Teachers and craftsmen work together to help address lack of specialist skills
Amy Lambert, CITB
5 October 2006
On Friday (6th October),teachers from across South East London will meet at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich to discuss how best to inspire young people to take up trades needed to continue the restoration of the world class buildings that make up the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.
As part of National Construction Week (5-12 October), the UK wide not-for-profit campaign which gives young people the opportunity to experience the wide range of exciting opportunities available in the modern construction industry, the Greenwich Foundation, in partnership with CITB-Construction Skills, is offering a series of taster days for students to encourage them to learn traditional trades such as stone and wood carving, conservation cleaning and decorating and gilding.
The day will include a tour of the Old Royal Naval College to see crafts people from David Ball Restoration carrying out important restoration works around the World Heritage Site, and a demonstration and workshop in stone carving provided by a stonemason from the Building Crafts College in Stratford.
Geraldine Craig, CITB-ConstructionSkills Education and Careers advisor said, “With the huge range of careers available in the construction industry, these specialist and niche trades are often overlooked. It is vital that more people become skilled in these crafts, so that the vast range of historic properties in London and the UK can be maintained and conserved for the future.”
Jo Hall from the Greenwich Foundation said “These buildings provide an ideal opportunity for young people to get out of the classroom to see craftsmen at work on outstanding examples of our architectural heritage. On top of that, they get to try their hand at some of the skills which could so easily disappear.”
ENDS
Notes for editors
For further information, media should contact Amy Lambert or Caroline MacLeod on 020 7404 6777.
About NCW
NCW is an industry-wide awareness week and is not organised by any one company or organisation. ConstructionSkills provides a co-ordination function for NCW, which includes creating the web site and supplying the tools needed to help companies and schools organise and run their own events. ConstructionSkills also organises its own events around the country; these are detailed on the web site www.ncw.org.uk
About CITB-ConstructionSkills
CITB-ConstructionSkills provides assistance in all aspects of recruiting, training and qualifying the construction workforce. We also work with partners in industry and government to improve the competitiveness of the industry as a whole.
For more information on ConstructionSkills visit www.constructionskills.net.
About Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College
Following the departure of the Royal Navy in 1998, the Greenwich Foundation signed a 150-year lease to manage the Old Royal Naval College. The Foundation, as a registered charity, conserves, restores and interprets the buildings and their grounds for the benefit of the nation. In 1999 the University of Greenwich became tenants on the site shortly followed by Trinity College of Music in 2001. The Painted Hall and Chapel, Visitor Centre and grounds are open to the public seven days a week.
www.oldroyalnavalcollege.org.uk
