National Heritage Training Group Secures £932,000 of Funding in HLF Skills for the Future Programme

The National Heritage Training Group (NHTG) has been awarded the largest single amount of funding of the 54 successful projects in the new £17million Heritage Lottery Fund Skills for the Future programme.

The £932,000 funding will provide high quality, work-based training and skills development opportunities in England to equip people for a career in the built heritage sector or for those already working in the sector to expand and improve their knowledge and skills sets. This will be achieved by the NHTG working with English Heritage, The National Trust, ConstructionSkills and regional partners in England.

The project will offer 60 variable-length traditional building craft skills placements. This will greatly enhance the capacity of the built heritage sector to deliver sustainable training and share good practice through a range of training - from taster courses, Heritage Specialist Apprenticeship Programmes and mentoring - leading to recognised heritage skills qualifications. Training and live site-based work experience will be available for people from new entrants, career changers and those looking to up-skill from mainstream construction covering beginners right up to the pinnacle of master crafts status.

Mike Moody, Chairman of the National Heritage Training Group said: “As an employer who has long invested in training and skills development, I know how important this funding is - particularly in the current economic climate - to help train and qualify a wider pool of people to work in this important sector. I am delighted that the NHTG has secured this funding and this allows us to deliver an even more ambitious programme of training opportunities to benefit individual craftspeople, employers and the whole built heritage sector by having a suitably skilled workforce now and for the future.“  

Mark Farrar, Chief Exec of Construction Skills said: “We have supported the work of the NHTG since it was established in 2003 and this funding is an extremely timely boost for the built heritage sector. As the Sector Skills Council for construction we welcome the opportunity it will afford a wide range of people to develop the right skills to help conserve, repair and maintain our pre-1919 building stock – from cottages and terraced houses to our most important historic buildings.”

Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage added: “Traditional building crafts and skills are the life blood if we are to conserve the rich heritage of England’s buildings. Since 2005 when we first highlighted the shortage of such skills, a lot has been done through working with partners to solve the problem. We are very pleased that this latest project will present opportunities for young people, career changers and others in these difficult times”.

Fiona Reynolds, Director General ofThe National Trust says: “We are pleased to be working with the NHTG in any way we can to help address the current traditional building skills gaps. Wewelcome this HLF initiative, along with other training schemes in the sector, as a means of ensuring that these vital skills are not lost and that all traditional buildings can be properly repaired and maintained.”

The live, site-based training opportunities will be developed with regional partners in England to ensure that there is suitable geographic spread as well as helping to address regional demand.

Now that the funding has been awarded the NHTG is busy developing the training plan and funded placements will be available towards the end of 2010/beginning of 2011. This will allow these highly prized and specialist skills to be maintained and passed on to the next generation.

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Contact

Jessica Hope – Press Officer at ConstructionSkills - jessica.hope@cskills.org or David Pidgeon - david.pidgeon@cskills.org on 0300 456 5403

Notes to Editors

• Details of this NHTG project can be found at: www.nhtg.org.uk
• The £17million from the Heritage Lottery Fund Skills for the Future programmed will fund 54 projects across the UK to provide paid training and skills development opportunities for those seeking a career in heritage. Details of placement with the 54 successful projects are available on the HLF website – www.hlf.org.uk/skills
• Launched in July 2009, Skills for the Future is a one-off HLF programme supporting organisations across the UK to create new training places. Grants range from £100,000 to £1million for a number of traineeships over a period of up to five years with an emphasis on high-quality work-based training. 
• Skills for the Future is complementary to HLF’s existing £10m Training Bursary Programme which has been running for the last four years delivering a wide range of skills training - including blacksmithing, botanic gardening, stone masonry, thatching and book conservation. Over 700 placements have been created providing accredited work-based training with highly-skilled crafts people and environmental specialists. In combination with the Skills for the Future placements, this means that over 1,500 training opportunities have been created by HLF.
• Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustainsand transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported 33,900 projects, allocating £4.4billion across the UK. www.hlf.org.uk   

About the NHTG

The National Heritage Training Group (NHTG) is an independent specialist sector skills development group established in 2003 with a UK-wide remit to provide assistance with all aspects of recruiting, training, and qualifying the built heritage sector workforce of the construction industry.

The NHTG produced the seminal skills needs analysis reports Traditional Building Craft Skills (England 2005 & 2008; Scotland and Wales 200, and Ireland 2009) and UK-wide Building Professionals report in 2008 to quantify demand, supply and training provision within the sector.

For more information visit www.nhtg.org.uk 

About English Heritage

English Heritage is the Government’s statutory adviser on the historic environment, with responsibility for protecting and promoting all aspects of the historic environment and works in partnership with central government departments, local authorities, voluntary bodies and the private sector to conserve and enhance the historic environment, broaden public access to heritage, and increase people’s understanding of the past.

In November 2004, English Heritage and ConstructionSkills signed the first ever Sector Skills Agreement for the historic environment sector co-ordinate the development of traditional building craft skills in England to continue working together to address the skills needs of the sector.

For more information visit www.english-heritage.org.uk

About The National Trust

This registered charity was founded in 1895 to act as a guardian for the nation in the acquisition and protection of threatened coastline, countryside and buildings. Today, it cares for over 254,000 hectares (627,000 acres) of countryside in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, plus 709 miles of coastline and more than 200 buildings and gardens of outstanding interest and importance. It has over 3.8 million members.

The National Trust has a long working relationship with the Heritage Lottery Fund and is a partner with English Heritage, Cadw, Welsh Assembly Government, ConstructionSkills and the NHTG in the HLF funded Traditional Building Skills Bursary Scheme for England and Wales.

For more information visit: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

About ConstructionSkills

ConstructionSkills is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the construction industry. It is a partnership between CITB-ConstructionSkills, CIC and CITB-ConstructionSkills Northern Ireland. It is UK-wide and represents the whole industry from professional consultancies to major contractors and Sees.   

Established as an SSC in 2003, ConstructionSkills works to deliver a safe, professional and fully qualified construction workforce. All three partners are committed to working together to deliver industry-led skills and training solutions through the Sector Skills Agreement for construction. This includes negotiating the best partnership and funding deals for the construction industry to help raise standards, increase diversity and develop the skills products and services employers need.

For more information visit www.cskills.org