London Transport Museum
Hild evaluated London Transport Museum's innovative approach to addressing heritage skills shortages, helping transform a project-based initiative into a strategic priority through thoughtful evaluation and reflective practice.
Preserving Heritage Skills for the Future
The Commission
In late 2024, London Transport Museum were testing innovative solutions to address a critical shortage of skills in heritage bus maintenance through the National Lottery Heritage Fund's "Heritage Innovation Fund: Test" programme.
They commissioned us as external evaluator for the project. They were looking for an evaluation partner who could capture not just outcomes, but also the learning journey and strategic implications of their work in skills preservation.
From the onset, we established regular reflection points through learning logs, observation sessions at volunteer weekends, and facilitated workshops with staff. This created an atmosphere where challenges could be openly discussed and insights immediately applied.
The Journey
Over a year, we followed the project's two main strands: a volunteer programme focused on heritage bus maintenance, and sector-wide initiatives to understand skills shortages.
We noted that experienced commercial bus maintenance professionals needed to develop what the Museum termed a "conservation mindset" for heritage vehicles. Our observations revealed one-to-one training was particularly effective in building this approach and strengthening volunteer commitment.
Meanwhile, sector-wide seminars demonstrated the mobile heritage sector strong interest in collaborative skills preservation approaches, captured through targeted data collection.
Our evaluation helped the London Transport Museum understand both the immediate value of their project and its strategic potential. We identified how skills preservation could become a connecting thread across the organisation's work, from collection care to public engagement and education.
Perhaps most importantly, our work contributed to a shift in thinking – from viewing skills preservation as a project-based activity to seeing it as a core strategic priority.
“Working with Hild has been about more than evaluating our work and our project: it has helped shape our own thinking about what we do, and see things more clearly. The evaluation tools were developed in dialogue and really helped us see progress where it might otherwise have been overlooked.” (Katariina Mauranen, Senior Curator, Vehicles & Engineering)
Our Ethos
For us at Hild, evaluation is never just about ticking boxes. We believe in embedding reflective practice throughout a project, ensuring that learning becomes part of the process rather than an afterthought.
This approach exemplifies how we work – bringing rigour and reflection together, focusing on people as well as outcomes, and always looking for the strategic opportunities within practical challenges. That's the kind of impact we strive for – evaluation that doesn't just measure change, but helps create it.