Heritage Skills Training and Development

We provide heritage skills and training development for all levels and age groups

 

Cliveden Conservation’s Heritage Skills Training and Development programme addresses the growing heritage skills gap and the need to share evolving best practice in the conservation of historic buildings, monuments and objects across England.

We aim to inspire the next generation and support professionals across the building sector, as well as the staff and volunteers who care for our most treasured and vulnerable heritage sites.

Cliveden Conservation conservator mixing lime mortar at Reading Abbey Ruins

Building Conservation and Heritage CPDs

Cliveden Conservation is an IHBC recognised CPD provider, offering building conservation and heritage CPDs and workshops for conservation professionals, architects, surveyors, project managers and building contractors across England, delivered by our own experienced practitioners.

Our current programme includes:

  • Heritage Lime Mortars for Specifiers
  • Heritage Lime Mortars for Trades (Upskilling)
  • Heritage Plaster Entry Level
  • Plaster Mouldings (2-Day Advanced Workshop)
  • Conservation Cleaning (Buildings)
  • Stone Conservation
OUr Building Conservation and Heritage CPDS
Young volunteers rebuilding Swaffham Town Pound

On-Site Work Experience Partnerships within Building Conservation

Cliveden Conservation actively seeks opportunities to develop three-way partnerships that provide structured, on-the-job work experience alongside our experienced team on real heritage sites. These bring together members of our in house teams, a client organisation with a project that has grant funding from bodies such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund or Historic England, and an educational or support organisation, who recruit and support the participants.

This model has been successfully delivered at projects including the Swaffham Town Pound restoration in Norfolk in partnership with Volunteer It Yourself and Breckland Council.

Find out more
Conservators working on the repair of a timber frame building, Walpole Chapel

Heritage Skills Consultancy

Cliveden Conservation offers impartial advice to clients and project managers in the early development phase of heritage projects, helping them understand how to incorporate training into grant applications and project budgets.

Engaging us at the outset can ensure that heritage skills development is embedded in a project from the start, offering a long-term, sustainable approach to training and opportunities for funding.

We work with clients across England on projects funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England and other grant-making bodies.

Find out more
Two ladies cleaning gravestones in a churchyard

Heritage Conservation Training for Volunteers

Cliveden Conservation offers training for volunteers who care for heritage sites and their collections. Working with organisations such as the National Trust and Friends of Churches groups across England, we equip volunteers with the knowledge and practical skills to carry out basic maintenance cleaning of stone, from gravestones in churchyards to outdoor sculptures and monuments.
Find out more
Young girl being taught how to do letter cutting by Cliveden Conservation tutor

Introduction to Building Conservation for Schools and Early Careers

Our conservators introduce heritage conservation and its diverse career paths to young people aged 14 and above through seminars and practical taster sessions. Sessions begin with a short presentation about the heritage sector, followed by a hands-on activity such as stone letter cutting or creating small plaster casts.

Where projects allow, we also welcome school and college visits to working sites, giving students the chance to see traditional conservation techniques in action. We also offer age-appropriate introductions to heritage for younger children.

Find out more
Conservators looking at the Pugin Decorative Scheme at Nottingham Cathedral

Conservation Traineeships

Cliveden Conservation periodically offers funded traineeships attached to specific projects, providing early career conservators with the opportunity to work alongside our specialist teams and gain practical, hands-on experience on live heritage sites across England. Traineeships are advertised as they arise and will be listed on our careers page.

A recent example is the funded traineeship for the Restoring Pugin Project at Nottingham Cathedral.

Find out more
Continuing Professional Development
We are an IHBC recognised CPD provider
Arrange a CPD session