Gerry Wait - Principal Cultural Heritage Consultant

I have over 35 years of experience as an archaeologist, anthropologist and heritage consultant. My passion is in finding ways to make the past relevant to people and communities in building their future, with the belief that successful communities have firm roots in their past. I am an expert in heritage and social impact assessment, and conservation and management planning.

I have undertaken heritage assessments for Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) in the UK, USA, Romania, Ireland, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Burkino Faso, Niger, the Republic of Congo, Mongolia, Morocco, China, and Kyrgyzstan, Uganda and Tanzania. For 2014, I was seconded to SouthStream Transport bv (via ERM) as Cultural Heritage Advisor, overseeing the cultural heritage assessments for three international ESIAs, and associated cultural heritage investigations in Russia and in Bulgaria, both terrestrial and maritime.

I have undertaken due diligence for sponsors and lenders on projects in Niger, Mauretania, Egypt and Mongolia, and have provided due diligence support to EBRD via Ramboll and Sustainability pty on the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline Project in Greece, Albania and Italy. I have also provided support on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Indigenous Peoples to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline in Uganda and Tanzania  via RSK.

I served as Chairman of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and am active in the Committee on Professional Associations in Archaeology of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA). I have been an active member for the EAA since 1995. I am a member of both the Society of American Archaeology (and on the editorial board of the Society’s  Advances in Archaeological Practice Journal) and an accredited member of the Register of Professional Archaeologists. I am a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London as well as many other professional and academic associations.