioneer new Artificial Intelligence and cloud-based methods for large scale data processing and visualisation, to unlock hidden potential and streamline workflows. With our partners we will explore new methods of engaging diverse audiences through a variety of digital and physical outputs. At the same time, it will lead by example, promoting and enabling a culture of equipment, data and knowledge exchange.
The knowledge and understanding generated by this facility speaks directly to core heritage science challenges, but also those of other disciplines and industries (e.g. ocean & earth science, engineering, geography, renewable energy). It will help to answer questions with regards to the changing shape of our coastlines, rivers and seas. It will transform our ability to rapidly acquire data in difficult settings at short notice, giving critical insights into the impacts of climate change on heritage and society, as well as its potential future course.