SPAB Magazine Autumn 2024

AUTUMN 2024

Heritage Craft Skills

Our role in ensuring their future

The Building Crafts College Upskilling the next generation and reaching new audiences

Sean Wheatley Interview on the importance of apprenticeships

Endangered crafts Supporting and promoting our vital craft skills

Regulars

05 Welcome

SPAB Chief Executive, Matthew Slocombe, on the need for better apprenticeships and more further education courses in craft skills

06 News and views

The latest from the SPAB and the sector

09 Scholars and Fellows Reflections on heritage craft skills and the

EDITORIAL

Tessa Wild Editor Rachel Stoplar, Matthew Slocombe, Douglas Kent, Elaine Byrne Editorial assistance

Denise Burrows Sub-editor, Cabbells

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SENIOR DESIGNER Daniel Swainsbury

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Welcome

Building conservation work often involves amazing craft skill. A scarf repair to an old timber, the re-leading of window panes or the dressing of a millstone can be a joy to behold. But many traditional crafts are under threat, prompting Heritage Crafts to produce its Red List of Endangered Crafts. The manufacture of mouthblown glass for window glazing is now considered ‘extinct’ in the UK and millwrighting is ‘critically endangered’. Brick-making, gauged brickwork, slate working, pargeting and stucco-work are also endangered. Some other building crafts have many practitioners approaching retirement.

But it’s not all bad news. Traditional building crafts are often a popular choice for career changers who seek hands-on work as a positive alternative to the computer screen. Less positive, perhaps, is the perception of traditional building crafts within the mainstream educational system. The academic focus of this system often makes practical work seem a second-class choice. Even where training is offered within further education colleges, this tends to be focused on mainstream modern construction. It can be difficult to persuade these colleges that there is a demand for traditional skills, and that they can be more rewarding for trainees than modern construction work.

Yet among owners and custodians of old buildings, the demand for traditional building skills remains considerable. The potential to be well-rewarded for expert work is great, but self-employed craftspeople are rarely given business training and may undersell their skills.

The new government’s manifesto, and the plans revealed in the King’s Speech, show no particular concern for heritage matters or craft skills, but there is discussion of educational reform. In particular, the manifesto includes a ‘youth guarantee’ which mentions apprenticeships. This could be good, but with the government’s emphasis on the creation of new housing, the present bias towards new build within the further education system may persist.

This would miss a trick. Demand for craft skills is often now met by those from countries where traditional training has remained stronger. More homegrown craft skills would support the UK’s domestic economy and reduce carbon emissions from travel. The new government should recognise that investing in traditional building craft skill through high-quality apprenticeships and further education courses would bring benefits all round.

Matthew Slocombe, Chief Executive

Handmade at Horchester Farm, Dorset

Traditional building crafts are often a popular choice for career changers who seek hands-on work as a positive alternative to the computer screen

The SPAB supports new crafts training initiative for refugees

Once a Fellow, always a Fellow. We often say that the learning and sharing that comprises the SPAB Fellowship programme doesn’t end when the year ends, but continues for life, and 2022 Fellow and lime plaster specialist Daahir Mohamed is a case in point. In April, he launched a pilot project, Bristol Heritage Skills, to empower underrepresented groups, including refugees and people seeking asylum, with building conservation skills. We were delighted to support the initiative, alongside partners including Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; national organisations Heritage Crafts, QEST and City & Guilds; and Bristol-based charities Bristol Refugee Festival and Babbasa.

The initiative saw participants from Iran, Syria and Uganda learn handson lime plastering skills at an active conservation site, the Hop Pole Inn, part of the Limpley Stoke Community Benefit Society project. The course also included an inspiring visit to St Paul’s Cathedral and the SPAB’s HQ in London, which introduced them to the wider conservation sector. Two participants also took up paid work experience with Daahir’s plastering firm, Amar Eco-Plaster.

According to a 2022 Crafts Council report, less than 4% of those working in traditional crafts in the UK are from Black or minority ethnic backgrounds, and still fewer are from refugee backgrounds. This pilot provided a model for how we might address this and expand opportunities for all while enlarging the heritage workforce. Daahir is of Somali heritage and a refugee background, which gave him credibility with the participants and enabled him to make the course accessible for them, both in terms of content and logistics. For example, he recognised that some participants would struggle to book

train tickets to get to the venue without credit cards and internet access.

One participant, a carpenter and handyman, arrived in the UK from Iran in 2013 and was granted Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in 2016, but describes how at that point, “all support was cut off overnight. I felt lost with no opportunities to learn new skills, but this course provided that. It’s made me want to pursue traditional lime plastering and I look forward to the opportunities ahead.”

Another, originally from Uganda, and in the early stages of her asylum claim, had a similar experience: “I didn’t know what the experience would be like, and I was a bit afraid, but I loved it, and it

Kent County Council votes to

sell off all its historic windmills

Back in May, we responded to Kent County Council’s (KCC) public consultation on the proposed sale of its eight windmills. We expressed serious concerns, including the worry that privately-owned mills might no longer be regularly open to the public, and that development of private land around mills could prevent them from ever working again.

has opened my eyes to what is possible. Now I see myself doing lime plastering as a trade.” Until she is granted ILR, she doesn’t have the right to work but can go on training courses like this, which can help her prepare for future work.

Following the pilot course, Daahir is now supporting one member of the group to continue to learn plastering skills and gain experience in conservation via mentoring and training placements. He is also working with partners to develop a wider programme of training, building on the learning from this experience. We look forward to seeing what’s next from Daahir and the participants and hope to support further development of the project.

The SPAB helps bring a Scottish watermill out of hibernation

If you’ve got a watermill but no water, you’ve got a bit of a predicament. This was the challenge facing the local volunteer group at the Mill of Benholm in Aberdeenshire – but nothing that couldn’t be solved with a bit of SPAB willing and elbow grease.

The SPAB Scotland Team and a group of participants spent a happy day in May clearing the vegetation out of the lade, returning that muchneeded water supply to the mill. By doing this work in the spring, we prevented further plant growth over the summer – a stitch in time.

It wasn’t all hard work as 2022

Millwright Fellow Owen Bushell gave an introduction to the mill machinery, explaining how it works, what it’s all for and how it can be brought to life to get the wheels turning once more.

The Mill of Benholm has been dormant for over a decade but had been in working order before being mothballed by the local council. Despite the overgrown grounds, the

mill buildings are in good shape and the local non-profit group has big plans for running it in future. We can’t wait to see those plans come to fruition, and we’re sure many more SPAB folk will be back.

Henning Wagner, Secretary of the Mill of Benholm Enterprise (SCIO), said: “The Mill of Benholm Enterprise is more than grateful for the work achieved by the SPAB participants who have worked extremely hard. It was not an easy job to clear the lade of mud and dig out the entrance to the lade, blocked with stones, pebbles and sand from the burn. The SPAB participants managed to clear out the whole of the lade from the burn to the mill pond. This enables us now to repair the wooden walls of the lade, which is indispensable for the Mill to function again in the future. We would like to thank the SPAB and the participants for their support and commitment.” Millofbenholm.scot

Disappointingly, KCC has now confirmed that it will sell off all the historic windmills in its care, and we’re concerned that other cash-strapped local authorities may look to Kent as an example. While the council says that the mills will be cared for as Community Assets and will remain open to the public, this is by no means guaranteed. Local groups will have to apply to their local District Council to have their mills classified as Assets of Community Value – if they’re successful, KCC must give them the right to buy the mill before anyone else. If the funding can be found, this process gives local communities a chance to create a plan for how they will use and maintain the windmill. They will also need to be aware of any private developments and planning applications which could interfere with the mill’s ability to work. We’re here to help. If you’re looking to take on your local mill and need advice on funding, planning and maintenance, or are concerned about a mill in your area, please contact us at millsinfo@spab.org.uk

Above Participant on the pilot course at the Hop Pole Inn

Above Drapers Mill in Margate is one of the windmills Kent County Council is now putting up for sale

Above The Mill of Benholm

SPAB SCOTLAND

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How do we encourage younger generations to train in vital heritage skills?

Marlène Lagnado, one of the 2024 SPAB Fellows, reflects on the threat to the traditional skills she has witnessed as part of the Fellowship.

In March, I started the Fellowship, and our cohort has met and had thought-provoking discussions with many wonderful people. One of the most pressing issues has been how to keep our heritage skills alive as we discuss the future of buildings and crafts. We have heard a lot of passion and enthusiasm, but also concern on this subject.

At Wightwick Manor, near Wolverhampton, we discussed how the impressive brick chimneys are hard to conserve and repair as they are completely fixed with cement. Tim Ratcliffe, 1987 Scholar and the architect on the project, acknowledged that in 50 years’ time, the chimneys will need to be fully replaced and posed the question: “Will there still be enough skilled people then to do the job?”. This is a worry shared by many practitioners who we have encountered on our Fellowship journey. 2014 Fellow Alex Gibbons, of Stick in the Mud Conservation, introduced us to heather thatching, a technique found today on only 12 buildings across England. The main thatcher using heather, William Tegetmeier, who is 76, does not know who will take over when he retires. Unfortunately, this is a story that we’ve often heard and has reinforced how these critical skills can be lost.

A lack of awareness about and disconnect from traditional crafts among the younger generations is the greatest threat to our heritage skills. Within current crafts, there is the competence and the knowledge, but they are not always well shared.

Above Learning about artisan pottery with Gabriel Nichols at the William Blyth handmade tile workshop

Above James Bull making an oak leaf with the repousse pine pitch technique at Tim Puddlepath’s artisan blacksmith workshop

Many people do not know that some crafts still even exist. I sometimes hear similar sentiments when talking about my own job as a stonemason and yet this is a thriving and not endangered craft. People are unaware of how vast and distinctive the heritage crafts sector is, and the critical part craft skills play in our rich and continuing history. During the Fellowship, I have been exposed to niche professions and near-forgotten skills and have been deeply impressed by the knowledge and breadth of skills available. So how do we best share them with the rest of the world?

Heritage crafts are often misunderstood. Yet they are more accessible than people think. We have lost the habit of working with our hands, but we can recover this again. Heritage crafts are skilled trades that can also be simple and straightforward. Some techniques are easy to learn but require practice, patience, confidence, enthusiasm and good teachers.

I have been impressed during the Fellowship to see so many skilled craftspeople passing on their precious knowledge. The future of heritage skills depends on young enthusiasts and proficient masters. So, how do we connect them?

We also often discuss the lack of breadth in the educational system. We hear about low standards, poor training and confusion about college courses. I was sad to find that buildings trades are still sometimes regarded as being for the ‘not so smart people’. I’m not sure how to improve our educational system, but I hope that we can change the way we look at building trades more broadly. I believe that there is an equal level of skill required to create or maintain a building as there is to compose music, devise engineering solutions or understand arithmetic. There is more than enough skilled work available, but not necessarily enough craftspeople capable of doing the work or based geographically close to the work itself. Not only do we need craftspeople trained in conservation, but we also need more craftspeople overall. I also believe that we need

Below Being introduced to heather thatching by Alex

more trust in the future generation. I often hear pessimistic comments on young people, but if we don’t trust the younger generations, what’s the point of conservation? There may be a degree of uncertainty when taking on an apprentice and it may not always work out. Yet it is a risk worth taking. I am grateful every day to my mentors for their patience in teaching me my trade, which has enabled me to be where I am today.

