Training Academy launched to help safeguard Yorkshire’s historic buildings

The National Heritage Training Academy (NHTA) will support and promote training and education for the built heritage sector across the region, which is among the richest historic environments in England. It is funded by English Heritage and The Hamlyn-Feilden Craft Fellowship, with additional resource from the University of York, ConstructionSkills and other national and regional partners.

In two recent reports by the National Heritage Training Group1,2 serious skills and knowledge gaps affecting specialist workers and building professionals working in the region’s built heritage sector were revealed. Over 3,000 craftspeople are still required in England to ensure that the built heritage is preserved.

Dr Ingrid Roscoe, Lord-Lieutenant of West Yorkshire and patron of the NHTA (Yorkshire and the Humber), said:

“We have a marvellously rich heritage throughout Yorkshire and Humber and initiatives such as the NHTA are vital if we are to nurture the home-grown skills to preserve what is the physical embodiment of our history.  If we fail to preserve our heritage properly, we deny future generations their due inheritance.”

Maddy Jago, English Heritage Regional Director for Planning and Development in  Yorkshire and the Humber, commented:

“It is very exciting to see the launch of what is only the second academy in the UK.  Yorkshire and the Humber has an incredibly rich historic environment with over 31,000 listed buildings, 2,600 scheduled monuments and two world heritage sites in Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Estate and Saltaire village.  The academy will help safeguard our heritage through coordinated training to ensure those skills which have been passed down over the centuries are readily available.  We encourage other partners to share our commitment and get involved in this ambitious initiative.”

The academy will build links across the region and its communities using the skills, experience and influence of all the partners with the academy to encourage engagement with heritage and to expand the skills of existing heritage and mainstream construction sector craftspeople. It will also provide management and business skills and conservation training to the sector.  Part of the National Heritage Training Group, the academy is also supported by Craven College in Skipton, York College, the Learning and Skills Council and York Consortium for Conservation and Craftmanship.

The launch took place within the beautiful historic grounds of Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York  where the Churches Conservation Trust in partnership with Craven College, Skipton provided a range of practical heritage craft skills demonstrations. These included stonework, blacksmithing, leaded glass and green timber - as a living example of why there is a need for the newly launched National Heritage Training Academy (NHTA) Yorkshire and Humber - and why employer partnerships are the key to sustainability of these skills.

Ken Parker, ConstructionSkills Yorkshire and Humber Area Manager says:

“This promising new initiative will not only provide a focal point for developing high quality skills in the built heritage sector across the region, but also helps in the important job of ensuring that we have a suitably qualified workforce to undertake this work.”