Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week at HLF
As an employer, we’re proud to have taken on seven apprentices over recent years and see this as an important part of our work to help diversify the workforce. That our new recruits tell us they’ve had a great experience makes it all the more rewarding. Eli Belmar, based in our London office, was struck by his warm welcome: “The best thing about working at HLF is the atmosphere – everyone is very friendly.”
The apprentices are all young people under 25, where the apprenticeship is their first experience of a full-time job. They've worked alongside experienced colleagues to learn new on-the-job skills and knowledge, whilst studying with our training partners to achieve vocational qualifications in finance and business administration. Happily, we’ve been able to offer most of those who’ve completed their training a permanent role.
[quote= Reiss Jones, East Midlands]“I’m improving my administration and customer service skills, and I’m able to go out on site and see some of the heritage projects that we are funding and developing.”[/quote]
The workforce challenges for HLF are mirrored in the heritage sector more widely: how do we attract applicants from diverse cultural backgrounds, address the predominantly female gender ratio, and create more entry-level positions? Offering apprenticeships – and so recruiting in a different way – has helped us to address all three of these issues.
We are committed to paying the enhanced living wage (rather than the apprentice minimum wage), and our apprentices enjoy the wide range of employee benefits available to all HLF staff as well as well as receiving the training and assessment support. Eli is sure of the benefits: “An apprenticeship distinguishes you from your peers in terms of experience and also develops practical skills that weren’t emphasised as much during school.”
We are sure too. Where in the early days we might have focussed on the risks of employing apprentices, we now actively look for the opportunities to recruit more.
Efallai y bydd gennych chi ddiddordeb hefyd mewn ...
Developing skills through heritage apprenticeships
Building an apprenticeship into a long-term capital project creates a win-win situation. Young people, some of whom might not have considered the heritage sector as a career option, learn while they earn, while bringing fresh thinking to the workplace. This helps grantees achieve one of our outcomes: "with our investment, people will have developed skills", while addressing the well-documented skills shortage in the heritage sector.
Apprenticeships combine practical training with study. In paid roles, apprentices learn job-specific skills working alongside experienced staff, and at the same time study to gain nationally-recognised qualifications.
In recent years, we have been pleased to see an increase in the number of applicants seeking to support apprentices. Currently, over 60 capital projects include an apprenticeship opportunity. Some are hosted by the grantee organisation, while others are employed by their contractors. Examples include:
London Transport Museum - Battle Bus
As part of the London Transport Museum’s battle bus restoration project, apprentices Gianna Fiore and Harry Young worked towards a Level 2 Award in Cultural Heritage. They have played a vital role in helping the public connect with the project through a range of activities including developing an exhibition, leading behind-the-scenes tours, and planning an outreach volunteering programme. Gianna’s blog post describes some of her work on the project.
RAF Museum Hendon - First World War in the Air exhibition
Baljit Singh Badesha and Brendan O’Gorman are Apprentice Aircraft and Vehicle Conservation Technicians at the RAF Museum in Hendon. They played a pivotal role in the development of the First World War in the Air exhibition and are working towards becoming qualified Conservation Technicians.
All Souls, Bolton
[quote=Adam Mala, apprentice]“I’m interested in buildings and their features so stonemasonry seemed like a good option… I’m really glad I gave it a try.”[/quote]
Adam Mala, Adam Royston and Jake Quinton trained in stone masonry on the All Souls, Bolton project, which saw a redundant church transformed into a new community centre.
The young trainees were in different personal situations when they were accepted onto the training programme, though each of them had reached a point where they were looking for a new career.
Initially offered a four-month traineeship funded with an HLF bursary through the National Heritage Training Group’s Skills for the Future project, they were managed by conservation specialists Lambert Walker. Lambert Walker were so impressed with their work, they offered all three year-long apprenticeships to help further support their career in stone masonry.
These examples demonstrate a clear link between the provision of high-quality training, and the creation of a sustainable and diverse workforce. When thinking about your next HLF project, why not look for opportunities to build in work-based training? Our good-practice guidance can help you think about an application to HLF for a project that seeks to help young people develop key skills.
Efallai y bydd gennych chi ddiddordeb hefyd mewn ...
B-type Battle Buses - the civilian story of the First World War
Heritage Grants
The B-type has a central place in the history of London transport. Built by the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) at their Walthamstow works, it was the first example of bus standardisation and of a fleet made up of only one type of vehicle.
