Abbotsford

Abbotsford is a historic country house in the Scottish Borders, near Galashiels, on the south bank of the River Tweed. Now open to the public, it was built as the residence of historical novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott between 1817 and 1825. It is a Category A Listed Building and the estate is listed in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.

The challenge

In the light of disappointing Trading Company financial losses, current and foreseeable challenging circumstances, and lack of time available to focus on commercial aspects during Executive Committee and Board meetings, the Abbotsford Board of Trustees approved the setting up of a Commercial Committee in October 2022.

Subsequently further discussions involving the CEO and Trustees led to the view that a commissioned review and professional support for commercial business planning and implementation would be helpful to the CEO and his team.

The Board of the Trust subsequently approved the Trading Company Board’s recommendation to appoint Stephen Spencer + Associates (SS+A), in accordance with relevant charity requirements and guidance.

The key objectives of the work were to:

• Conduct a professional, external review of the Trust’s commercial activities, including retail

• Make recommendations concerning the commercial structure

• Support the development of the 2023 commercial plan and budget

• Provide ongoing support to the delivery team (to be proposed based on the outcomes of the review and planning process)

• We also identified, at an early stage, that a joined-up approach to Marketing would be vital to success.

The solution

The approach undertaken, accounted for operational challenges as well as availability of data. This included:

Supporting development of the 2023 trading budget: 

• Site visit and 1-1 interviews with the CEO and relevant stakeholders

• Data review

• Agree commercial budget targets and template

• Agree roles and responsibilities for developing the budget

• Support development of the budget, with various scenarios 

Develop the commercial strategic plan (2023-2025), to include:

• Proposed management structure

• Strategies for individual revenue streams including retail

• A marketing strategy for each revenue stream and recommendations concerning marketing delivery

• Ongoing external support in year one

The results

• Team cohesion and focus around a clear plan

• A new accountability and performance monitoring system introduced

• Ongoing support from the consultants has been commissioned in 2024