Last month, our Director Liz Power participated in a one-day conference about the skills needed in heritage, held at Castle Acre in Norfolk.
The event brought together people from higher and further education, along with professionals working in heritage, focusing on the skills required in the sector. Liz ran a workshop in her capacity as part of the Green Skills Task Group, a working group of the Historic Environment Forum, where she represents all the amenity societies.
The Green Skills Task Group has been exploring the skills needed in heritage to prepare buildings and landscapes for net zero and adaptation to climate change. This includes everything from plumbing, electrics, roofing, insulation, to solar panels and heat pumps—essential components for retrofitting heritage buildings. Over the past year, the task group has mapped out existing reports on heritage skills, gathered the chairs of other skills groups to discuss green skills, and conducted a consultation process on the funding required to retrofit heritage buildings.
The workshop with further and higher education provided an opportunity to understand the needs of those delivering training. The task group will conclude its work with a roundtable involving trade bodies, which Liz will chair in November. This work has been important for our charity, offering us the chance to support people in the sector in making better decisions for their heritage buildings as we move towards net zero.