I think we need better communication between the trades,

greater confidence in our work and in the craftspeople starting out in their trade. I’m optimistic about the future of our crafts. Yes, we see dire situations and neglected skills, but we also see many people getting together with a true passion for heritage crafts and a real desire to share them.

As we have seen from the conservation practitioners we have met on the Fellowship, there is so much knowledge to be gained and preserved. The buildings, and therefore the crafts, are a critical and tangible part of our culture and history and I believe that, as long as we can keep the endangered crafts alive, we can preserve the knowledge, the skills, and the passion we share for all that surrounds us.

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Above The old boathouse at Cragside, Northumberland, one of the 12 heather thatched buildings in England

Right Wightwick Manor’s brick chimneystacks

Gibbons at Cragside

Commissioner’s House, Chatham Historic Dockyard Fladbury Mill

On 5 July SPAB took legal possession of Fladbury Mill, Worcestershire. The mill, with a cash sum, was generously left by member David Wynn. The property includes a mill house, mill with waterwheel and electricity-generating turbine, large garage/workshop and boathouse. A working group of Trustees, specialists, local members and staff will now begin exploring in detail plans for the site’s future. In the short term, some localised repairs to the building’s roof are needed, but the mill is generally in good condition.

Following a £2.3 million grant from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport work has begun on the conservation of the Grade I Commissioner’s House in Chatham Historic Dockyard. Built in 1703–04 in the ‘Queen Anne’ style it is the oldest intact naval building in Britain. The project coincides with the 40th anniversary of the closure of the yard in 1984 and the creation of a charitable trust to save its historic 80-acre

Prote cting Ou rH erita ge ,

Craft

in gO ur Fu tu re

Georgian core; the most complete dockyard from the age of sail. The yard includes 47 scheduled ancient monuments and iconic buildings such as the quarter of a mile long ropery, one of the most important survivals of Georgian industrial technology. Other significant buildings include the Sail and Colour Loft (1723) which made the flags which semaphored Nelson’s famous message to the fleet before the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and the impressive Officers’ Terrace of 1722-33, built for the senior managers of the yard. Despite some perilous moments in the years following the formation of the Trust, the yard has since become a thriving visitor attraction while income from grants and commercial revenues has seen many of its important buildings repaired and converted to new uses.

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Above Grade I Commissioner’s House at Chatham Historic Dockyard

The SPAB Heritage Awards

We’ll soon be announcing the shortlist for this year’s SPAB Heritage Awards, sponsored by Storm Bespoke Secondary Glazing. Head over to our website soon to find out who made the cut for the Best Loved Award; the Sustainable Heritage Award, sponsored by Keymer Handmade Tiles; the Building Craftsperson of the Year Award, sponsored by Owlsworth IJP; the John Betjeman Award for places of worship; and the Philip Webb Award for new design for old buildings.

In the meantime, we need your help! The Best Loved Award is selected by public vote, so take a look at the shortlist and pick your favourite –which lovingly maintained building do you love the most?

Check out the shortlist and vote for the Best Loved Award at spab.org.uk/ awards

Our work

We need your votes!

Take part in our elections and vote for your 2025 Guardians. Thank you to all the members who have put themselves forward as candidates in this year’s Guardians election. Voting is now open! You’ll find a booklet and voting papers enclosed with this issue of the SPAB Magazine. Have a look at the booklet for details about each committee, its vacancies and statements from each of the candidates. You can also vote online. Just go to the Members’ Area of the SPAB website and click on the ‘Governance’ section where you’ll find a link to the online voting form. You can find an online version of the booklet there too.

If you’re using the enclosed voting papers, make sure you post them in time to arrive at our London office by the closing date of Monday 21 October 2024. We recommend giving a minimum of a week for post to be delivered. Whether voting online or by post, all ballots are strictly confidential. New Guardians will be announced in the Winter edition of the SPAB Magazine.

If you have any questions, please contact Chi-Wei Clifford-Frith, Chief Executive’s Assistant (director@spab. org.uk). If you need assistance logging in to the Member’s Area of the website, please contact our Membership team at membership@spab.org.uk

FIGURES

Above Chart showing SPAB’s audited income and expenditure for 2023, in the context of the previous five years’ figures’

SSH Conservation Ltd

Progress on the Old House Project

The Old House Project is entering its final phase of work, offering us the opportunity to explore the most complex topic currently facing owners and custodians of old buildings: energy efficiency. Reusing old buildings like St Andrew’s is inherently sustainable, but much debate has revolved around the retrofitting work needed to make the building a comfortable 21st century dwelling.

Some decisions have been made for us by the planning authority which has required a mechanical ventilation and heat recycling (MVHR) system, as well as high-performance secondary glazing, to counter pollution and noise from the nearby motorway, but decisions about heating and insulation have been largely ours.

Following expert advice, we intend to use an electrically-powered air source heat pump rather than a gas boiler, and to improve insulation in some areas with internally-applied woodfibre board. This will create a home that’s both comfortable and carbon-conscious.

We hope that a buyer will be sympathetic to the idea that monitoring and learning from the project can continue in the longer term, when building work is complete and the house is in use again.

We’ll be formally putting the house on the market early next year, but if you’re interested in the meantime, please email director@spab.org.uk.

Right Michelle Contini explaining about the possible use of thin aerogel insulation on window reveals at the Old House Project

Is your building ready for winter?

Ongoing maintenance is an important part of the SPAB Approach to old buildings. Maintaining a building involves simple, regular checks which can make a huge difference to its condition, lifespan and energy efficiency. Identifying repairs sooner rather than later can also save you money.

When carrying out any maintenance tasks, wear protective gloves and, if necessary, a mask. If you’re climbing ladders, accessing high places or confined spaces, make sure to have someone with you.

Recommended maintenance tasks in the autumn:

● Look for blocked downpipes. This is best done during heavy rain to see if water is coming from any leaky joints. In dry weather, look for stained brickwork.

● Use a hand mirror to look behind rainwater pipes. Splits and cracks in old cast iron and aluminium often occur

here and are not easily noticed.

● Fit bird/leaf guards to the tops of soil pipes and rainwater outlets to prevent blockages.

● Have gutters refixed if they are sloping the wrong way or discharging water onto the wall.

● Cut back over-enthusiastic vegetation, for example, ivy growing into drains and gutters and under timberwork such as bargeboards. Be aware, however, that some plants will protect a wall or even soak up extra moisture from its base.

● Clear any plants, leaves and silt from gutters and rainwater pipes. Make sure gullies are not blocked at their base.

● Check roofs for signs of damage. You may be able to see missing slates, broken tiles or mortar debris on the ground, all of which indicate a problem.

● If you have any sections of flat roof or lead valley gutters which are easily accessible, check that they are clear of

debris, unblocked and without obvious visible damage.

● If you can look in the loft, check if there are signs of daylight or water leaks. If your loft is insulated, check the insulation is properly in place and that the eaves clear to allow ventilation.

● Make sure there is insulation over your cold-water tank and not beneath it to prevent freezing.

● Ensure all exposed water pipes are protected against frost.

● Check that the heating system is working properly. Sometimes radiators need bleeding to get rid of an air lock which makes them inefficient.

● Boilers must be checked by a qualified person annually for safety and efficiency.

● Ensure any airbricks or underfloor ventilators are free from obstruction.

● Check that windows and doors open properly. Check for damage, rot and rust, and get them repaired or repainted in the spring, if necessary.

● Check masonry brickwork and rendered and unrendered stonework for signs of damage or damp.

For more advice, visit spab.org.uk/advice. Get involved in #MaintenanceWeek, our annual awareness-raising campaign to get your building ready for winter with simple maintenance checks and repairs @ spab1877

NICK COX ARCHITECTS

Above Ensure gutters are free of autumn leaf fall and other blockages

John Sell CBE (1944–2024): A dedicated SPAB supporter

SPAB Guardian John Sell, who died suddenly earlier this summer, was a heritage statesman. He was our Chair not once but twice; served long periods as Chair of the Historic Environment Forum and the Joint Committee of the National Amenity Societies; was a founding Trustee of Heritage Link (now The Heritage Alliance); Vice President of Europa Nostra; and a Trustee of the National Trust. John gained these positions because he was a model Chair and volunteer – running meetings with efficiency and humour and always willing to assist.

John first became our Chair in 1990. The appointment followed

years on our committees where he earned his spurs in casework and as a leader of initiatives such as the Barns Campaign. In this, he worked with his late wife Jane Wade, also an active committee member, both of whom were ever willing to assist with routine SPAB activities. Even when he had become a senior figure in the heritage sector, he continued to take interest in the fate of individual houses and churches.

One of his most important cases as a volunteer was St Helen’s, Bishopsgate in the City of London in 1993. The case was considered at a precedent-setting consistory court

hearing. John gave evidence on our behalf because he believed in the cause, notwithstanding the stress and strain of appearing in court. Despite his growing portfolio of voluntary interests, John never wavered in his support for the SPAB. William Morris’ combined concern for good design, social change and building conservation were enduring themes in his life. He maintained his architectural practice, albeit at a low level in recent years when he concentrated on church repair and inspection in his adopted home of Kent, while also serving on the Canterbury Diocesan Advisory Committee. In the final phase of his SPAB involvement, John was an elected member of the Advocacy Committee. He was given the Esher Award by us in 2018 for his years of dedicated work and received a CBE for voluntary services to heritage. John’s selflessness and modesty meant that the contributions he made were sometimes unnoticed – at his request. When we hosted Europa Nostra UK, he single-handedly funded our administration costs, and similarly backed the Philip Webb Award for good new design for old buildings from its outset. He helped on other occasions through a family charity and when this was wound up in 2023, a substantial part of its funds was transferred to the SPAB. John fully understood the need to support the work of charities through donations and legacies. He served for many years on our finance committee and on The Heritage Alliance’s funding group. When we ran campaigns about legacies and donations, John was also happy for his name to be mentioned in order to encourage others.

To learn more about leaving a gift, please contact development@spab. org.uk

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SPECIALIST CONSERVATORS

ARCHITECTURAL STONEWORK

STATUARY AND MONUMENTS

DECORATIVE PL ASTERWORK

ARCHITECTURAL CERAMICS

MOSAICS

Above Nichola Tasker presenting John Sell with the Esher Award at our AGM in 2018

Saving the past for the future: Plas yn Bwl House

Dr Angie Sutton-Vane recounts her home’s important history and the lost features revealed during a six-year campaign of discovery and repair

Plas yn Bwl House is a Grade II* listed building in a prominent location overlooking the historic Welsh village of Caergwrle in Flintshire.

It is adjacent to the medieval castle and has far-reaching views to what were once the important medieval fisheries and mills of the Dee Estuary and the Wirral to the north. The ancient palatinate state of Chester is 11 miles to the northeast. To all intents and purposes, from the front it looks like an early Victorian sandstone house with large sash windows and thick Welsh slates on the steep roof. On this elevation, the only clue to a more interesting past is the lovely humped ridge hiding the crooked ancient oak trusses beneath. At the back, however, it nestles deep into the hillside and an ancient landscape of meadows, streams, ponds and dry-stone walls. From here it can be better understood: a square tower houses a stunning stone spiral staircase, and the massive scars of walls that once continued out to form a medieval hall with a solar - a private upper room above the hall - are still visible.