The bus has a unique association with the First World War. From 1914, over 1,000 B-types (nearly a third of the LGOC fleet), were commandeered for military service – transporting troops, often with their civilian London drivers and maintenance men, down to the trenches of the Western Front. These Battle Buses (a term given to a vehicle which transports troops to war and into combat and still in use with soldiers today) served until the end of the war.
While other restored B-types are accessible to the public, this is the only example to explicitly link the history of the bus to the wider heritage of the First World War. The fully operational B-type will wear the wartime livery of buses that served on the battlefields and will be used at centenary events and other outreach activities, and at LTM and partner sites to help tell the civilian story of the war, before joining the museum's permanent collection.
Sam Mullins, Director LTM, said: “The B-type bus is an important tribute to the civilian contribution made to the war effort during the First World War, at home and overseas. The project is a memorial not only to the bus drivers and their mechanics who worked on the front line, but also to those who stayed behind to provide a public transport service to millions of Londoners, often in extremely dangerous conditions as London came under attack from aerial bombardment for the first time.”
Meet the heritage trainees behind the RAF Museum’s latest major exhibition
Baljit Singh Badesha and Brendan O’Gorman are Apprentice Aircraft/Vehicle Conservation Technicians at the RAF Museum in Hendon. They played a pivotal role in the development of the First World War in the Air exhibition and are working towards becoming qualified Conservation Technicians. Here, Brendan describes their experiences as heritage apprentices.
What do your jobs involve?
"Our main responsibility is to maintain the vehicles and aircraft at the museum. Each aircraft is scheduled for an in-depth inspection every three months, together with daily checks – there are 104 so it’s a big job! The First World War in the Air exhibition has meant we’ve moved a lot of exhibits recently. Dismantling aircraft, especially those of national heritage and importance, can be a daunting task however there is a dedicated team of conservation technicians who we work with at both the London and Cosford sites. The whole process can take many months to complete as there are strict guidelines on maintaining the aircraft, conducting research prior to their dismantling as well as overall health and safety.
"We’re often working on the aircraft in public areas and routinely answer some of the more common questions from the public. The museum also has a specialist department of research who receive hundreds of more specific questions from the public, and we will often assist them in accessing aircraft to photograph or view serial numbers. One of the most popular events we are involved in is the Open Cockpit days which give the public access to our Avro Vulcan."
What have been your highlights so far?
"We’ve been involved in the First World War exhibition since the beginning so it was a proud moment to see it officially open last month, and of course meeting the Duke of Edinburgh was another highlight!"
What are your next steps?
"We’ve already achieved our Vehicle Maintenance and Repair qualification and developed skills and experience which will help so much in our future careers. We’ve still got a year and a bit left here but afterwards I’m planning to join the Royal Marines as a vehicle mechanic and Baljit is planning to stay on at the museum to develop his career here."
Efallai y bydd gennych chi ddiddordeb hefyd mewn ...
Unused All Souls Bolton transformed into state-of-the-art community facility
On 6 December 2014, All Souls Church in Bolton will reopen to the public, revealing the results of a £4.9million scheme which has been 10 years in the making. The regeneration project recently won an English Heritage Angel Award for The Best Rescue of Any Other Type of Historic Building or Site and the Churches Conservation Trust is confident that All Souls, with its dramatic new design, will be a leading example of how a modern community space fit for the 21st century can be created within a once-neglected heritage building.
The project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) with a grant of £4.3m, the Churches Conservation Trust, English Heritage and Bolton Council, juxtaposes the original Grade II* listed Victorian architecture with two futuristic white pods erected inside the church, giving the building another 100 years of life by transforming it into a state-of-the-art community building for people of all faiths and none.
The church will be open from 9am–10pm daily, with a coffee shop on the ground floor and an at-table restaurant service during peak hours. Other floors host a mix of event and tenanted office space, with a flexible main large conference room that can also be used as a dance studio or cinema thanks to the building’s music and film license. National educational charity Beanstalk is the first tenant.
Crispin Truman, Chief Executive of The Churches Conservation Trust, said: "When an important urban church like All Souls lies unloved and in danger, we have a duty not only to save it, but also to bring it back into use at the heart of its community. This £4.9m regeneration project is the most ambitious and innovative in the 46-year history of The Churches Conservation Trust, and I am proud that after a decade of work this beautiful Victorian building has not only been saved, but also found a sustainable purpose that will see local people coming through the doors every day.”
