Profits in prehistory as Headland turnover climbs

Published on Wednesday 8 April 2009 21:10

"BIG digs" have millions of viewers hooked every Sunday evening. But the sort of archaeological adventures featured in Channel 4's popular Time Team programme can also prove to be big business, one Scottish firm has revealed.

An archaeology firm founded in a former lemonade factory in Edinburgh has hailed its best ever year – reporting a 75 per cent rise in turnover to 12 million.

Pre-tax profits also rocketed – up 60 per cent to 1.2m in the year to 31 May.

Headland Group said a major contract to carry out archaeological checks along the M74 motorway in Glasgow had generated a "significant part" of its turnover, while other road projects in Ireland and environmental impact assessments for wind farm projects also contributed.

Chris Lowe, group director at Headland, which has four offices, in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cork and Galway, said he expected turnover and profits in the current year to be slightly higher or at a similar level to 2007-08.

He said: "We will continue to grow, but not at (the 2007-08] rate. That was due to a number of projects all coming together at the same time."

On comparisons to Time Team, Lowe said the TV programme

"gives a very odd impression of archaeology". He said: "What we do is very focused on getting these projects delivered at a very high standard. Our focus is on what the developer needs and we have to remember who is paying for all of this."

However, he added that his team was still driven by a passion for history. "When we were working on the Irish roads, we actually found some prehistoric deer traps which were completely intact. It is very exciting. It is a very big thing to see things coming out of ground and finding out about them."

As part of an investigation into an area, Headland carries out fieldwork, radiocarbon dating and specialist analysis, and produces detailed evidential reports.

The firm, which has about 100 full-time staff and takes on agency workers for major projects, revealed that staff numbers in 2008, at 268, were 41 lower than in 2007, but Lowe said that was due to changing project requirements.

"The number of staff is lower, but the amount we paid in wages was higher – it was due to the projects we were working on requiring a small but highly skilled team," he explained.

Salaries totalled 5.6m in 2008, compared with 3.8m the previous year.

The group said current major developments, such as the Clyde wind farm near Biggar, as well as a range of smaller projects, would drive financial growth in the current year to the end of May.

Managing director Tim Holden added: "This is remarkable performance for a company in our field. The healthy profits made in 2007-8 leave the Headland Group in a favourable position to weather the current economic storm.

"We have prospered over the past ten years in spite of severe skills shortages in an industry where lifestyle and academic interest are often felt to be in conflict with a business-like approach to archaeology."