Today, Hamish Ogston has announced nearly £29million in crucial funding to heritage skills training in the UK and around the Commonwealth, marking the largest private commitment to the cause in history. The funding is designed to help bring the sector back from the brink of a decades-long global heritage skills shortage which is threatening historic buildings and places around the world.
This new funding is granted to four leading UK based and international heritage organisations and will support a complete range of training, from hands-on practical craft skills to strategy building, administration and financial planning for projects to preserve and protect historic buildings around the world.
Up to 2,700 heritage conservation traineeships will be financed by these latest grants from Hamish Ogston. 19 commonwealth nations stretching across five continents will benefit from the funding, from Fiji and Bermuda to Pakistan and Ghana.
Under the instruction of heritage conservation experts, the trainees will learn the centuries-old techniques required to maintain and repair historic buildings across these nations including stonemasonry, carpentry, joinery and flint knapping.
Some of the identified buildings which will benefit from this new wave of funding from Hamish Ogston include England’s Westminster Abbey, the Herbarium at the Botanic Gardens in Kolkata, India, and New Zealand’s Christchurch Cathedral.
A total of £43 million has now been committed by Hamish Ogston to heritage conservation, which is financing the training of up to 3,300 heritage conservation traineeships globally.
By funding heritage initiatives, it is Hamish Ogston’s goal to create financial sustainability in the heritage conservation sector, encouraging others to join the movement to protect historic buildings around the world for the enjoyment, benefit and appreciation of generations to come.
A sustainable, future-facing ecosystem of heritage conservation expertise is what is needed to solve the chronic skills shortages and gaps in the heritage sector, and to ensure the survival of some of the greatest historic buildings around the world.
With this new funding, we hope to establish such an ecosystem, so that more young people, no matter who they are or where they come from, can access the unique opportunity of a career in heritage conservation through one of our skills training programmes. We aim to inspire the industry and to establish a coherent and accessible training infrastructure for those looking to learn skills in heritage conservation.
Hamish Ogston
To learn more about Hamish Ogston’s heritage initiatives, please visit: Heritage