Carole Souter, Chief Executive of HLF, said: “As the main funder of this innovative regeneration project we’re delighted to see how effectively an unused church like All Souls has been transformed into a state-of-the-art facility for a wealth of community activities. It’s a great example of how, with creative thought and strong partnerships, a much loved historic building can be reinvigorated and turned into something that serves the needs of those who live around it.”
For the first time ever, visitors will be able to get up and close with the historic interior of the church via high level walkways designed to celebrate its architectural features. The new design will allow visitors to get much closer to the windows, war memorials and amazing timber roof of the church.
Nick Berry, OMI architects, said: “The form making in the new design is not arbitrary, but has connections with both the church and is local environs. The pods are rooted in a careful consideration of the building and its surroundings, and its link to the original ‘urban grain.’ The new design is also faithful to the church’s original pillar free design - the pods are set back from the church entrance and their design enables an entirely unobstructed view of the church’s east end ensuring uninterrupted views of the chapel and choir.”
A typical example of the 200 urban churches featured on English Heritage’s at Risk Register, All Souls, Bolton stood neglected, closed and facing a £1.5m repair bill. Only 2-3 people a year were visiting and it was a symbol of the decline of the northern industrial town. But local resident and All Souls Bolton Chair, Inayat Omarji, worked with The Churches Conservation Trust to change its fortune.
Inayat Omarji said: “We wanted to make the building useful to every person in the community and sustainable in the long term. Not only will the space be partially used as a future centre for heritage learning. There will be films exploring local history on interactive screens and a ‘history wall’ of community mementos and artefacts, and the building site itself has even been a location for teaching and promoting traditional heritage craft to members of the local community.”
Throughout the construction programme, the National Heritage Training Group funded six paid training placements to local Bolton residents, on top of a series of free technical days for the general public, which focused on key heritage conservation skills.
This unique scheme is the latest innovative heritage regeneration project from The Churches Conservation Trust, which seeks to find sustainable uses for historic churches. It follows on from the success of St Pauls Church, Bristol, into a circus school. Their next major project is the transformation of St Mary at the Quay, Ipswich, into a wellbeing heritage centre, due to open in early 2016.
Notes to Editors
About All Souls' Church, Bolton
All Souls' Church was once a hub of the community in the Crompton area of Bolton. It was built in 1881 by an evangelical mill owner for a town of predominantly cotton mill workers. The 20th century saw a sharp decline in the British cotton industry, and the congregation gradually dwindled, whilst the area became increasingly multicultural. The church closed in 1986. Neglected, vandalised and plundered for its lead it fell into disrepair for two decades until The Churches Conservation Trust teamed up with the local to restore it to its pivotal role at the heart of Bolton.
The church will be open from 9am–10pm daily, with a coffee shop on the ground floor and an at-table restaurant service during peak hours. The other floors have a mix of event and tenanted office space, with a large flexible conference room on the first floor that can be used as a dance studio or cinema. The building will be run by a new charity, All Souls Bolton, and will also have a music and film license. Beanstalk, the national educational charity, is the first tenant.
- For information on the project so far, visit the Visit Churches website
- For more on the future of All Souls Bolton, visit the official All Souls website
About The Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) is the national charity protecting historic churches at risk. The charity has saved over 347 beautiful buildings which attract almost two million visitors a year. The CCT collection includes irreplaceable examples of architecture, archaeology and art from 1,000 years of English history.
The Trust is the operator of the third largest heritage estate in charitable ownership in the UK and has an international award-winning reputation in heritage conservation and regeneration. All CCT churches are listed, mostly Grade I and II*, and some are Scheduled Ancient Monuments.
Without the care of the CCT, the buildings they look after might have disappeared entirely. Instead they are enjoyed as social, tourism, educational or cultural resources, kept open, in use, and living once again in the heart of communities.
Established under Ecclesiastical Law on 1 April 1969 the charity receives its churches in the form of vestings from the Church Commissioners. All the CCT’s churches remain consecrated and are used for occasional worship.
Further information
CecilIa Keating or Zekra Rahman via email: cecilia.keating@midaspr.co.uk / zekra.rahman@midaspr.co.uk, or tel: 0207 361 7860