The National Heritage Training Group (NHTG), the UK’s lead body for traditional built heritage skills, has received initial support for a £690,000 bid from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) under its Skills for the Future programme for the ‘Building Traditional Skills – Building Resilience, Building Community’ project.
NHTG writes:
The project aims to offer work-based training placements across England, supported by a new range of courses, including traditional building skills and wider business skills.
In particular it aims to support small traditional building businesses working on domestic properties and to encourage men and women from all backgrounds, ages communities to take up opportunities. Traditional Building Skills that we offer include stone masonry, heritage joinery, blacksmithing, painting and decorating, plastering, roofing and tiling. In addition we aim to offer support to experienced craftspeople wishing to become mentors, assessors, or to develop new specialist skills.
Development funding of £7,000 has also been awarded to help National Heritage Training Group progress their plans to apply for a full grant at a later date.
Karen Houghton, Chief Executive of National Heritage Training Group said: ‘We’re delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this support. Our current Building Traditional Skills project is offering life-changing opportunities to people learning traditional building skills such as heritage joinery or stonemasonry, and this new project aims to build on this success. It’s great to know that we are a step closer to offering similar opportunities to people passionate about working on Britain’s heritage.’
Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of HLF, said: ‘Nurturing skills – of all types – continues to be a hugely important part of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s portfolio of work. Skills for the Future is one of our most successful and over-subscribed programmes with fierce competition to secure funding. The 39 projects that have won through reflect the wide range of training and opportunities on offer in the heritage industry. We’re delighted that through this significant investment 876 new placements will be created right across the UK and hope that this additional funding will help encourage growth and build resilience within the sector.’
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