Member Article

Leeds plans to build on heritage skills to save city buildings and create jobs

Leeds City Council is hoping to secure new training opportunities for young people as it moves onto next stage of the ‘Re-making Leeds’ project.

In May, the council was awarded initial backing under the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Skills for the Future programme and a development grant of £34,500- one of the largest grants in the country- to develop a full bid for a £810,300 grant to spend on providing practical heritage skills training in the city. Re-making Leeds aims to address several heritage construction skills shortages within the city, primarily in relation to the repair and maintenance of pre-1919 buildings, with Leeds being home to over 74,000 of this era. As a result there is an increasing demand across the city for skilled and enthusiastic people to undertake the necessary repair and maintenance work. For the next stage of the process, the council will be submitting a bid focusing on the detailed training plan that will be provided for Leeds.

Working with Leeds College of Building and York College, the project will offer work-based training for over 19 year olds in NVQ3 in Heritage Construction Skills, along with short craft-based skills training for SMEs already in the construction industry.

There will be a practical focus on the heritage sector with specific training for a number of specialist areas including stone masonry, lime mortars, roofing, carpentry, brickwork, electrical and plumbing work.

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, Leeds City Council executive board member with responsibility for leisure and skills, said:

“We want to help strengthen a key sector of the Leeds economy by addressing an unmet training need within the heritage sector. We also want to ensure that we help businesses to continue to compete in the sector by up-skilling their workforce and ensure that young people are given the opportunity to learn new, specific heritage skills to meet the increasing demand.

“Having been awarded one of the largest grants in the UK, Leeds is in an excellent position to really boost training in this sector and also offer much needed opportunities in the city.” Members will be asked to agree to the submission of the stage two bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund at a meeting of the council’s Executive

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Addison .