Progress so far

My husband, Glyn Davies, and I acquired Plas yn Bwl House in 2018 and have reconsolidated the house as one dwelling. We’ve repaired the roof and chimneys, replaced rotten lintels, repointed with lime, stripped out all the cement render from the internal walls, had new sash and casement windows made, opened up the main fireplace and installed a multifuel burner, sourced flags for the floors, and much more.

for heavy fortified doors, it is possible that we are caring for the remains of a rare Welsh tower house or fortified manor, a theory made more likely when the history of the house is understood.

Rich history

The earliest reference to the house appears in P C Bartrum’s Welsh Genealogies, AD 300-1400, which suggests that the house dates from the 1350s. Others including Cadw – the Welsh body responsible for listing heritage sites – describe it as late medieval.

What is certain is that it formed part of one of the estates of the Boldes, Bowldes or de Boldes. The de Boldes were a family of knights with roots stretching back to the 1100s and an ancestral seat at Bold Hall in Lancashire. In early references to the house, it is called Plas y Bowld – the mansion of the Boldes –and the name probably mutated to Bwl as a result of a misunderstanding when in 1699 it was described by Edward Lhwyd’s Parochialia as Plas yn Bwl ‘belonging to ye Bulls’. No ‘Bulls’ have been identified.

Research has shown that Plas yn Bwl did not start life as a Welsh gentleman’s house, and that the Boldes were a family

Main Drone view of the house from the front

Top View of main fireplace as the owners begin to uncover in 2018

Above A view of the back of the house in early 1960s

Left View of fully exposed inglenook and later bread oven with burner installed in 2019

We’ve worked with the local conservation officer, a conservation architect, architectural historian and archaeologist to reinterpret the house and place it back in its historical landscape. In 2023, with the support of ClwdPowys Archaeological Trust, we revealed the entire extent of the medieval hall, which had remained buried and undiscovered for many hundreds of years. With its square tower, stone spiral staircase with remnants of ironmongery

intrinsically linked with the repression of the Welsh and the Marcher lordship system. This is the reason for its semifortified status with metre-thick stone walls and a tower – it was potentially to protect the family from the Welsh. The Boldes had close connections with the powerful Stanley family, later the Earls of Derby, and by 1401 Sir John Stanley was granted the Marcher lordship of Hopedale by Henry IV.

Hopedale incorporated the medieval villages of Hope and Queen’s Hope with its castle, later Caergwrle, so this was undoubtedly the catalyst for the Boldes’ presence in the village. By 1403 Sir John and Thomas de Bolde were fighting as Lord Stanley’s knights to combat the uprising of Owain Glyn Dŵr. Later, perhaps rewarded for their loyalty, the two brothers or half-brothers, were serving as Constables of Conwy and Chester castles respectively.

Decline

It appears Plas yn Bwl then fell on hard times and went into decline. It is possible that from the late 1400s the Earls of Derby and the Boldes were distracted by the Wars of the Roses, and certainly by 1536, the Act of Union which incorporated Wales into England

also abolished the Marcher lordship system. Around 1430, an heiress, Janet Bolde, had inherited the house, but with her marriage to Jeffrey Whitford or Chwitfford, ownership left the Boldes. Later, with another heiress, Margred Chwitfford, marrying into the Griffiths of nearby Brymbo Hall, the house was subsumed into their estates. A description of the house in 1699 states it was owned by the Yonge family of the nearby Bryn Iorcyn estate and remained a part of this estate up to the early 20th century.

Above left Accidentally discovering the medieval hall walls in 2023

Above View of the arch leading to a spiral staircase with cement render and thick gloss paint removed

Left Glyn working on the roof at the gable end in 2022

By the early 19th century, Plas yn Bwl had fallen into such a state of disrepair that it was rebuilt as a row of six workers cottages, reflected in the 1850 tithe map and in the national censuses for 1851, 1861 and 1901. Thankfully, some early features survived such as the stone spiral staircase now impossibly worn by centuries of feet – and going nowhere – along with the main chimney, fireplace and door arches. Outside, the ruins of the medieval hall were buried and forgotten. The house remained as a row of tenanted cottages occupied by farm workers, coalminers and others, but by the 1960s-70s the four adjoining cottages were derelict and with the surviving remains of the medieval house potentially at risk, it was listed in 1962. By the late 1970s, despite being part of the curtilage of the main house, the four cottages were demolished and the area to the side and in front of the house redeveloped as a small estate of houses. At around the same time, the family who then owned the main house (surviving as two cottages) were given a council grant to rectify what were undoubtedly sub-standard living conditions. Sadly, during this process flagstone floors, hearths and ranges were removed, a new concrete floor with a plastic damp proof membrane was laid throughout, and all internal walls were given a thick coat of cement render.

The future

We have been custodians of Plas yn Bwl House for six precious years and are confident our interventions and love have stopped the decline and fall of this important house. As we prepare to move on, we hope its next custodians have the empathy and vision to continue the journey we began.

The SPAB Fellowship

Rachel Stoplar spoke to Fellowship Officer Pip Soodeen about the SPAB’s unique training programme

What is the Fellowship programme?

The Fellowship is a training programme designed to broaden the skills and experience of craftspeople involved in historic building repairs. Fellows develop their own skills and approach to repair, and learn about other traditional craft techniques through site visits guided by experienced conservation professionals.

How did it come about?

The SPAB has run a similar programme for architects since the 1930s, known as the Scholarship, but in the 1980s, Scholars and others started to ask themselves how we would find similarly experienced craftspeople in the future. Craftspeople needed conservation experience, and the sector needed conservation craftspeople – and the idea for the Fellowship was born.

These Scholars, along with thenSPAB Secretary Philip Venning, conservation builder David Linford and Linford’s Staffordshire MP Patrick (later Lord) Cormack, met in London to back proposals for the new Fellowship, and the first programme took place in 1987. As Lord Cormack said at its 30th anniversary, historic buildings were “created by the craftspeople of the past but wouldn’t survive without the craftspeople of the future”.

What’s the best thing about it?

What makes it unique?

So many things! One is that it’s really intensive. Fellows get a complete immersion in building conservation skills from spending time with the best in the business. Another is its variety as Fellows travel all over the country (and sometimes beyond), getting exposure

to a variety of trades and approaches. Yet another is the connections made. Fellows are with each other 24/7 on the road and often develop lifelong bonds with each other and the hosts who so generously share their skills and knowledge. These relationships mean the learning can continue years into the future – when a Fellow has a question about any aspect of building conservation at any point in their career, they know who to call. The Fellowship offers both depth and breadth: detailed repairs and technical approaches on the one hand and broader heritage sector exposure on the other.

Has it changed at all over the years?

It’s changed very little, because the premise remains just as relevant as

when it was founded four decades ago. Fellows continue to visit live repair projects where hosts understand the SPAB Approach, and they learn hands-on what this means in practice.

Should it change in future to focus more on endangered crafts?

The Fellowship isn’t an apprenticeship in a particular craft, endangered or otherwise – it's about understanding how a sensitive repair philosophy can be applied to a range of conservation challenges. We will continue to programme visits to hosts who work in endangered crafts, but we don’t want to lose the breadth of the current programme. However, those connections mentioned earlier are crucial – if a Fellow wants to go from a non-endangered craft like plain lime

The Fellowship offers both depth and breadth: detailed repairs and technical approaches on the one hand and broader heritage sector exposure on the other... Fellows get a complete immersion in building conservation skills from spending time with the best in the business

on the other side of the fence, how other conservation professionals are specifying and prioritising. But it also does more than that. So many Fellows tell us that the programme helps them find their voice and hugely increases their confidence in their own work and in talking to, and working with, people across the sector. It’s the exposure to so many individuals and approaches that gives them the confidence that enables them to develop.

What impact does it have on the heritage skills shortage across the sector?

plastering to an endangered craft like pargeting, they know where to go.

What impact does it have on Fellows?

Fellows are exposed to so many different kinds of repairs throughout the programme. It’s a unique opportunity to spend time thinking about and developing their own repair approach, and discuss how to apply that approach, with their hosts and each other. They get to try out different skills and, as any Fellow will tell you, doing is the best way to learn. They also gain a much greater understanding of how all the different elements of the conservation industry work together: the roles of the architect, surveyor, engineer, conservation officer, other craftspeople and so many more. They see what’s happening

There’s no doubt that training three or four Fellows a year is a drop in the ocean when you consider the wider skills shortage, but the programme has a multiplier effect. Fellows pass on their knowledge to others, who pass it on to others, and on it goes. They take our repair philosophy to a broader audience, introducing others to sensitive repair and conservation. This doesn’t have to be through formal training. Some Fellows will give talks in schools so that students know that working with their hands is an option. Some teach on our courses or on other conservation programmes. But many will affect those around them by the way they work: being thoughtful, making sure they understand the building and the context for repair, before starting work and looking for ways to solve problems without excessive interventions. Not everyone teaches in the same way, but that doesn’t mean they don’t teach. And teaching, sharing knowledge, making connections – these are the things the SPAB does best.

In memory of Fellowship co-founder Lord Cormack (who died in February 2024), and with thanks to the many hosts and funders who make it happen: The William Morris Craft Fellowship Trust, Historic England, Cathedral Architects Association, Stuart Heath Charitable Settlement, The Carpenters Company, Ashley Family Foundation, Historic Environment Scotland, The Radcliffe Trust. We would also like to give thanks to an individual and a Trust who wish to remain anonymous.

Above Lord Cormack at a meeting to celebrate 30 years of the Fellowship

Through our casework, we offer expert advice to architects, owners and local authorities on planning proposals involving listed buildings. As a National Amenity Society, we have a statutory role in the secular and ecclesiastical planning systems which means planning authorities must notify us of any application involving total or partial demolition work to listed buildings. We also welcome requests for pre-application advice. Our casework is one of the key ways we protect historic buildings for the future.

The

Introduction of Photovoltaic Panels on Roofs: A Comparison of Two Recent Applications

Elgan Jones

Photovoltaic panels (PVs), also known as solar panels, have seen remarkable growth, driven by technological advancements, Net Zero targets, energy prices, a desire for a more sustainable lifestyle and funding initiatives (or requirements). It’s therefore unsurprising that we are receiving an increasing number of applications for introducing PVs on listed buildings.

The principle of installing PVs and other carbon reduction technologies onto listed buildings has divided opinion over the last few decades, but in response to the climate emergency and careful design, there are precedents across the country for their use on Grade I listed cathedrals, churches, colleges and other building types. The Church of England reports that around 400 churches across the country have PV installations.

We were recently consulted on two applications for the installation of PVs to two buildings in Wales. The approaches, details of the submission and overall impact differed significantly between the two applications.

ECO4 energy improvement scheme, proposed to install a significant array of PVs on the pitched slate roof of the Georgian range. Given the topography and visibility of this elevation from the immediate and wider site, the introduction of PV panels in this context would undoubtedly impact the character and setting of the farmhouse. Unlike the application for St Cybi’s, the supporting documentation lacked information, in particular a detailed assessment to explain or justify the intervention. Along with the local conservation officer and other amenities societies, we could not support the application and encouraged the applicant to revisit the proposals for the site.

Maes y Coed, Flintshire

The application for the Grade II* listed Maes y Coed provides a stark contrast to St Cybi’s. This farmhouse retains its T-shaped plan dating from the early 17th century, with a formal Georgian range added in the 18th century. It sits among other historic agricultural buildings with the principal elevation, a symmetrical five-bay, two-storey range with an attic within the pitched slate roof, looking back across the landscape towards the village of Afonwen.

