Page 191 - The Building Conservation Directory 2013
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Useful Information
Building on these achievements
In summer 2012, the TBSBS secured a further
£760,000 of HLF funding which will enable it
to continue until 2015 under a new banner, the
Traditional Building Skills Bursary Scheme for
Displaced Apprentices. It will target displaced
apprentices throughout England and Wales
who, in the current economic climate, no
longer have host organisations where they
can continue their training. It will include
opportunities to work with and learn from the
highly skilled and experienced National Trust
and Cadw direct labour teams.
The lessons learned from the TBSBS have
also been used to design the BTS scheme,
which was launched in early 2012. The scheme
aims to reach more potential participants
with a wider range of opportunities. With
£1.3 million of HLF funding this project
is the largest and most complex project
in the current HLF Skills for the Future
Programme. The scheme is delivered by
the NHTG through a network of regional
coordinators in England. This means that
the project can make the most of local
knowledge and contacts, work closely with
local companies and provide on-the-ground
support to trainees and placement providers.
There are opportunities for 60 paid and
supported site-based placements which
follow the best practice model developed
by the TBSBS. In addition, there is a range
of opportunities from short introductory
courses through to NVQ Level 4 senior
crafts qualifications. The scheme supports
the wide range of training and qualifications
developed specifically for this sector including
heritage specialist apprenticeships and
foundation degrees in building conservation.
There are also opportunities for experienced
craftspeople from a mainstream construction
background to qualify in ‘understanding
the principles of repair and maintenance of
traditional (pre-1919) buildings’ at NVQ Level
3 via two-day modular training courses.
Under this scheme, Aimee Henderson
has embarked on a 12-month placement to
achieve her NVQ Level 3 in Construction
Site Management (Conservation). She is
working with Heritage Project Management
on Manchester’s Town Hall Complex
Transformation Programme. Aimee says: ‘This
is such an exciting project to work on, partly
because of its scale and ambition but also
because of the new challenges it is presenting
me with, like justifying expenditure to
important stakeholders or planning the work
schedule for a whole team of people. I know I’ll
leave the placement feeling far more confident
as well as more professionally equipped for the
real world’.
Challenges and opportunities
As with the Traditional Building Skills
Bursary Scheme, the emphasis of the
Building Traditional Skills scheme is on
promoting the training and accreditation of
a skilled workforce. To date, 44 per cent of
trainees from the TBSBS have gained their
NVQ Level 3 Diploma in Heritage Skills.
By successfully completing a health and
safety test, trainees can then go on to gain
their Heritage Skills Construction Skills
Certification Scheme (CSCS) card. Building
surveyors and other professionals procuring
conservation, repair and maintenance work on
traditional buildings who ask for this card (for
example at the pre-qualification questionnaire
stage) can reduce the risks that come with
contractor selection. It gives the professional
team and their clients proof that a contractor
has the right skills to work on traditional
buildings and has achieved the appropriate
standards in their work.
The partners in both schemes are
committed to promoting equality and
diversity in the sector. While women make
up just two per cent of the labour force in
hands-on construction, the TBSBS granted
15 per cent of its placements to women.
However, it has failed to attract significant
numbers of ethnic minority candidates,
with only 3 per cent of trainees from outside
the home countries and 0.6 per cent being
non-white. To ensure the sector draws from
the widest possible pool of talent BTSS is
launching a more proactive and focussed
marketing campaign at regional level. It
aims to provide 15 per cent of its bursaries to
women and 5 per cent to ethnic minorities.
It is too early to make a meaningful
analysis of BTS performance in this area but
there are some interesting opportunities
developing. In Stratford, London, the scheme
is working with the Building Crafts College
on delivering introductory courses for a
local women’s group. In the North West, the
scheme is working with the Bolton All Souls
Project to offer opportunities among the
predominantly Muslim local community.
Securing the future
Reflecting on the TBSBS, Clara Willett, the
scheme manager, commented: ‘We are now
seeing the success of the scheme through the
achievements of the trainees. Not only are
they gaining excellent work experience, but
78 per cent of them carry on working in the
heritage sector and over half of them have
gained their Heritage Skills NVQ. This is great
news for these individuals and the sector’.
The success of these schemes is due in large
part to the partnership established between
the leading heritage organisations, the support
of the HLF and the commitment of placement
providers in a difficult economic climate.
At the centre of this are the keen and
highly motivated individuals who have an
opportunity to learn and develop skills
that will stand them in good stead for
their future careers. The more trainees
who acquire these skills, the safer the
future of our precious built heritage.
Further Information
Traditional Building Skills Bursary Scheme
for Displaced Apprentices
National Heritage Training Group Building
Traditional Skills scheme
Traditional Building Skills Bursary Scheme
Evaluation Report 2012
Kate Gunthorpe
MRICS MCIOB BCAS is a
senior building surveyor at English Heritage.
Alex Rose-Deacon working at Gloucester Cathedral: after gaining an advanced diploma in stonemasonry at the
Building Crafts College, Stratford, and a 12-month placement at Gloucester Cathedral, she is now a full-time
member of the Cathedral Works Department. (Photo: Traditional Building Skills Bursary Scheme)
Building Traditional Skills Scheme trainee Martin
Burgess (left), who is undertaking a 12-month
stone-fixing placement with Heritage Consolidation
(Photo: Building Traditional Skills)
