CCT welcomes new Chief Executive
The Churches Conservation Trust is delighted to welcome its new CEO, Greg Pickup. Greg joins CCT from Heritage Lincolnshire, one of the largest and most active building preservation trusts in the country, where he was CEO.
His tenure at Heritage Lincolnshire coincided with the covid pandemic which brought about the biggest transformation in the organisation’s 30-year history and saw it emerging stronger than ever, growing from a headcount of 36 to 65 in under three years. He oversaw the Trust’s successful completion and opening of the Old King’s Head near Boston as a B&B, café and community space, efforts to secure c. £8m of Town Deal funding for the charity’s projects across the county and plans to bring the at-risk and vacant Greyfriars in Lincoln back into use.
Greg says: “I’m delighted and humbled to join the Churches Conservation Trust at such an important time for the organisation and for our historic churches. With the third largest estate of heritage assets of any charity in the UK, the trust has for decades played a vital role in safeguarding some of the country’s most precious historic sites. The scale of the challenge facing our historic churches is matched only by the scale of the opportunity this also presents; galvanising the widest possible range of people in support of these wonderful old buildings is surely the best hope we have of giving them a truly sustainable future. I’m excited to be joining a team with an impressive track record of doing exactly that and I’m looking forward to getting started in September.”
Liz Peace, CBE, Chair of Trustees, CCT, says: "We are delighted to welcome Greg Pickup as the new Chief Executive of the Churches Conservation Trust. He has done a tremendous job at Heritage Lincolnshire and proved how it is possible to bring both conservation and financial sustainability together to ensure a future for much loved and valuable historic buildings. I look forward to working with him as he brings his passion and expertise to bear on what will, I am sure, be an exciting new phase of our development at the CCT."
Dr Mike Ashton, Heritage Lincolnshire’s Chair of Trustees says, "Under Greg’s leadership at Heritage Lincolnshire, technical excellence has been harnessed with an ambitious yet sustainable business plan to forge a strong and successful organisation. This reflects Greg’s own development as a proven CEO, as well as providing a firm foundation for the future prosperity of Heritage Lincolnshire. We wish him every success in this next stage of his career."
Greg’s career in heritage began with nearly six years at the National Lottery Heritage Fund, following which he managed several projects and funding schemes, most recently Nottingham City Council’s Carrington Street Townscape Heritage Scheme and the Other Stories LGBT History Project for the charity Derbyshire LGBT+. He serves on the board of trustees of the Arkwright Society, custodians of Richard Arkwright’s Cromford Mills complex in the heart of Derbyshire’s Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site and is also on the board and the grants panel of the Architectural Heritage Fund.