Historic England Launch Heritage Skills ‘Story Map’

In the wake of last week’s National Apprenticeship Week 2023, our heritage skills partner, Historic England, has launched a new ‘Story Map’, to showcase the important ongoing heritage conservation work by Hamish Ogston Foundation-funded apprentices at historic buildings across the North of England.

The Story Map is a virtual interactive map of England pinpointing heritage sites where apprentices of the Hamish Ogston Foundation Heritage Building Skills Programme have been practising their new skills [under the careful instruction of expert heritage conservation workers]. The map has a selection of icons symbolising the different skills being used at historic buildings across the North of England. Clicked on, these icons reveal the name of the site, the apprentice who has carried out the repairs and a description of the vital restorative work they are completing.

The Assembly Works in York, one of the historic buildings being restored by HOF-funded apprentices under the Heritage Building Skills Programme [Wikimedia - Michael Taylor]

When it was launched, the Hamish Ogston Foundation Heritage Building Skills Programme was the largest ever in the United Kingdom. A major five year in-work training and apprenticeships scheme in the North of England, the Programme is funded by a £4.325m grant from the Foundation. It supports apprentices to learn specialist heritage trades including stonemasonry, joinery, plastering, roofing, bricklaying, painting and decorating, millwrighting, stained glass restoration, and mosaic restoration.

The Programme, delivered by Historic England, has the objective to reduce a shortage in heritage construction skills, thus ensuring the preservation of historic buildings across the UK for the benefit of generations to come. In provision of unique earn-while-you-learn opportunities, it also aims to create viable career paths for people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the former industrial north.

Coming into its third year, the Programme has so far benefitted 26 trainees and apprentices, helping them to undertake crucial restorative works at unique historic buildings across the North of England including Wentworth Woodhouse in Rotherham, the Assembly Rooms in York and the Hancock Museum of Natural History in Newcastle, to name a few. These buildings have already undergone considerable restorative works and, thanks to funding from the Programme and work by its apprentices, many more will benefit similarly in the years to come.

To learn more about these Hamish Ogston Foundation Heritage Buildings Skills Training Programme apprentices and others, and to explore the places they have helped conserve, visit the ‘Story Map’ on Historic England’s website: https://bit.ly/3RYIIDf

To read more about our Heritage initiatives, visit: https://bit.ly/3XQnsBD