The application, prepared by an agent through a government-funded

Unlike the application for St Cybi’s, the supporting documentation lacked information, in particular a detailed assessment to explain or justify the intervention “

St Cybi’s Church, Holyhead St Cybi’s Church is a Grade I listed building sited in a late Roman fort. In 2022, it was shortlisted for our John Betjeman Award in recognition of the external repair of the porch and decorative medieval masonry. Following a separate application to undertake a programme of reordering within the building, an application was submitted to install a large number of panels on both the north and south roof slopes of the nave. The primary objective is to reduce the church’s carbon footprint as part of the wider Church in Wales’ commitment to Net Zero by 2030 and to reduce long-term energy running costs. The applicant demonstrated that the castellated masonry parapet and shallow pitch of the lead roof meant that the PVs could not be seen from the churchyard or any public place within Holyhead. The application was supported by structural assessments of the roof and a feasibility study by a mechanical engineer and environmental consultant who explored the options for heating the church. They concluded that PVs and an air source heat pump best supported the new heating system (a combination of underfloor heating to parts of the church and electric heaters). The proposals had been meticulously considered with reference to the latest guidance. We were pleased to support this well-founded and thoughtful application.

Left Maes y Coed Farmhouse Below St Cybi’s Church, Holyhead

Buildings at risk Moseley Old Hall, Cheadle, Greater Manchester

Isobel Conlon, SPAB Volunteer, and Laura Polglase, SPAB Volunteer Buildings at Risk Officer

The end of a cul-de-sac in a modern estate in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, is an incongruous spot for a 17th century timber-framed manor house. But this is where Grade II* listed Moseley Old Hall sits, having sadly suffered from neglect for many years (it is not the National Trust property in Staffordshire of the same name). Alerted to its current deterioration by a Member, we have helped raise awareness of this Building at Risk as we supported the local authority in securing the future of this much-loved piece of history.

Moseley Old Hall is Cheadle’s oldest residence, and while early details of its past and residents are obscure, a carved lintel above the original front door dated 1663 supports the belief that it was built for politician Sir Edward Moseley in the 1660s. Over time, the building was adapted for various functions, including

housing estate which envelops Moseley Old Hall today. Some work was carried out in the 1990s, but since the last owner died in 2011, the building has been unoccupied.

Spread over two floors, the Hall has a crooked charm and traditional flourishes. Diamond-pane leaded windows dot the exterior, and inside the rooms have dark timbers, low ceilings and white-washed walls, linked by original batten doors with intricate strap hinges. The living spaces retain their character, featuring exposed beams over inglenook fireplaces. The original oak stairs lead to the upper floors and the gables’ decorative blackand-white framing.

racing stables and a stud farm in the mid-19th century, where the Manchester banker Samuel Brooks stabled one of the St Leger winners. The Hall was not so fortunate in its next owner, Samuel’s son Sir William Cunliffe Brooks, who was interested in neither racing nor the Hall. By 1894, a local historian described the Hall as in “a very bad condition”.

The 20th century brought cycles of use and abandonment to the building.

On purchasing the house in 1929, with the intention of restoring it, Reginald Booth described it amidst “rank grass and overgrown bushes, the walls patched with sheets of iron”.

When pipes burst after severe weather in 1940, workmen repairing the wall found “one of the finest examples of wattle and daub plaster behind plaster in the dining room”. Thick “khakicoloured plaster [was] held together by a number of strong, sharp-pointed willow canes”, that were compared to a farm hurdle in The Manchester Evening News, which found the discovery of sufficient interest to publish a story about it in April 1940.

In 1946, the “spacious mansion in extensive grounds” was acquired by the County Council to be the site of a new grammar school. At the time, the Hall was described as being in two styles of architecture with the entrance hall resembling Haddon Hall in Derbyshire.

In the 1980s the extensive grounds were sold for development to become the

However, these distinctive features are those most at risk. Historic England notes significant problems with the timber frame and the collapse of the ground-floor plinth beam. One upstairs room is no longer safe to enter and there are serious concerns that without repairs this 17th century house will deteriorate further. In common with many of the Buildings at Risk that we have investigated, knowledge of Moseley Old Hall was brought to us by a Member living nearby who was concerned about its condition and future. We also work with local heritage organisations and in this case The Cheadle Civic Society, which has been raising concerns about the state of the Hall for many years. After carrying out background research into the Hall’s recent planning and ownership history, we engaged with the local authority to find out what action was being taken to protect the fabric. A very positive response from the local conservation team reassured us that the appropriate legal action was being pursued to require the necessary repairs, which we fully supported. We were pleased to learn recently that a new owner has taken on the Hall and trust that this will secure the future of this very special Grade II* local landmark.

Members are our eyes and ears on the ground and through their vigilance we are able to support the protection of many of our old buildings. If you are concerned about a building near you, please contact casework2@spab.org.uk.

PHOTO

Left Moseley Old Hall

Clifford’s Tower, York

In our last issue of the Magazine, we featured a Casework Report on the development and repair project at Clifford’s Tower, York. In an endeavour to provide readers with a wide variety of cases with which we are involved, it is not possible to report on all aspects of each case within these pages but to provide a summary. We are therefore pleased to publish the following account from conservation architect and 1976 SPAB Scholar Martin Ashley in which he sets out some of the technical and structural challenges that needed to be addressed.

As a conservation architect collaborating with Hugh Broughton Architects, and Ramboll Engineers and The English Heritage Trust on this project to repair, protect and provide a sustainable future for this outstanding archaeological ruin, I can confirm that there was exceedingly deep consideration of what cost the works might come with and what might be lost. A large part of the project was to ensure the careful repair and stabilisation of the structure including the need to provide protection to the wall tops for structural reasons, and to the inner wall surfaces severely damaged by catastrophic fire in 1684 and fragile window dressings. SPAB members know that history lives in the surface of old buildings, and we were determined to mitigate as far as possible repeating cycles of decay and repair, and loss of fugitive chronology and significance to the inner wall surfaces. Protecting the ruin obviated the need for invasive structural repairs and permitted the most conservative masonry conservation techniques possible. With The English Heritage Trust we set out to repair Clifford’s Tower without loss of any vestige of the fragile inner stone surfaces, and the concept of a ‘shelter’ to protect the fragile archaeology of the ruin was conceived. Hugh Broughton working with Fay Newham of Ramboll developed a brilliantly loose fit/freestanding structure that only kisses the wall tops. All loads are taken by the canopy’s four legs down to an in-situ

concrete slab providing a self-finished floor to the Keep without disturbance to archaeology. The entire installation of the shelter deck was expressly designed to be wholly reversible without prejudice to the archaeological ruin. Upon entering now, there is a powerful sense of the interior of a once highly significant martial building. The sky still remains visible by virtue of the diamond-shaped oculus in the roof deck, designed to reinforce the impression of a protective shelter over a ruin. The ability to enjoy relaxed views over York and towards

from the deck without having to process single-file around the wall walks as before is wonderful. As are the flying internal staircases and gantries cleverly hung from the shelter deck and providing some sense of being at original first floor level within the Keep.

I am deeply proud of this collaborative project, which has protected the fragile and fugitive chronology of the ancient monument and made Clifford’s Tower more intelligible, and sustainable through improved beneficial use, recognised by multiple awards including Client of the Year for The English Heritage Trust.

the Minster

Above and right Clifford’s Tower

Our work –raising the status and awareness of heritage skills

Tessa Wild spoke to Jo Thwaites, Trustee and Chair of the Education and Training Committee, about the SPAB’s critical role in supporting and promoting heritage skills

Jo is a Chartered Building Surveyor and was Head of Projects at Historic Royal Palaces, London, until 2020. She has been a Trustee of the SPAB since 2022.

What do you think is causing the heritage skills shortage?

I think we need to look back to the second half of the 20th century, when there was a catastrophic loss of heritage craft skills, and a consequential loss of understanding of their critical importance in the repair and maintenance of old buildings. This is a long-term decline, and it continues. Although we recognise this, the wider construction industry and training bodies don’t, unfortunately, and the need for training in heritage skills is not seen as a core part of construction any more. This major shift happened after World War II, when reconstruction was so important and new materials appeared. As craftspeople retired, the traditional passing down of craft skills and knowledge from one generation to the next almost ceased.

This skills gap could have been replaced by using secondary or tertiary education to develop these skills – and, to a certain extent, that did continue in colleges such as Brixton Building College, where you could learn to build, and traditional heritage skills were taught because the people teaching the

courses were craftspeople themselves. Over successive generations, however, this knowledge was depleted as they retired, and newer teachers of construction skills were not necessarily familiar with heritage skills. In that way, we’ve gradually lost the places where these skills were taught and the people who taught them. Along with the lack of opportunities to learn these skills, we are very concerned about the funding of tertiary education for the training of young people in heritage skills. There’s an argument that partnerships with larger construction organisations are key to addressing the decline in heritage craft skills in the future. In the meantime, we continue to advocate and promote these skills through our myriad training opportunities – the Fellowship programme, our short courses and wider Education and Training programmes, and Working Parties, but it is only one small part of what needs to be an industry-wide focus.

Why do we think the heritage skills shortage is a problem, and why are we trying to tackle it?

We recognise it is a significant problem because these skills are so important to maintaining the built fabric of our country. If you don’t know how to undertake the correct repair, or a good maintenance regime hasn’t been carried out, something detrimental is often done, such as using cement in an inappropriate place.

Left Pargeting course

We find there is great interest at open days where these skills are demonstrated, but there’s not the resource readily available to follow up with training or take it up as a career choice

Materials have to be understood in the context in which they’re being used, and many people don’t appreciate how old buildings function. This tended to be widely understood by previous generations of construction workers. We find there is great interest at open days where these skills are demonstrated, but there’s not the resource readily available to follow up with training or take it up as a career choice.

At the SPAB, we provide training and opportunities, but it is a drop in the ocean when you think about the construction arena as a whole. It’s not

just a lack of craft skills that is critical; it’s also a recognition of where craft skills sit in the economic scheme of things, as the economic viability of buildings is considered, and decisions are made about repair and retrofit versus demolition and new build. Take London as an example; the majority of dwellings are pre-1919; they’re constructed using traditional materials and methods, so craft skills are so important for the future maintenance, repair and functioning of these buildings. The same principles apply in Aberdeen or Dublin, but the skills and solutions will be different.

We have to think about the past and the future, and enlighten architects, surveyors and contractors on the benefits of using heritage craft skills for traditional repairs using locally sourced materials and labour, and avoiding loss of embodied energy or transport of materials from far away. We all need to think holistically about caring for and perpetuating the life of the buildings we already have, to be respectful of the Earth’s limited resources.

What are we doing at the SPAB to address the heritage skills shortage?

The SPAB is not a large charity, so our education and training offers are limited, but of the highest quality. We work with the leading practitioners and experts in the professional and craft fields, and their enthusiasm to share and pass on their knowledge

and skills is legendary. The courses are invariably sold out well in advance. For every person who attends a SPAB course, there are at least ten more who would benefit. While we can demonstrate hands-on best practice in disappearing craft skills – such as flint knapping, millwrighting, specialist brickwork, pargeting and thatching –the decline will continue unless we make an impact in the mainstream construction and maintenance sector. So, forging mutually beneficial partnerships with bigger, like-minded heritage educators and organisations is key. Currently, we have good relationships with the National Trust, the English Heritage Trust, Historic Royal Palaces and many others, but we must continue on into the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and the beleaguered further education colleges, as well as the professional architecture, surveying and engineering university courses.

