Understanding Heritage Construction Skills
Working with the estimated 5.5 million traditional (pre-1919) buildings in England requires specific skills and expertise. Historic England works with partners across the heritage sector to understand the skill needs for heritage construction and to develop plans to tackle them.
The need for heritage-specific skills has been further emphasised by climate change, retrofit and energy efficiency measures. Differences between modern and traditional construction methods mean that extra care must be taken when working with historic buildings in order to effectively improve performance.
Evidence of skills needs
Our work is informed by labour market intelligence and research into skills gaps and shortages.
Read and download key research:
Skills Needs Analysis 2024
The Skills Needs Analysis for Repair, Maintenance and Retrofit of Traditional (Pre-1919) Buildings in England explores the supply of and demand for skills needed to care for older and traditional buildings. The report provides recommendations for collaborative work and interventions to tackle skills challenges.
The production of this report was supported by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
- Delivering Net Zero for England’s Historic Buildings
Building on the Heritage and Carbon report, this page highlights key skills needs for retrofitting England's historic buildings. - Heritage Counts
Our annual report, Heritage Counts, provides evidence and insight into key issues, including skills and climate change. - Skills Needs Analysis 2013
The Skills Needs Analysis 2013 provides insight into heritage construction skills and acts as a useful comparison for the updated 2024 research.
Working With Partners
Historic Environment Skills Forum
Developing out of the Heritage Sector Resilience Plan the cross-sector Historic Environment Skills Forum has been set up to discuss ongoing skills challenges, trial new approaches, and maintain an overview of the changing picture. Through collaboration the forum aims to build links between organisations and interested parties, enabling the better prioritisation of skills activities.
In September 2024 the Skills Forum published the first-ever Historic Environment Skills and Careers Action Plan for England. This document is the culmination of research and intelligence gathering across the sector that has taken place over the previous 18 months, coordinated through the Skills Forum.
HESCAPE outlines a range of Activities to be undertaken, to deliver against Priority Actions that will help to meet longer-term Strategic Objectives for skills and career development in the historic environment.
Priority Activities identified for the current Action Plan period focus on:
- improving/developing training for retrofit to better represent heritage
- identifying and obtaining resources for career entry opportunities
- piloting a formal shared apprenticeship programme for heritage; and
- better embedding of heritage into mainstream education courses.
HESCAPE also recognizes a number of specific skills areas that the sector should particularly focus on creating opportunities for, as they face the largest or most immediate challenges in terms of gaps and shortages. These are:
- skills for Retrofit (climate change adaptation)
- traditional plastering and carpentry/joinery skills
- post-excavation specialist skills (Archaeology)
- industrial heritage conservation skills
- skills to manage change to the Historic Environment (Heritage in Planning)
As well as providing a structured and prioritised approach to tackling skills issues; HESCAPE also lays out a delivery framework, centred on establishing a range of Working Groups across the Skills Forum to lead on delivering the various activities and report to the overall Skills Forum Steering Group.
Join the Skills Forum on Knowledge Hub.
Home Countries
Historic England have worked with Cadw and Historic Environment Scotland to address the skills and vocational training needs of the construction industry in Great Britain.
Here are some outputs of our work together:
- Understanding Traditional (pre 1919) and Historic Buildings for Construction and Built Environment Courses (Teaching Resource, 2019)
- We are currently developing a handbook for the Level 3 Award in Energy Efficiency Measures for Older and Traditional Buildings
