Headland Archaeology Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of the RSK Group. Headland provides archaeological services and heritage advice to the construction industry.

Company history

Headland Archaeology Ltd was established in 1996. Headquartered in Edinburgh, this company expanded as a provider of commercial archaeology services in the UK. Expansion into the Irish market led to the establishment of Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd in 2000, in County Cork. Restructuring of the companies in May and June 2008 involved the renaming of Headland Archaeology Ltd as Headland Group Limited. A new company, Headland Archaeology (UK) Limited, was founded at this time to give, in conjunction with Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd, a coherent structure to the group based on trading areas. The acquisition of Hereford-based Archaeological Investigations Ltd in 2010 expanded its UK operation. Archaeological Investigations Ltd was subsequently assimilated as a regional office of Headland Archaeology (UK) Limited by October 2010, with the underlying company dissolved in September 2012. The company opened a southeast office in 2011, initially in Leighton Buzzard later moving to Silsoe in Bedfordshire, and a northern office based in Beeston, Leeds in 2015. In December 2011, there was a management buyout of Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd; the Irish company was renamed as Rubicon Heritage Services. The Headland Group was acquired by the RSK Group in March 2019 but continues to trade as Headland Archaeology (UK) Limited.

Registered archaeological organisation

By 2001, Headland Archaeology Ltd had become a Registered Archaeological Organisation with the Institute for Archaeologists (reference number RAO40). This registration has been continued and was transferred to Headland Archaeology (UK) Limited during the company re-organisation in 2008. The changing Irish operations of Headland Archaeology never fell within this scheme.

Projects

The following are a selection of projects that the Headland Archaeology companies have been involved with. Note that some of these projects were delivered by Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd which has now left the group.

Major projects

UK Ireland

Archaeological excavations

Environmental archaeology

Heritage management

Historic buildings

Industrial archaeology

Maritime archaeology