How do we differ from construction colleges and other crafts training providers?

Our Scholars and Fellows say at the end of their year with us – that it’s been “the experience of their life” and one that they could never gain from books or lectures. They are taught by exceptional practitioners, many of whom have done either the Scholarship or Fellowship themselves, and ‘learn by doing’ on site. Although our Scholarship and Fellowship programmes are only able to support eight participants a year, the network opened up to these eight is enormous, and the effect of tasters using this approach can influence other training providers (recent work with Birmingham City and Nottingham Trent universities has demonstrated this). The SPAB is a beacon, demonstrating the great benefits of our intensive and immersive method of hands-on learning, and of forging creative collaborations between different disciplines and across generations. We are different from other providers, but we can also work in partnership, as we all want to improve the status of this vital work and ensure there are greater opportunities for more young people to train in heritage craft skills and find rewarding work.

Above 2024 Repair Course delegates at Charing Palace

Left Brick-wall repairs, Boxley Working Party 2023

What are we doing to prevent endangered crafts from becoming extinct?

Essentially, the SPAB is a campaigning organisation, highlighting the issues to focus the attention of law-makers and education providers. Sometimes we demonstrate by doing – showing which skills are being lost. Over the past four years, we have had a particular focus on millwrighting, which is an ‘endangered craft’. We offer an annual Millwrighting Craft Fellowship and are always so encouraged that a young craftsperson takes this on, recognising that there are all sorts of crossovers between the skills that mill work requires and other crafts skills they already possess. There are a lot of wind and watermills surviving in this country, so there is work available to sustain these skills. We are promoting appreciation and understanding of pargeting and have recently organised short courses with this as a focus. We also value and support the invaluable work of Heritage Crafts in raising awareness of the crafts that are under threat, and providing funding for craftspeople to hone their skills in these areas. (See p51 for a feature on heritage crafts.)

What are some of our greatest success stories?

Certainly the Old House Project at Boxley, the high-profile SPAB Awards event of 2022, but also the day-in day-out staff and volunteer work to get the SPAB’s message out with such purpose and to a wide audience. The Scholarship and Fellowship programmes are another key success. I asked this year’s Scholars for their thoughts and these are some of their comments:

Jen Langfield: “Everyone we have met has such passion for their work in conservation, be it preserving traditional skills, tackling climate issues or engaging with local people; it’s constantly inspiring.”

Hannah Frey Bass: “The thing that has most surprised me about the Scholarship is how passionate everyone we meet is, and how their enthusiasm invigorates us, even after the inevitably long car journey to get there!”

Chloe Chambers: “The most surprising thing about the Scholarship has been how varied the projects and practices we see are. One day we could be on site with a huge construction firm, the next we could be with an architect who is a sole practitioner. That mix of approaches to work is so valuable to see and to understand.”

Sarika Jhawar: “I have enjoyed discovering the sophistication of our age-old building craft heritage that shapes the country’s diverse vernacular landscape, and have been awestruck by the passion of experts who possess, preserve and share this intricate knowledge.”

What are our plans to keep raising the profile of this issue and to make sure there is industry-wide recognition of the benefits of heritage craft skills? We will carry on doing what we do so well – demonstrating what best practice is through our Education and Training work. We have a rich history, extraordinary knowledge and networks, and the best craft skills base, and we will continue to advocate for old buildings at a local and national level. We already work in collaboration with other organisations and this joint endeavour is critically important. Alongside this, we continue to seek to influence policy-makers and the wider construction industry so that these skills are given greater recognition in our higher education system and through apprenticeships and other training programmes.

Anyone interested in contributing, volunteering or supporting the Education & Training Committee’s work should get in touch via the website.

We value and support the invaluable work of Heritage Crafts in raising awareness of the crafts that are under threat and providing funding for craftspeople to hone their skills in these areas

Left On site at Gunns Mill with Forest of Dean Buildings Preservation Trust trustee David Viner

Above Learning about gauged brickwork with Lynn Mathias

Supporting heritage skills at the National Trust

The National Trust (NT), the largest conservation charity in Europe, probably needs no introduction. Founded in 1895 to look after the natural and cultural heritage of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, it now has over five million members, over 50,000 volunteers and over 10,000 staff. At the NT we care for and manage nearly 29,000 buildings, including country houses, castles, manor houses, mills, pubs and vernacular buildings, and a substantial estate of farms and tenanted properties. To enable the conservation, repair, maintenance and adaptation of these buildings we rely upon a highly skilled workforce of employees, volunteers and contractors, experts in everything from construction to specialist conservation work. But it’s not easy to find these craftspeople.

Heritage skills issues in the UK

According to the Construction Skills Network Industry Outlook 2024–28, the UK construction industry needs to attract the equivalent of 50,300 extra workers per year to meet expected levels of work over the next five years –an increase from last year’s figure of 45,000. The UK has 30 million buildings, with 5.9 million built before 1919, so the requirement for skills in repair, maintenance, adaptation and, importantly, retrofit is huge.

Yet we face some major challenges.

One is an ageing workforce: 20% of the construction workforce are aged over 55, and most of these workers will have retired by 2030. This isn’t helped by parents, schools and governments discouraging young people from considering a trade career. According to one survey, over 37% of respondents felt this to be the case.

Then there’s the lack of specialist knowledge and qualifications among contractors who work with traditional buildings (those built before 1919). 89%-97% (depending upon which survey you read) lack these skills. And of course, there’s a huge gender imbalance. Only 1-2% of construction tradespeople are women, which means we’re missing out on an awful lot of potential talent.

Covering all of the United Kingdom

The Morton Partnership is an award winning Practice specialising in the conservation of historic buildings and structures, providing low-cost minimum intervention schemes, using traditional materials.

Founded in 1966 we have a portfolio in excess of 22,000 Projects Nationwide and abroad. Our extensive Client List includes domestic, corporate and commercial Clients, with Projects of all sizes

We offer a bespoke service to our Clients ranging from preliminary surveys and reports through to the design and overseeing of largescale renovation projects, many of which include new-build additions as part of a scheme.

Fleur Gordon, Head of Skills and Crafts, reports on the National Trust’s training programmes and the need for highly skilled craftspeople

Left Repairs to (possibly) 14th century Stoke sub Hamdon Dovecote, Somerset

Consulting Civil & Structural Engineers - Historic Building Specialists - CARE Accredited & Chartered Personnel

Above Apprentice and mentor working on Fountains Abbey’s 13th century precinct wall

We face the same challenges as the rest of the UK in trying to access people with the right skills and experience, especially given the current skills crisis within the construction industry

We face the same challenges as the rest of the UK in trying to access people with the right skills and experience, especially given the current skills crisis within the construction industry. We need bell founders, brickmakers, flintknappers, gauged brick workers, grainers, marblers, pargeters and millwrights, all of which have been identified as ‘endangered’ or ‘critically endangered’ by the charity Heritage Crafts (see page 51). We also need mouthblown sheet glass for glazing – a craft that has been designated as ‘extinct’, with no manufacturers in the UK.

Supporting built heritage skills

We have long supported building crafts and the development of new heritage skills trainees. From the early days of the creation of a conservation workshop at Cliveden – set up by the NT in 1982 under the leadership of stonemason and conservator Trevor Proudfoot – to help care for, and conserve, our buildings

and statuary collections; to the development of direct labour teams carrying out repairs and maintenance on many of our buildings. The latter included a highly regarded stonemasonry workshop at Hardwick Hall, which was managed for a number of years by stonemason Trevor Hardy, who still volunteers for us. We have directly trained and supported large numbers of building trade and craft apprentices and trainees, some of whom are now managers of their own Specialist Crafts teams. One of our Specialist Crafts managers is still working 37 years after starting as an apprentice joiner; another Specialist Crafts manager started as a stonemason after being recruited 40 years ago. Some trainees have moved on to other roles within the organisation as building surveyors. In my own case, I started my career as a direct labour team manager at Attingham Park in 2012, where I secured funding for the

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team’s first apprentice, and gained approval for one of my team’s joiners to undertake his Level 3 NVQ3 in Heritage Skills. That joiner is another success story and is now managing his own Specialist Crafts team.

One example of the direct delivery of training that we previously supported is the Traditional Building Skills Bursary Scheme (TBSBS), which ran in three phases from 2007 to 2015. This was a partnership programme between us, CITB-Construction Skills, English Heritage (as it was before the split to create Historic England and English Heritage), Cadw, and the now-defunct National Heritage Training Group.

Phase one and two of this programme delivered 144 training placements in England and Wales between 2007 and 2012. Trainees – new (modern) apprentices, up-skillers, career changers and existing craftspeople seeking NVQ qualifications – were mainly placed with contractors for their training placements of up to 24 months. We hosted some of these trainees in our direct labour teams.

Phase three of the TBSBS, which ran from 2012–15, was again a collaboration between the same five organisations, but was focused on finding places for apprentices displaced by an earlier recession. This time we were the lead partner and directly employed all the apprentices, many of whom were hosted with contractors for their work placements. All of them attended college for day or block release, as part of their apprenticeship off-the-job training.

Of the 41 apprentices who started their training in this third phase, 93% completed their apprenticeships, 38 completed an NVQ Diploma, 11 completed a Level 3 NVQ in Heritage Skills, and 39 were offered positions in the heritage sector at the end of their apprenticeship. In fact, two of these

Top Map showing locations of NT Specialist Crafts Centres

Middle Re-building the Chinese Bridge at Biddulph Grange, Staffordshire

Right Repairs to waterwheel, Dunham Massey Mill, Cheshire

Far right The Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage’s poem Balancing Act letter carved into two stone pillars, Brimham Rocks, in Nidderdale

ex-apprentices still work in our Specialist Crafts teams, with one currently managing his own team. We have also long supported heritage skills development by collaborating with other heritage organisations, such as the SPAB and have hosted many SPAB Scholars and Fellows over the years on our sites and have partnered with them and others to deliver CPD training at our historic places.

National Trust Specialist Crafts Centres

In 2022, due to the continuing shortage of heritage building skills, we decided to establish ten Specialist Crafts Centres in England, to provide a dedicated crafts skills resource for our places. The vision for these centres is to “create recognised centres of excellence for the provision of craft skills across the National Trust, preserving and championing traditional skills and developing new and existing talent to provide the highest level of care for our buildings and engagement with our supporters”.

The Specialist Crafts teams at these

centres have three main goals: to promote a skilled workforce, exercising the highest levels of traditional building crafts; to provide skills training, including apprentices, CPD and informal training opportunities; and to encourage wider participation in the heritage sector, with particular emphasis on promoting heritage skills as a career option.

Each Specialist Craft team has its own base, with a fully functioning workshop complete with all facilities, and is led by a team manager. The teams provide stonemasonry and joinery/carpentry allied skills: stone carving, dressing and fixing of masonry, letter carving, brickwork repairs, repointing, lime plastering, historic stone/tile/brick/cobble floor repairs, bench joinery fabrication, repairs to historic joinery (e.g. windows, doors, floorboards, panelling, mouldings, gates) and all aspects of conservationbased carpentry (e.g. timber-framing

houses - from timber repairs on the Dunham Massey Mill waterwheel in Cheshire, to window repairs at Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top in the Lake District; from the creation of two letter carved pillars at Brimham Rocks in Nidderdale to stone repairs to Treasurer’s House in York and Sir Isaac Newton’s Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire. The creation of social value through engagement and outreach is an important deliverable for our Specialist Crafts teams. The teams are tasked with looking for engagement opportunities, from conservation-inaction – where the teams interact with visitors while carrying out building repairs on site – to open days and demonstrations, including career days and expos, to hosting school children, early learners and volunteers, including taster days. In addition, the teams

repairs, roofing, floors, bridge repairs and installation of bespoke joinery).

