The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has announced plans for a restructure of its services designed to improve performances of its assets and to cut costs within the organisation.

NTS, which represents 350,000 members, has started formal consultations which it says could save the organisation up to £4m (US$5.3m, €4.8m) per year.

The heritage and conservation charity will create 68 new positions within the organisation, with a further 42 posts being transferred from the trust’s headquarters in Edinburgh to its properties across Scotland. While new positions will be created, there will be an overall reduction in staff numbers, with 142 posts considered to be ‘at risk’. Only core services operating at national level will remain in Edinburgh.

NTS has future investment plans but must also address a conservation backlog of £47m (US$63m, €56.8m). It is also planning to spend £17m (US$22.8m, €20.5m) over the next three years on a number of significant properties across Scotland, including Culzean Castle, Brodie Castle and Newhailes House.

From Q3, the NTS will phase out old departmental structures and bring conservation specialists and support staff together with property-based staff and volunteers formed around six regional groupings responsible for built heritage and one nationwide grouping responsible for natural heritage.

“We have opened consultation with our recognised trade union on a visionary transformation of the Trust. It is a bold and ambitious vision, which challenges us to completely change the way we deliver our core purposes,” said Simon Skinner, NTS chief executive.

“While the Trust has achieved stability in the last few years, we have choices to make if we are to move forward and face up to ensuring our heritage remains relevant and engaging in an era of ever-more demanding, digitally-savvy generations.

“For those affected we will be opening up opportunities for voluntary redundancy and will match as many people as possible to new posts in order to keep compulsory redundancy to a minimum. But, inevitably, we will be losing some of our old friends and colleagues and some will have to move from their current base: change is not easy but change we must if we are to continue to deliver on our core purposes.”