A British philanthropist has given almost £29m to heritage skills training, breathing new life into dying crafts and addressing the chronic shortage of specialists who can prevent historic buildings from deteriorating beyond repair.
Hamish Ogston’s donation, which has been made through his charitable foundation, will be announced on Thursday.
It is the largest private single commitment to the heritage training cause and will enable up to 2,700 new heritage conservation apprentices and trainees to learn centuries-old techniques.
Historic England listed almost 5,000 buildings and sites on its 2022 Heritage at Risk register. It has previously warned of further deterioration without training a new generation of craftspeople with heritage skills.
Carpentry, plastering, roofing and stonemasonry are among traditional crafts that differ from modern construction methods. The sector has long warned that many vital skills are at risk of being lost for ever.
The “endangered” register of the Heritage Crafts Association lists barely a handful of specialists in flintknapping, the shaping of flint for masonry.
The funding will go to English Heritage, Historic Environment Scotland, the Commonwealth Heritage Forum and the Cathedrals’ Workshop Fellowship, supporting everything from hands-on practical work to learning how to create financially sustainable historic attractions for the general public.
