Author: V Brightman
Date: 9 October 2014
Heritage Features at Kew Gardens
Brief for interpretation
Date
13 October 2014
Owner of brief and contact details
Vicky Brightman
v.brightman@kew.org
02083323617
Project name
Heritage features interpretation
Decision maker (if different)
Vicky Brightman
Start date and completion date
Project start: 1 November 2014
Completion: 16 January 2015
Budget
£175 per day with a maximum fee of £4500
1. Context
The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew houses the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the
world. Unlike horticultural plants or food crops that have been modified by selective breeding, most plants found at
Kew and are true to those found in the wild; they are of exceptional scientific importance.
In addition, Kew boasts over 250 years of history, with an abundance of heritage features, landscapes and buildings,
including Kew Palace and Queen Charlotte’s Cottage (managed by Historic Royal Palaces - HRP). There are many
rich stories regarding Kew’s royal inhabitants and their impact on the Kew landscape. In addition, RBG Kew has
played a major role in the development of modern day botany, which can be highlighted through particular collections
and features within the landscape and shared with our visitors.
Kew’s heritage is not interpreted to its full potential, with many temples, vistas, sculptures and buildings either not
being interpreted at all or to a standard fitting of the world’s foremost botanic garden. We require a significant
increase and enhancement to the heritage interpretation at Kew Gardens through this project, as well as a
recommendation paper summarising the next steps to realise the full potential.
This project forms part of a wider initiative to create a step change in the interpretative aspects of the visitor
experience at Kew Gardens and Wakehurst Place.
Through revitalising the interpretation across both sites, Kew will maximise the potential of its plant collections and the
expertise of over 200 scientists and 100 horticulturalists to significantly raise public awareness and galvanise people
to re-evaluate their own behaviours in relation to plant and fungi use and conservation. First class interpretation will
stimulate their curiosity beyond a visit, encouraging repeat visits and membership. We want to increase opportunities
for the public to engage and not just ‘see’, to communicate the gravitas and beauty of Kew’s heritage and collections
and to introduce an element of fun and entertainment.
Kew has recently invested in audience and brand research to better understand our audiences, what will attract them
to Kew and what our potential is for market growth. We now have a bespoke audience segmentation model to guide
our interpretive offer.
Our interpretation related objectives:
1. Ensure that RBG Kew is the quality and innovation benchmark for interpretation in botanic gardens
internationally by 2018.
2. To deliver site-wide, high-quality and cost-effective interpretation that presents a clear picture of our value to
visitors by maximising the strengths of different areas (zones), and having a clear understanding of how
visitors make sense of their visit – to increase their perception of the benefits they receive.
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Status: DRAFT
Author: V Brightman
Date: 9 October 2014
3. To deliver measurable visitor learning outcomes that relate to biodiversity, climate change, food security, plant
health, nature on our doorstep and Kew heritage.
2. Audiences
Our main audience group: Nature connectors
This segment wants to connect - to nature and to others. They seek a shared experience, are open-minded, fun-loving
and do look for learning and personal development. They like learning about plants in our everyday lives,
conservation, history, heritage and architecture. They also have high levels of knowledge about art and art history;
perhaps we can tap into this with our historical botanical illustrations? They appreciate a balance between cultivation
and nature and would be keen meet with gardeners and curators, to understand how Kew Gardens is developed and
maintained. Interpretation for this segment should help them gain a contextual understanding; connecting to the life
stories behind plants and exploring the relevance of Kew’s research to our everyday lives.
Families in this segment want shared fun family experiences, they want to stimulate their children’s’ imagination
through interactivity and physical play and explore together. They want their family days out to provide intellectual
stimulation and development for the whole party.
There are other key audience segments that need to be accommodated and more information will be provided on their
motivations and demographics.
Our approach, in most cases, is not to design separate family or children’s interpretation; rather to use strong images,
accessible language, symbols - and a recognisable ‘call to action’ activity for any visitor to take part in, but that will
consider families as the primary target audience.
3. Brief
We are seeking someone with experience researching and writing copy for exhibitions and other visitor experiences
(preferably heritage buildings and/or heritage landscape based content) and researching content, images and archival
material, and who can deliver a major enhancement to the heritage interpretation across the site.
You will need to liaise with key curators at Historic Royal Palaces to identify key themes, areas and stories that related
to both RBG Kew, but also its royal inhabitants. You will also need to liaise with the Kew interpretation team,
horticulturists, scientists and Kew archive team. You will need to establish visitor learning outcomes, write new copy,
source new images and archival materials and then sign-off the content by circulating to experts and relevant staff in
Kew’s public engagement and learning team. We would also like you to consider what simple yet effective
interactive/tactile elements we could integrate into the interpretation.
RBG Kew is developing a graphic design and 3D design approach on which this project will draw and has
Interpretation Principles and other key guiding documents to support the development of this project.
4. Deliverables
We require you to identify and interpret circa 20 key heritage features that could vary across temples, vistas, buildings
and statues. Criteria for selection will be provided and the selection will be approved by Kew Head of Content and
Interpretation in liaison with HRP. We also require a recommendation paper to propose next steps to realise further
potential for heritage interpretation at RGB Kew.
In development of these final products we would require:
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Reports from any liaison with Royal Historic Palace curators and interpretation specialists.
A list of circa 20 key features with rationale for selection
Overarching Visitor Learning outcomes for the selected heritage interpretation
Draft copy submitted to the interpretation team and stakeholders for comment
Final copy submitted to Head of Content and Interpretation for sign-off
Sourcing images and archival material for the design
Proposals for simple, yet effective interactive/tactile elements that can be integrated into the interpretation
Writing the brief for the design team and developing the final artwork with the design and production team
Recommendation paper for future of heritage interpretation at Kew.
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Status: DRAFT
Author: V Brightman
Date: 9 October 2014
5. Budget
The suggested daily rate of £175 for this work with a maximum fee of £4500 (exclusive of VAT). The final number of
days will be negotiated on further discussion around the detail of the project.
The design, production and installation costs will be agreed and administered by Kew and outlined at project kick-off.
6. Timeline
The completion deadline for this is the 16 January 2015, by which time all content and graphic design work should be
complete. At project kick-off we’d like to agree a more detailed timetable with you. A proportion of this work can be
carried out remotely (approximately 70%) but will require several meetings onsite or at a HRP site and image and
archival research is more effective carried out onsite due to direct access to the images and archives.
7. Selection Criteria
All of the work will be carried out in collaboration with our interpretation team and managed by Vicky Brightman, Head
of Content and Justine Quinn, Interpretation Manager
Please respond with a brief CV of your experience in this area with two relevant examples of your previous
interpretation work. Also, please provide evidence of your availability to work according to the deadlines.
Deadline for submission to v.brightman@kew.org is 9am Monday 27th October 2014.
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Status: DRAFT