Norfolk Historic Environment Record (HER) charges

Effective as of 1 April 2023.

The Historic Environment Record (HER) has a policy of charging for enquiries for commercial or profit-making purposes, such as data requests by developers and their agents, consultants and contractors.

Straightforward enquiries for non-commercial, educational or personal research are generally free of charge. More complex enquiries are welcomed, but a charge may apply. Image reproduction charges apply to all users.

Charges are levied for officer time required to service an enquiry, in person or remotely.  The fees may include staff time to extract electronic information from the HER database or other digital datasets, to provide assistance with use of the records, to retrieve or replace documents or photographs from the HER archives, and/or to reproduce images.

All fees are exclusive of VAT and are subject to review.

Digital datasets

Digital data curated by the HER is provided on a one-year licence. After one year the data must be destroyed and a new search is required.

Data formats are dependent on the dataset. Available datasets include:

HER Monument Data (PDF database records, mapped extent as GIS files or PDF)
HER Event Data (PDF database records, mapped extent as GIS files or PDF)
Aerial Investigation Mapping - Cropmark and Earthwork Transcriptions (GIS or AutoCAD files)
Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) Data (PDF reports, mapped extent as GIS files or PDF)

Please allow for a minimum of 30 minutes of officer time to extract each dataset.

Standard dataset search

Completed within 10 working days.

Minimum charge (includes up to 1 hour of officer time): £130
Additional officer time (charged per hour): £65

Priority dataset search

Completed within 2 working days.

Minimum charge (includes up to 1 hour of officer time): £260
Additional officer time (charged per hour): £130

Large projects

An additional charge may be incurred for search areas that significantly exceed a 1km radius.

Further charges will also apply for particularly large and/or complex search areas. Please contact us for a quotation.

Single site search

This is for a search of either:

A single property and curtilage with a buffer of up to 50m, or
A rural site of no more than 150 acres (60 hectares) with a buffer of up to 50m

The service will return all HER Monument Data and identify all available HER archive material for those sites for a set fee of £65.

Norfolk Historic Environment Record archives

Assisted research visit (Archives)

The Norfolk Historic Environment Record maintains several collections of paper and photographic archive material which support the primary digital database including:

The HER Archives (supporting unpublished documents, drawings, and photographs)
The Norfolk Air Photo Library
The Historic Environment Reference Library

These can be accessed at our premises in the Archive Centre by pre-arranged appointment during opening hours. The search room is open Tuesday to Thursday 9:30am to 5pm and Friday 10am to 4pm.

Charges will be levied for officer time to retrieve and replace documents or photographs and/or to provide assistance with use of the records in the following circumstances only:

The archives are being accessed for commercial purposes
The archives are being accessed for a non-commercial request requiring a significant amount of officer time to facilitate

The minimum charge for this service, which includes up to 1 hour of officer time, is £130.  Additional officer time is charged at £65 per hour.

If an Assisted Research Visit is requested at the same time as an HER Search the officer time fees may be combined in one invoice.  This only applies if the HER Search and the Assisted Research Visit are carried out within a 4-week period.

Digital images

The majority of photographs and drawings held within the Historic Environment Record Archives and the Norfolk Air Photo Library are suitable for reproduction for personal use.  There are a small number of items that cannot be copied because of copyright and other restrictions.

All items are supplied as high-resolution electronic images (usually TIFFs) sent via file transfer.  If file transfer is not possible, items can be supplied on CD and a £2.50 fee for postage and packaging will be applied.

The following fees apply to both commercial and non-commercial requests:

First image: £15
Additional images: £7 each

Remote requests requiring staff assessment of items suitable for reproduction will incur an additional charge to cover staff time, charged at the standard hourly rate.

Assessment: £65 per hour
Image reproduction: £7 each

For bulk requests, contact heritage@norfolk.gov.uk for a quotation.

Image reproduction for publication (excludes academic journals)

High-resolution digital copies of images and drawings can be provided for reproduction in books, part works, journals, periodicals, slides, newspaper articles and magazines.

Per image: £60