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Heritage

Discover how Lloyd's Register Foundation is harnessing our heritage to shape a safer and more sustainable ocean economy for the future.

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Our collection holds over 1.1m documents concerning the construction, maintenance and development of ships from the 1830s until the 1960s. The collection is freely available to all.

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A photograph of the She Sees exhibition in Portsmouth.

Without learning from the past, we cannot tackle the maritime challenges of the present.

For more than 260 years, through three industrial revolutions, Lloyd’s Register has been ensuring that ships, their crews and their cargoes are safe to go to sea. This focus on maritime safety has always been critical to the ocean economy.

Today, as the maritime sector navigates a range of new challenges of climate change, maintaining sustainable global supply chains and meeting vital net zero targets, is it important that we look back to examine the lessons we can learn from the past to help chart our course to a safer and more sustainable future.

At the heart of this learning process is the Lloyd’s Register Foundation archive, a unique research resource offering unparalleled reserves of data and knowledge regarding the evolution of maritime safety and the complex factors that drive this process.

Cared for and curated by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage and Education Centre, the archive is open to all, both in person at our historic home at 71 Fenchurch Street, London, and online via our growing range of digitised assets.

The Foundation is working with a diverse range of partners across the globe to unlock both the value of this archive and of a ‘learning from the past’ approach to maritime safety and sustainability challenges more broadly.

Explore our work in this area below, or visit the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage and Education Centre website to find out more and explore our archive.

Help us make a difference

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Live heritage grants.

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Countries receiving funding in this area.

£6.7m £6.7m

Total value grant portfolio.

Alex Stitt Director of the Heritage and Education Centre

Drawing on our extensive archive, the Foundation is in a unique position to help chart a safe and sustainable future for the ocean economy using lessons from our past.

A profile shot of Alex Stitt.

Impact stories

An Arctic fish farm.

University of the Arctic

How can lessons from the past be helpful in addressing today's challenges to the safety of people in the Arctic Ocean economy.

Heritage
Two children taking part in an activity at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

Royal Museums Greenwich

“Over 70% of our blue planet is covered in water, and more than half of all the oxygen we breathe comes from ocean plants. We rely on the ocean for food security, transportation, coastal defences and much more.”

Heritage

Latest news

A photograph of a young girl and man pointing at boats in a harbour.

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Landmark SHE_SEES exhibition comes to Portsmouth

After its launch at last year’s London International Shipping Week, our SHE_SEES exhibition is opening at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

Heritage Safer maritime systems Europe and UK

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Celebrating 200 years of Plimsoll's impact on maritime safety

Saturday, February 10th marks two hundred years since the birth of Samuel Plimsoll, a maritime safety campaigner who fought for the introduction of the Plimsoll Line.

Heritage

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A listen on: Potentially Polluting Wrecks

In this podcast, Lloyd's Register Foundation‘s Louise Sanger and Benjamin Ferrari discuss the catastrophic impact polluting wrecks are having on our oceans.

Heritage Europe and UK

Meet our experts

Alex Stitt

Director of the Heritage and Education Centre

Alex is the Director of the Heritage and Education Centre at the Lloyd's Register Foundation.

Louise Sanger

Head of Research, Interpretation and Engagement

Louise leads the HEC's research, interpretation, and engagement strategy, guiding stakeholders in advancing maritime safety. She shares specialist knowledge to highlight the importance of maritime history for the ocean economy. Her team develops flagship projects and key research themes, generating insights that inspire long-term change.

Max Wilson

Senior Archivist

As the Centre’s Senior Archivist Max assists the management, development and accessibility of the archive and heritage collections, with oversight of preservation/conservation, acquisitions, selection, archive arrangement, appraisal and cataloguing.

Visit the Heritage and Education Centre website

Browse unique research and collections, a treasure trove for maritime heritage data, research and initiatives.

Visit the site
A profile plan for a ship in the Centre's collection.