New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust

Grant Awarded: £40,000 (over two years)

Board approved: October 2015 

The Commonwealth TAE Hut at Scott Base is the sole know surviving intact building in Antarctica associated with Sir Vivian Fuch’s British led expedition. The site has been designed a Historical Site & Monument. The conservation plan for the building was launched earlier this year by the NZ Prime Minister.

The grant does not cover the entire cost of the conservation plan, which is estimated to be £400,000. Works involved are; removal of asbestos, conservation of the building fabric and conservation of the artefact collection at their conservation laboratory at Scott Base.

They are also ensuring that funding is in place to enable maintenance moving forward for the next 20 years.

The grant fulfills UKAHT’s goal to ‘preserve and enhance the unique physical heritage of human endeavour in Antarctica to the highest standards, in the UK, in Antarctica and beyond’.

Grant Update (2019):

Nestled alongside Scott Base, is Hillary's Hut - a small building that's played a big role in New Zealand's history.

Hillary's Hut, also known as Hut A or the Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE) Hut, was the first building constructed at Scott Base. It was built by a team led by Sir Edmund Hillary in 1957 and it was from here that Sir Edmund later led an historic expedition to the South Pole. In fact, the Hut was Hillary's home as he wintered over on the Ice in 1957.

Their main conservation programme is the extensive conservation of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition hut, the foundation of New Zealand’s Scott Base and the only building intact from that expedition.

Following the launch of the conservation plan for the site by the New Zealand Prime Minister in 2015, major works commenced, and are now complete. The Trust patterned with Auckland University technology to create ground-breaking virtual reality experience of the hut, and are now pleased to be able to share this iconic piece of history.