The Specialist Crafts teams are a national resource of building craftspeople, working collaboratively, and sharing good practice. While mostly working regionally, they often partner together on larger or multidisciplinary projects. As the teams are a limited resource, with demand higher than they can service, their skills and expertise are prioritised, based upon conservation need and any additional opportunities for public benefit through engagement or training. The teams work on a variety of projects, not just on our more significant

The Specialist Crafts teams are a national resource of building craftspeople, working collaboratively, and sharing good practice. While mostly working regionally, they often partner together on larger or multi-disciplinary projects

Above Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top, Lake District

Right Repairs to windows, Hill Top

Right Repairs to a mullion window, Woolsthorpe Manor

Below Sir Isaac Newton’s Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire

are delivering continuing professional development events, partnering with other heritage organisations including the SPAB, Historic England and the Worshipful Company of Masons.

Heritage craft skills apprenticeship scheme

Another essential social value impact of the work of our Specialist Crafts teams is our current heritage skills apprenticeship programme. This scheme started in 2022, with external funding, and we currently have 12 stonemasonry and joinery apprentices, with all but one of the 10 Specialist Crafts Centres having at least one apprentice. We anticipate supporting over 30 apprentices over a seven-year period.

Each apprentice works from a Specialist Crafts Centre and is mentored by a craftsperson within the team. They go to college for their off-the-job training, either on day or block release, depending upon the college. Sadly, there are only currently four stonemasonry colleges in England offering the Heritage Skills Masonry apprenticeship, which means that some of our stonemasonry apprentices travel considerable distances to get to their colleges. Colleges offering joinery apprenticeships are much more common. Once their apprenticeships are complete, they then benefit from a work placement year with us to further embed their skills and develop their expertise.

The Coleshill Heritage and Rural Skills Programme

The Heritage and Rural Skills Centre, based at Coleshill Home Farm in Oxfordshire, is a hub for education and knowledge-sharing. With more than 1,000 historic structures across 9,000 acres, including managed forestry and riverlands, we have a rich, diverse and beautiful training ground for historic building and rural skills development. We work with academic partners, sponsors and those who would like to run courses, as well as engaging with local traditional building and craft specialists, architects, education facilities and staff.

We want to help anyone with an enthusiasm for our heritage to learn new skills – not just with a view to improving conservation but also to promote individual wellbeing by bringing people together to learn in a supportive setting

and in green spaces. When possible, we also take the Skills Programme out to those who can’t get to us. Proactive outreach activities and partnership working are integral to the programme. The Coleshill Centre offers courses such as blacksmithing, stained glass and letter carving and has recently inherited the stonemasonry teaching equipment from the Orton Trust, which has sadly ceased delivering stonemasonry training. It is also home to lime plastering courses, delivered in association with the SPAB, including plain lime plastering, which is popular with homeowners, and ornamental lime plastering for developing working plasterers’ skills. We recently ran our first ever, well-received pargeting course, and look forward to offering more training in these skills in the coming years, both in-demand and endangered.

At the NT, in partnership with other organisations like the SPAB, we’re doing what we can to address the heritage skills shortage. We hope that initiatives like ours will encourage more young and diverse people to take up crafts careers, and more tradespeople to gain specialist heritage skills, to ensure we can continue to care for the buildings we love for the nation.

Find out more at linkedin.com/company/ heritagebuildingcrafts-nationaltrust

Above Treasurer’s House, York

Left Stonemasonry repairs to the Princess Victoria window, Treasurer’s House

REPAIR

Heritage Skills at The Building Crafts College, London

Selena Bolingbroke, Principal of The Building Crafts College, discusses its role and the need for greater funding opportunities for critical technical qualifications

At the Building Crafts College (BCC), we share the heritage sector’s concerns about the shortage in heritage specific crafts skills, especially those in niche areas. But these concerns should also extend to thinking about skills and workforce development in relation to a wide base of construction and craft skills. We need to develop general hand-craft skills in our workforce in order to apply them to the conservation of our buildings and spaces in a heritage context, which is exactly what we’re doing at the BCC.

We were established by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters in 1893 as a charitable endeavour to support education and training in relation to wood and stone occupations and we are proud of our long history and leadership in the field. Based in Stratford, east London, we offer five subject areas – bench joinery, site carpentry, furniture making, stonemasonry and bricklaying – and run training across a mix of short courses, apprenticeships and study programmes for 16 to 18-year-olds and adult learners (often career changers). We offer level 2 and 3 technical qualifications and provide the building blocks (excuse the pun!) for the development of hand-craft skills across these important but underserved areas. We are one of only four colleges nationally that provide training leading to a recognised stonemasonry qualification.

cornerstone of teaching methods. Fortunately, the new Government has ‘paused’ these proposals. What we really need is a review of technical training and funding that seeks greater parity with the public funding available to individual students in the higher education sector.

In terms of funding pressures, there is little public funding support for adults taking entry-level technical qualifications, whereas those who want to do a university-level course can access public funds through the student loans system. The last Government pushed their new T-levels as the default option for young people who chose not to do A-levels, while defunding level 2 and 3 technical qualifications for 16 to 18-year-olds. We feel that the T-level in Onsite Construction lacks the specificity and depth in relation to the development of specific craft skills that we are currently able to teach in a workshop environment.

Hand-craft skills require workshop facilities and tutors where demonstration and repetition are the

In terms of attracting young people into the industry, we have put a renewed focus on explaining what stonemasonry is all about to young people themselves, and, importantly, to their teachers and families as they are the original influencers. We have worked with one of our talented stonemasonry students to produce a short film looking at the craft from a student perspective: what attracted them, how it was different to other educational experiences and what they perceived the career benefits to be. We are using the film, Made in Stone, as an aid in all sorts of promotional contexts in our outreach work with schools across London. You can view the film on our social media channels. We find that the best form of promotion is a positive, tangible experience working with materials, so we run regular taster days for young people and their families where they get to try things themselves and talk to expert tutors about how the craft is applied in different employment contexts. We have even provided workshops in soap carving for primaryaged children at family open days, so that they get an idea of the concept of working with stone without the danger! We work with many supporters and partners to help do this kind of outreach and engagement work, including the Worshipful Company of Masons, the Portal Trust and the Carpenters’ Company. We are very grateful to them, but the future of heritage craft skill training should not rely on the charity and benevolence of others. We hope that among the multitude of new government reviews announced, the need for a better funding environment for technical skills outside of universities is recognised and prioritised. This is a matter of importance for our built environment but also as part of our national economic industrial growth strategy. www.thebcc.ac.uk

As a college we face two main challenges: pressure on funding and attracting young people into the industry.

RUSSELL TAYLOR ARCHITECTS

Russell Taylor Architects specialises in Classical and traditional design. Our work encompasses historic architecture, traditional construction, conservation, Classical buildings and interior design. The practice undertakes the full range of architectural services on projects ranging from large to small. We take pride in excellent design and careful management of the construction process. We deliver a personal, attentive service working closely with our clients in order to meet their aspirations.

A future for our heritage crafts

With an unprecedented number of heritage craft skills under threat, Mary Lewis, Head of Craft Sustainability at Heritage Crafts, discusses their work and the vital practical support they provide

From stonemasonry and woodcarving to tapestry weaving and wallpaper making; our built heritage in the UK relies on a wealth of traditional craft skills that have been perfected over many generations and handed down from craftsperson to craftsperson.

Heritage Crafts was set up 2009 to support and safeguard these traditional craft skills, many of which were at risk of being lost due to a lack of funded

training routes, the sustained exclusion of creative and haptic learning in schools and a lack of understanding of the role crafts play in our cultural and vernacular heritage. We are a membership charity with 1600 members, the majority of whom are practising craftspeople. Heritage Crafts’ aim is to support and safeguard traditional craft skills as part of our shared culture for the benefit of everyone in the UK. We include all crafts being practised in Britain now, not just those that originated here. Our vision is for ‘a society in which heritage craft skills are acknowledged as being of vital cultural importance and are nurtured and celebrated for their own intrinsic value, not just for the objects or environments they produce, conserve or restore’.

Above Paul Chamberlain, Endangered Craft Fund recipient – reverse glass sign painting

The vanishing crafts

From the start, Heritage Crafts’ approach has been to create a baseline of evidence that is needed to effectively lobby for the safeguarding of craft skills. In other words, we need to know the state of the problem before we can start doing something about it. At each stage, this has been about consulting with makers – those with firsthand knowledge of the problem. Our flagship research project, the Red List of Endangered Crafts, now surveys 259 different craft disciplines and ranks them from ‘viable’ – those that are not at immediate risk, to ‘critically endangered’ – those that are at serious risk of being lost within this generation. The Red List has highlighted the continuing challenges that face crafts, some of which we can start to address immediately and others that will require long-term, systemic change. Our research shows that there is a lack of training routes for people wishing to become heritage craftspeople. We’ve also found that the relatively few government-supported apprenticeships available are poorly suited to the requirements of the sole traders and micro-businesses that make up the vast majority of the heritage crafts sector. This lack of support for training is one of the main factors that has led to an ageing sector, with many craftspeople approaching or beyond retirement age and with reduced opportunities for passing on their skills. As training decreases, and as we see fewer creative subjects and haptic skills taught in schools, we are seeing a loss of skills, particularly the higher-level skills that are required in the heritage building sector. Many employers report

that young people are leaving the education system with few practical skills, poor dexterity and limited hand/ eye coordination. Craftspeople are predominately sole traders and microbusinesses, which makes them particularly vulnerable to the external challenges of Brexit, Covid and the cost-of-living crisis. The spiralling price of energy, materials and workshop space are putting increasing pressure on profit margins, especially when having to compete with mass production and crafts from low-wage economies.

Skills under threat

It is perhaps unsurprising that there are a significant number of building crafts represented on the Red List. These include slate working, gauged brickwork, flint walling, pargeting and stucco, thatching spar making, millwrighting and brickmaking. Many of these are highly skilled occupations that take many years of training to perfect and are facing challenges in recruitment, training and passing on higher level skills from master

craftsperson to trainee or mid-career makers.

When the Red List was first introduced it was seen by some as promulgating a negative message; a gloomy list of crafts that were ‘dying’ or becoming irrelevant. It is now recognised as an important tool in advocating and raising awareness of the sector. While people are still shocked or saddened to see a craft on the list, this is now more likely to generate a positive response including questions like “What can we do about it?” and “How can we change this?”

Many craftspeople actively want their craft to be represented on the list because it acknowledges their area of expertise and raises the profile of their work. Crafts that may have been perceived as old-fashioned or at the ‘end of the line’ are now recognised as niche, unusual, precious and worthy of protection.

