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Skills needs analysis for the repair, maintenance, and retrofit of traditional (pre-1919) buildings in England

This report examines the current state of the heritage construction sector from a contractor perspective. It details the supply, demand, and training landscape, and highlights key challenges and opportunities in ensuring that we have a workforce with the right skills to safeguard our older and traditional buildings in the years to come.

Report

Provided by: Historic England

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Capability and skills Building decarbonisation and retrofit Domestic retrofit measures Historic buildings and conservation areas

In 2024, Historic England commissioned the Skills needs analysis for the repair, maintenance, and retrofit of traditional (pre-1919) buildings in England as an update to its 2013 research. The report examines the current state of the heritage construction sector from a contractor perspective. It details the supply, demand, and training landscape, and highlights key challenges and opportunities in ensuring that we have a workforce with the right skills to safeguard our older and traditional buildings in the years to come.

Background

England’s built heritage makes a major contribution to our quality of life, our culture, and the economy. Representing around one in five of the UK’s buildings, traditional buildings are responsible for the character of many of the country’s best loved places as well as the homes many of us live in.

Traditional buildings require specific skills for their on-going repair and maintenance. There have been concerns since at least the 1990s that the traditional skills needed to maintain our traditional buildings are in decline. These concerns led the major heritage sector and construction industry bodies to come together to conduct research and develop strategies for addressing this deficit. It is now more than ten years since this last major research into the supply of and demand for traditional building craft skills. 

Historic England therefore commissioned this report to update understanding of the supply of and demand for the skills needed to repair, maintain, and retrofit pre-1919 buildings. This research is intended to play a critical role in gathering and analysing accurate data to inform future policy and initiatives in support of the long-term resilience of heritage skills. This evidence base will be used to inform and influence vital sector changes.

Aims and objectives

The aim of the research is to update the 2013 research by establishing a comprehensive picture of the need for traditional building skills and in particular of:

  • the supply of and demand for heritage skills at national and regional level;
  • areas of recruitment difficulty;
  • the profile of the traditional building workforce;
  • the factors that influence the recruitment and retention of the workforce;
  • the drivers for current and future change and their likely impacts on the demand for and supply of traditional building skills;
  • existing training provision and its ability to meet current and future demand.

Summary of report findings

"The findings laid out in this report highlight that we are headed towards a skills crisis that threatens our heritage’s longevity and survival if appropriate action is not taken."

The report found that:

  • While there is an established and confident contractor base responding to the current active market demand for work on traditional buildings, this supply is nevertheless failing to meet the underlying need for traditional building skills.
  • At the same time, major drivers for increased demand for work on traditional buildings are looming; we have recently experienced a period of particular economic uncertainty and there is a backlog of repair and maintenance work. We need to adapt our traditional buildings for climate change if the UK is to meet its Net Zero commitments, and the once-in-a-generation programme to restore the Houses of Parliament is on the horizon.
  • The report shows a strong reliance on informal training and experience and an insufficient supply and quality of formal training. There are barriers to recruiting suitable trainees and apprentices, and limited capacity and succession planning in the small and micro businesses that make up the sector. A preference for on-the-job training means that training providers are not being incentivised to grow their offer.

While the situation is challenging, this is also a moment of opportunity to work together to tackle the challenges the sector faces.

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