Two firefighters in yellow helmets and wearing breathing apparatus talk to two people in blue high vis and hardhats.
Live salvage exercise with Fire & Rescue Service at the Emergency Planning Training Centre. © Historic England Archive View image record DP464751
Live salvage exercise with Fire & Rescue Service at the Emergency Planning Training Centre. © Historic England Archive View image record DP464751

Emergency Planning Training

Historic England is developing a suite of emergency planning training packages for the historic environment and emergency planning sectors. This training will cover all 3 stages of the emergency response cycle – Prepare, Respond and Recover – looking at how historic sites and collections are impacted by events such as floods and fires.

Depending on the nature of the training requested, we aim to deliver our courses either online from our Emergency Planning Training Centre at Fort Cumberland in Portsmouth or from another suitable location. Where possible, we will also seek to deliver bespoke training to suit the needs of your organisation.

If you would like to enquire about any of the training packages below, or speak to us about how we can develop further training for your organisation, please contact us.

Contents

Emergency Planning Training Centre

In 2024, Historic England opened its new Emergency Planning Training Centre at Fort Cumberland in Portsmouth. Originally an 18th century artillery fort, Fort Cumberland is now a Grade II* listed building and Scheduled Monument, used by Historic England to undertake research and deliver emergency planning training.

Historic England has converted several of the fort's casemate buildings into teaching and exercise spaces, from which emergency planning training can be delivered. This versatile space consists of a lecture room, reception area and different indoor and outdoor practical teaching areas designed to replicate working within a historic building.

If you are interested in receiving emergency planning training at Fort Cumberland, please contact us.

Gallery

Please click on the gallery images to enlarge.

View along the front of a single-storey red brick building, with windows and doors in bricked up arches. A long, narrow, arched corridor with paintings on the brick walls. Two glass display cases on tables in the middle of a vaulted brick room, with glass-fronted cabinets along the walls and a large military banner hanging on the back wall. An old typewriter on a desk in front of several army uniforms with a painting on the wall to the left. Desks and chairs in a valted brick room with a window at the rear. Two rows of folding chairs face two tables covered in training materials.

Salvage and Disaster Recovery Course

Hosted at our Emergency Planning Training Centre, the 3-day Salvage and Disaster Recovery course will teach delegates how an effective response during an incident can mitigate loss and damage to historic sites, buildings and collections. This course provides hands-on experience of how to resolve an incident together with Fire & Rescue Service teams by:

  • Removing objects from a simulated incident environment
  • Assessing the condition of salvaged objects
  • Following appropriate first-aid treatment and documentation procedures
  • Learning how to use essential salvage equipment safely

Historic England runs the course in conjunction with experts from the English Heritage Trust, the National Trust, and West Midlands Fire Service.

The course fee includes 3 days of training from heritage and fire safety specialists, a live salvage exercise, buffet lunches, 1 evening meal and 2 nights bed and breakfast at a local hotel.

If you want to find out more or are interested in attending the Salvage and Disaster Recovery course, please contact us.

Gallery

Please click on the gallery images to enlarge.

Two people use a hairdryer and comb to dry a small taxidermy mammal. Two people in orange hardhats and yellow high vis vests carry a large portrait painting in a gilt frame. Two firefighters in yellow hardhats and high vis having a discussion, in the right foreground a man in a blue hardhat and high vis looks at a folder of information. A china dining service, silver cutlery and candlesticks on a table, with two army banners hanging on the wall behind. Five people in red waterproof clothing and hardhats hold a blue plastic tarpaulin under a leaking roof. Two people in hard hats and high vis crouch by a piano covered in orange plastic sheeting.

Heritage Under Fire Course

This course is aimed at those who work directly or indirectly with the impacts of fires on historic sites and buildings, including the Fire & Rescue Service, and seeks to raise awareness of the issues that heritage buildings face. Delivered at your venue by Historic England specialists, this 1-day course covers topics including:

  • The role of Historic England
  • The value of heritage
  • Fire and heritage legislation
  • The risks associated with and the impact of fires on heritage
  • Passive vs active systems in heritage buildings
  • Workshops on heritage fire scenarios

If you want to find out more or are interested in attending the Heritage Under Fire course, please contact us.

Also of interest

Emergency Response Plans
Emergency Planning Advice
Threats and Emergencies
Flooding Advice
Fire Advice
Salvage Equipment