The Red List has attracted the attention of the media and public like never before and has become part of a movement that is beginning to value

Above Michelle Dawson, Endangered Craft Fund recipient – stained glass and brilliant cutting

Right Michelle working on some stained glass

Left Deborah Bowness, Endangered Craft Fund recipient – wallpaper maker

Above Charlotte Kenward, Endangered Craft Fund recipient – gilded weather vane

craft and hand skills as part of our contemporary culture, not just as some kind of historical anachronism. Our current membership includes a wide diversity of people and crafts: wheelwrights, neon makers, shoemakers, marionette makers, pargeters… and the list goes on. The thing that they all have in common is that they are holders of craft skills and knowledge, and without them, our tangible and material culture is at risk. The Red List is widely used by other charities and organisations as a source of data and evidence to leverage funding and support. Previously, a niche craft or organisation may not have stood a chance in a competitive funding environment, but now that they are contextualised within a community of crafts, they carry more weight. An example of this is the Guild of Cornish Hedgers, who on the back of the 2023 Red List were able to raise significant funds to train the next generation of hedgers. Most importantly of all, the Red List is an enabler that brings validation and value to a vast, diverse sector of makers. Many craftspeople work in isolation and can feel like they are struggling on their own. As part of Heritage Crafts and the Red List, they now have a much louder collective voice.

On a practical level, these skills are necessary to maintain and conserve our built heritage and ancient buildings, but we would argue that they are more than this: they are part of a living cultural heritage that is dynamic and constantly changing.

What are we doing now?

In addition to our research and advocacy work, we are offering a suite of practical support options. Craftspeople rarely want ongoing subsidy; they would much prefer to operate within the commercial environment that has driven their evolution. What they do need is a favourable operating environment and not one that is stacked against them, as we see today.

The Red List has given us a mandate to support the people who practise these crafts and to facilitate skills transmission. Since 2019, we have supported 72 endangered crafts projects, brought to us by the people who undertake them and have a passion for them. For instance, steeplejack, and 2022 SPAB Fellow Steve Hogarth was awarded an Endangered Craft Fund grant to learn flintwork and historic lead work. He does all his work using high ropes, which can cut the costs of scaffolding and, hopefully, deal with maintenance issues as they arise instead

of allowing them to get worse until they require substantial repair.

Heritage Crafts is also providing training bursaries for aspiring and established craftspeople to enable them to build skills and be more resilient into the future. Lime plasterer Daahir Mohammed was the recipient of a Heritage Crafts bursary in 2021, that enabled him to undertake the SPAB Fellowship in 2022. This training bursary – one of many offered by Heritage Crafts – is targeted at Black and ethnically diverse makers, as this is an under-represented group in traditional crafts.

Originally from Somalia, Daahir is now offering a wide range of lime plastering services and is delivering training to under-represented groups in Bristol, including asylum seekers and refugees, with support from the SPAB (see News page 6). Other training bursaries are targeted at young people, army veterans and trainees working in Scotland and Wales. To date, we have awarded 30 bursaries of £4000 to support formal or informal training in heritage crafts. With the support of our generous funders, we will continue to expand the range of opportunities available. While we continue to lobby for lasting systemic change at government level, we also do what we can to safeguard this living repository of embodied craft knowledge to give the next generation the best chance possible to deal with the social, economic and environmental challenges of the future.

With thanks to the Pilgrim Trust who have given ongoing support to the Red List of Endangered Crafts and to all our other funders and supporters.

Find out more at heritagecrafts.org.uk

Far left Marcia Bennett Male, Training Bursary recipient – stone carving

Left Phillippa Soodeen, Daahir Mohamed and Mary Lewis Below left Steve Hogarth, Endangered Craft Fund recipient –flint and lead work

Building a skilled workforce

Rachel Stoplar spoke to Sean Wheatley about his work and the importance of apprenticeships and training

Sean Wheatley is full of surprises. Now a Master Plasterer of the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers, he was originally a star gymnast who wanted to become a car mechanic. His next appointment after this interview was at the gym – but for a plastering job rather than a benching session.

It may have taken a few twists and turns before Sean became a traditional lime plasterer but he’s now a passionate advocate for the craft, teaching our plastering courses and taking on apprentices to keep this vital skill alive.

How did you get into plastering?

I did gymnastics as a teenager, representing England aged 15 at school level but my gymnastics coach Geoff was also a plasterer, so when I got big enough to carry buckets and generally be useful, I spent my summers working with him. Then I wanted to be a car mechanic but when I left school in 1981 there were no apprenticeships in my area.

It was the era of Margaret Thatcher and people were encouraged to be self-employed. I was offered a semiskilled job in a garage, but I wanted an apprenticeship – I wanted that piece of paper. I was telling Geoff about this at the gym one night and he asked how much they paid for a semi-skilled car mechanic. I told him £32 a week. Geoff offered me £40 a week as a semi-skilled plasterer and that’s how it started.

I’ve been a plasterer ever since, but the first ten years was contemporary solid plastering, sand and cement, gypsum etc. At the time, even the National Trust (NT) were specifying cement with six parts sand and one part lime. Things have changed! I learnt a fantastic trade with Geoff. He was a master. But being self-employed for 43 years means I’ve never had

holiday pay, a company van or any of those bits of paper that come with employment. And I really wanted those things for my apprentices.

What made you make the move into conservation plastering?

In 1993 I worked on my first project with the NT. The surveyor came and asked: “What do you know about lath and lime?” “Nothing, no one does that any more,” I told him. And he replied: “Well, this is the National Trust and we have got to start doing it again.” He brought in a copy of the SPAB Magazine which had an advert for IJP Building Conservation (now Owlsworth IJP) who were running a traditional lime plastering course. I called up, booked for myself, my apprentice and my dad.

When we turned up in our Sean Wheatley Plastering T-shirts, the tutor Ian Pritchett came over to me, slightly embarrassed. His plasterer hadn’t

right

turned up and although he could do the talky bit and the chemistry bit, he asked if I could do the plastering demo.

“That’s what I’m here to learn!” I told him. But he said I’d be fine, and I was. Two months later, they phoned up with a job in Oxford and that’s where it all started. Fast-forward to 2022 when I become a Master Plasterer of the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers, receiving my master’s certificate at the Mansion House. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the best recognition that I could ever have wished for.

What made you decide to start taking on apprentices?

Working with Geoff was brilliant, but he never wanted to employ anyone. If work got short, he didn’t have to keep paying employees. So many selfemployed craftspeople subcontract other self-employed craftspeople, for understandable financial reasons, but I wanted to employ people. I wanted them to go to college, have holiday pay, Statutory Sick Pay, a company van, T-shirt, boots – I wanted them to feel a part of the company, to feel invested in it, to feel proud of their work for it. It’s so important to pass on skills and knowledge, and while you can do that with people who work alongside you, it’s not the same as giving someone employment and security over many years. It’s really putting something back into the trade.

My first apprentice back in the ‘90s never wanted to go to college because he struggled with dyslexia, as I do. Back then, you weren’t dyslexic, you were ‘thick’, and so he never got those formal qualifications. Things are much more accepting and accommodating now. Alex was my first apprentice who went to college. It’s an investment. The CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) provided some funding each term for Alex to go to college once a week for two years. Hopefully at the end each apprentice achieves an NVQ level 2 based on both their college work and their time on the trowel.

I have trained seven apprentices, three of whom still work with me, two of them for almost 20 years and the latest apprentice passed his NVQ earlier this year. Others are running their own businesses and giving back by employing their own apprentices. Alex

Bottom

Sean Wheatley at Coleshill Open Day

•TimberFramers

•LimePlasterers

•Stonemasons

•Brick

•Millwrights

•Blacksmiths

•Ser

now runs his own business in Australia.

I don’t worry about them going their own way and competing with me. There is enough work to go around.

What’s it like finding and keeping apprentices?

The trouble now is that so many colleges all over the country are closing their plastering departments due to low demand. Where I live, the nearest college is 100 miles away. A young person living in a rural area with no car simply cannot get there, and if they can’t get there, they can’t get their qualifications.

Plastering is not a glamorous trade, but we have the opportunity to repair, restore and replace some wonderful work on some beautiful buildings. Not everyone is prepared for such a physically demanding and potentially messy craft such as plastering – known as one of the ‘wet’ trades.

Instead of advertising, my apprentices have come to me by chance via friends or family. Partly, I keep them encouraged with money, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I think

it is important to pay a realistic wage from the start. Why on earth would you want to be working outside in all weathers loading and mixing when you could earn more money working at a supermarket? The minimum wage for apprentices under 21 is currently £6.40 per hour. I also make sure to treat them as apprentice plasterers, not labourers. We have to teach the mixing and loading, but we also develop their trowel skills. I believe that too many big companies treat apprentices as cheap labour and no wonder they don’t stick around.

I pay my apprentices and my employees their value. It would be pretty foolish of me if I lost them, lost all the work and training we’ve been through together because someone else offered them a bit more money. That would be my fault, not theirs. If they’re not valued and looked after, someone else is going to make use of that.

People who say that apprentices are just a cost, that they don’t earn their keep, just aren’t managing them properly. Each member of my team earns their own money, whether it’s

passing me bits and pieces, cleaning up, setting up for the following day, and then of course becoming skilled plasterers themselves.

What are some of the benefits of taking on apprentices?

A lot of our customers appreciate the fact that I take on apprentices; they see it as giving something back. But it’s also good for business. It builds trust as customers know who you and your team are, they know that you’ve trained them and they’re reassured that the same people turn up for the job each time.

This continuity helps us get recommended for jobs. For example, we are aware that on occasion we are the nominated contractor for a large insurance company, and they recommend us for plasterwork in the southwest after floods or fires because they know who we are, they’ve seen and rated our work and they like that we’re always the same team.

Some organisations are recognising the importance of taking on apprentices and are leading the way. Some prominent establishments now ask suppliers if they employ apprentices –they’ve decided they should be setting a high bar on this if they still want to be able to find craftspeople in the future.

What could the SPAB, and other organisations do to encourage people to take on apprentices?

We need to start in schools. For so many craftspeople like me, school doesn’t fit us, or we don’t fit school. We need to show those young people that they can work with their hands, that there are career options that could suit better than a desk job. If we can get a youngster to come and have a go at plastering for a day and try it out, they might find they like it.

It’s brilliant that nowadays children are encouraged to be anything they want – I certainly didn’t have that. But we seem to value ‘professional’ jobs requiring academic qualifications rather than traditional manual craft skills. And those jobs just don’t suit a lot of people. We need to value and encourage both. We need to go into schools and tell and show people that you don’t have to go university; you’re

not a failure if you don’t pursue further education.

But that’s only half the problem. We need people to want to become apprentices, but we also need companies big and small to be willing to take on apprentices. The CITB and other organisations have money to invest but we also desperately need more college courses in all areas of the country and employers who recognise how important it is to employ apprentices.

Our customers appreciate the fact that I take on apprentices… it builds trust and they’re reassured that the same people turn up for the job each time

Conservation at its finest: As CARE Conservation Accredited Engineers, we are impassioned about cherishing our shared heritage.

Comprehensiveheritage services: Whether it’s conservation design, structural appraisals, feasibility studies, adaptivereuse, or planning advice, our services ensure your heritage asset is protected, enhanced and celebrated.

Nationally recognised: Appointed to the Associate Model of the National Trust, our expertise stands distinguished.

Award-Winning excellence: We’re not just engineers, we’re multidisciplinary professionals celebrated with multiple awards including the 2024 RICS UK Regional Heritage Award (London and South East) for The Old Curiosity Shop.

