Shortage of Heritage Crafts

In 2005 the NHTG (National Heritage Training Group) launched the first ever detailed analysis of England's traditional building crafts sector.

This first major piece of research into the sector has identified that England's listed and historic buildings are under threat from a shortage of traditional building craft skills.

Backed by Construction Skills and English Heritage, the research found that over 86,000 people currently work within the built heritage sector, preserving some 4.41million historic dwellings and 550,000 historic commercial buildings (including 484,641 listed buildings). However, with nearly a quarter of contractors having outstanding vacancies and the workload ever increasing, the industry needs to recruit an additional 6,500 people in the next 12 months just to meet immediate demand.

In order to meet the current demand for the conservation and restoration of historic buildings - on which £3.5 billion is spent every year - the built heritage sector needs to recruit, amongst others,over 400 joiners, lead workers and stonemasons over the next year.

In response to the report, the NHTG and partners have developed a Skills Action Plan and published it with the findings of the research.

The Stonemasonry CoVE Partnership were involved in the development of this Skills Action Plan and are now clearly in a key position to play a lead role in safeguarding the country's built heritage.