Proven

House,

Above Jamie casting enrichments

Above Ceremony at the Mansion House, London, when Sean became a Master Plasterer of the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers PHIL M C CARTHY

At the heart of our work to protect old buildings is our technical understanding of how they work. We provide free advice through our website and Technical Advice Line, share information and findings in our Technical Advice Notes, and advise on the technical content of our courses and casework

The built environment requires materials, as well as labour, for construction work. Wellconsidered material choices are made with sound knowledge of the materials, together with an understanding of the building, supported by easily accessible, relevant information. Materials need to meet performance requirements as well as sustainability

and cost expectations and for old buildings, the availability of raw materials and the skilled labour to process them need consideration too. In our ever-changing world, procurement takes thought, time and effort. Raw materials are either inorganic or organic. For construction, they are used either more or less in their natural state or processed in

a variety of ways, all of which have repercussions on people and the environment. Inorganic building materials include stones, sands and clays. Organic materials are plantbased, such as timber, or animalbased, such as glues. Inorganic materials are finite resources and tend to be more durable than organic ones whereas the latter are renewable and

Above Purbeck stone quarry with stone blocks and aggregate, St Aldhelm’s Quarry, Worth Matravers, Dorset, 2024

NICOLA WESTBURY

often have a shorter service life than inorganic materials.

Raw materials

Historically, raw materials were sourced and worked at, or close to, the building site. Local water and energy sources were used. Local craftspeople provided the labour, later supplemented by itinerant craftspeople with specialist skills. The quality and quantity of materials taken were appropriate to the needs and durable materials reused. The impacts on the natural environment and the people were reasonably contained. Perhaps idealistically, this can be seen now as frugal and thrifty, the efficient use of only sufficient materials.

Further processing of raw materials may include activities such as cutting,

washing, refining, mixing and applying heat, for which water, energy and time are needed too. Stone ore is heated to produce metals, and sand is an ingredient of glass. Fired clays create ceramics including bricks and tiles. Metals are smelted together to form alloys including bronze and steel.

Felled trees are logged. When choosing a material, we need to consider the sustainability of both the raw material and its processing. Recycled materials are used regularly now in some processes including steel, glass and brick making.

In the past as transport methods improved and urban areas grew, it became economically feasible to source materials from increasingly further afield. Now, despite efforts to achieve sustainable development,

Further processing of raw materials may include activities such as cutting, washing, refining, mixing and applying heat, for which water, energy and time are needed too

Below Steelworks interior with molten steel being poured, Goodwin Steel Castings, Stoke-on-Trent, 2007

construction materials are produced and transported around the world. The dislocation between buildings, their raw materials, processing and the skills needed has significant environmental and social repercussions. Yet, for old and new buildings, local materials and their processing, small and larger scale, can be supported within local communities and throughout the UK. This is increasingly happening for food and clothing and offers a glimpse of what can be achieved.

Local and national approaches

All materials require land from which the material is extracted or grown and further land for selection and processing. People are needed to carry out these activities, often close by and with specialist skills. But this will only happen with the willing co-operation of landowners,

combined with statutory recognition and support. Minerals development plans and forestry regulations can actively facilitate small-scale materials working and production. Changes to national and local policies are essential to support and grow the material sources and the skilled craftspeople required and to create an economically feasible long-term market for them. Active support from land and building owners, local communities and authorities helps maintain local materials production for historic buildings repairs. New sources of materials can be developed either for a particular project or for the short

Below Thermafleece sheep’s wool batts fitted between rafters and studs

Bottom Bulmer Brick and Tile Works with 1930s coal-fired kiln on the left, drying sheds to the right and end-product stacked in the foreground

or long term. If planning policies and guidance require the use of a particular material, whether locally distinctive or not, those policies must also support the material source and its production. Without local support for material extraction and production, the use of that material will cease.

Specifying and sourcing materials

Sometimes for repair works, there may not be any choice of the material needed. For a heritage asset with statutory protection, such as a listed building, ‘like-for-like’ repairs may not require authorisation. So, the repair materials, and the construction methods, have to be the same as the existing ones. The advice of the local planning authority’s historic environment conservation officer may be needed. However, a shortage of authority capacity, or no such officer, may preclude this.

In other situations, the existing material may not be performing well or may no longer be appropriate or available, or the source exhausted.

A stone may have characteristics that cannot be matched by a stone from anywhere else and the quarry is worked out. It is likely then that an alternative, similar material will have to be sourced. Where works would affect the character of a listed building, written authorisation is required. It is an offence punishable with a fine and/ or imprisonment if authorisation is not obtained when it is needed, or consent conditions are not met.

A wide range of material types might be available, such as bricks and timbers, or a very particular material might be needed. The rarer a material, and the skills needed to produce it, the more the material

Active support from land and building owners, local communities and authorities helps maintain local materials production for historic buildings repairs

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needs to be valued and protected. Again though, local authorities and other organisations may not have the resources available to achieve this. Choosing locally distinctive materials, and those produced in the UK more widely, helps support their continued use and the skills needed to produce those materials. The wide range of materials used to repair old buildings can be maintained only if people care sufficiently about both their built and natural environment.

Since the mid to late 20th century, some non-traditional materials have been used for historic buildings. Some have been found to be less than successful in practice, such as stone consolidants, now used only as a treatment of last resort. Other materials have evolved gradually to suit the needs of traditionally constructed buildings, such as several types of insulation to improve the thermal performance of the external

envelope. It will take time to see which of these non-traditional materials endure in use in historic buildings. More novel materials will be developed which may or may not be appropriate. Mycelium building blocks may yet find their place.

Guidance and information

So, the wealth of information available on materials, including their sustainability, needs careful scrutiny if well-considered material choices are to be made. There are several organisations which provide guidance. These include the SPAB’s own website and Historic England guidance on selected materials. The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products aims to enhance the quality, health and sustainability of the built environment. Construction materials libraries tend to concentrate on modern construction and ignore the needs of historic buildings.

The very nature of our old buildings means that materials for them can be sourced and produced locally and within the UK. We are very interested to hear from you on this subject:

● What are your thoughts about sourcing and specifying these materials?

● What choices are you making in your own role?

● What actions are you taking to avoid sourcing materials from outside the locality or the UK?

Please email technical@spab.org.uk with any feedback - we welcome your comments.

Need advice on technical aspects of your own home or project? Call our free Technical Advice Line on weekday mornings between 9.30am and 12.30pm. Thanks to Historic England for partially funding this service.

Above Selective thinning of over-stood larch by Rowan Working Horses, Natural Resources Wales, St Pierre, Chepstow

How to Enjoy Architecture: A Guide for Everyone

By Charles Holland Yale University Press £14.99

Let nobody misunderstand, Charles Holland knows how to look at architecture. His own enjoyment results in a book offering a lucid, thoughtful account of informed understanding of buildings. Addressing ‘everyone’ while being both a renowned practising architect and a professor of architecture, Holland might have hidden behind obscure references and oblique terminology. Nothing could be further from the case.

We experience architecture ‘in the here and now’, Holland writes. The structure in front of us might be an amalgam of chestnut laths and horsehair plaster, be clad in an illusionistic skin of mathematical tiles or expressively offer an immaculate expanse of shuttered concrete. At every turn, buildings present ‘a difficult whole’, in Robert Venturi’s phrase. Their story involves the mundane, the stuff of daily life, as well as what can be considered great or famous architecture. Why do we shy away from a particular type of building or material? Or reduce the topic to a binary argument between cartoon versions of modernism and classicism, as he puts it? Read Holland for clarity on this.

Holland wants to test and even provoke our prejudices. At the same time, he carefully elucidates what he considers to be quality or masterly design, often by analysing a single aspect, be it composition, materials, or structure (as it happens these are three of his six chapter titles, the others being style, space and use). The built examples he deploys are cleverly chosen, and his text unfailingly to the point.

With him we investigate some remarkable buildings. The quietly labyrinthine Geoffrey Bawa house in Colombo, Sri Lanka, depends on a plan

with ‘no obvious shape or order’, expressing its additive origins since 1958. Yet it balances great complexity with legibility, fusing indoor and outdoor space in a scarcely perceptible fashion. In the tiny American Bar in Vienna, Adolf Loos plays games with intensely powerful components, all used at miniscule scale. Optical illusion is centre stage, the coffered ceiling inching down the walls with mirrors, while reflective materials, marble, lacquered wood and brass, play their part in disorientating us. Once inside, there is little sense of day or night – or time, or date (1908) – but you are at a party. For precision of plan and function, harmonised by the rites of a traditional professional institution, Holland points to Regents Park, and Denys Lasdun’s 1960 Royal College of Physicians. It is through such juxtapositions that Holland shakes up the mix.

Quoting William Morris, ‘have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful’, he steps sideways to Nikolaus Pevsner’s 1943 proclamation ‘a bicycle shed is a building. Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture’. What then, Holland continues, should we make of Arne Jacobsen’s sublime little petrol station outside Copenhagen? At every turn, the converse can be made to prove the point. And he has some entertaining thoughts on ‘useless architecture’, teetering into ‘loose fit’ buildings. ‘Architects’, Holland writes, ‘tend to see use as something singular and specific: library, school, house, factory, farm.’ But, given a measure of flexibility, ‘use is really something else, something more general, something more like life’. This is a book I would have been proud to write.

Gillian Darley

Holland wants to test and even provoke our prejudices. At the same time, he carefully elucidates what he considers to be quality or masterly design, often by analysing a single aspect… The built examples he deploys are cleverly chosen, and his text unfailingly to the point

Building with Flint: A Practical Guide to the Use of Flint in Design and Architecture

By David Smith The Crowood Press £24

David Smith states the ambitions of his book at the outset is ‘to create a spark of excitement and interest in its readership’. This is a fitting pun for a book packed with information on the scientific, historical and artistic qualities of this dynamic natural material. It resonates with Smith’s infectious passion for his subject.

We learn how flint forms, what Eskimos call it, folk tales and anecdotes of personal workmanship alongside a survey of the changing fortunes of the material’s use and skills base through thousands of years of history. This includes discussion of early tools, architectural flint utilised as a byproduct of a skilled but deadly industry, and the demonstration of societal and religious wealth through crafted decoration.

A well-illustrated catalogue and description of the huge variety of flint styles: laying, shuttering or casting, banding and decorative combination details really caught my imagination. Smith comprehensively covers historic, vernacular, modern mass-production and more contemporary examples that employ technical advances in cutting to allow for the fixing methods that result in the delight of a gauged flush worked ceiling. He offers up to designers the possibilities, references and historical understanding needed to encourage both the use of flint in the design of new work, and a guide to understanding the

built archaeology of existing flintwork. We are also given valuable guidance on vernacular sources of varying quality, colouring and form characteristics that have derived from the mineral contents and conditions when the flint was formed or changed over time. In this section my only criticism is that I was left yearning for full page images in a more ‘catalogue-style’ graphic chapter that would elevate the book as a perfect design and precedent tool, and a printed piece of art in itself.

The final chapters present a reference guide drawn from Smith’s decades of experience. He covers technical detailing, tools, material selection, advice on repairs, processes and methods alongside a detailed account of how to knap. This is an invaluable resource that will hopefully encourage more hands-on doing. While this section reads as a descriptive monologue, making your own bullet point method summary or set of instructions may assist in absorbing knowledge and for use while undertaking flint work. This is a book I encourage everyone to read before heading to a SPAB Working Party with hands-on flint work. Building with Flint is an easily read, scholarly guide from a master craftsperson and a very generous offering of knowledge to all of us with a fascination for flint.

Kristian Foster, Architect and 2017 SPAB Scholar

We are also given valuable guidance on vernacular sources of varying quality, colouring and form characteristics that have derived from the mineral contents and conditions when the flint was formed or changed over time.

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