Traditional Building Skills Roadshow 2024

On August 27 and 28, Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust held our annual Traditional Building Skills Roadshow at Perth Grammar School.

Participating pupils were able to try their hand at roof slating, stone carving, sign writing and drystone walling – all traditional building skills which are now in very short supply!

For a full breakdown and more information on the event, you can read our summary report here.

Wed-Fri 22nd – 24th March

This free practical course at the Lower City Mills covered technical aspects of sash & case restoration and repair. Young people aged 16-25 who were interested in a career in traditional skills were given the opportunity to give these windows years more serviceable life.

The course, led by the woodkeeper Jonathan Schiavone, included:

• Conservation ethos and approach
• Insight into materials and analysis
• Practical work on restoring a sash and frame
• Milling timber parts
• Glazing and putty techniques (including double glazing)
• Draft proofing techniques
• Application of sand mastic
• Re-roping and re-hanging weights
• Painting and preservation

Particularly popular in the classical world, mosaics have been used for a very long time to add interest to a floor or wall, incorporating a design using small regular or irregular pieces of coloured stone, glass or ceramic. During the early 20th century, they were very popular at threshold entrances to shops, often incorporating the name of the business, the date the shop was established, or the goods sold. It was with a view to extend the number of people who are skilled at this technique, incorporating or choosing it as a career, that we ran these courses free of charge for 16-25 year olds.

Course 1: Thu & Fri 23 & 24th Feb

The first course was an introductory course over two days. Participants learned about tools, materials and design alongside traditional cutting and laying techniques. They also created a piece of their own to take home.

Course 2: Mon-Wed 6-8th March

On the second course, running over 3 days, participants covered the same learning areas and contributed to a real conservation project involving the re-laying of a large mosaic embedded into the pavement outside Lower City Mills.

In 2022, our program included introductory training in both traditional lime mortar based stonemasonry and old fashioned carpentry without metal fixings. The ‘scribed post & beam’ technique uses mortices, tenons, holes and pegged joinery to build a frame using large section timber primarily using hand tools. If using oak, as we did on the course, this is known as oakwrighting.

Roofs, barns and often entire residential and commercial buildings were built this way and, whilst not as prevalent in Scotland as stonemasonry which largely superseded predominantly timber buildings, these approaches to construction often went hand in hand, both using sustainable local materials and styles of architecture.

In June 2022, both carpentry and stonemasonry courses were run at the Green Shoots garden at Aberdalgie. In September, a further course on introductory stonemasonry including carving, drystone wall repair and wall re-pointing with lime mortar was run at St Kattan’s historic cemetery, Aberuthven.

The courses were coordinated by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust with the support of Historic Environment Scotland and the Gannochy Trust. We run these primarily to encourage people to consider career options using these trades as there is a high demand for these skills but currently not enough able practitioners. Placements are free thanks to our funders and advice is distributed on how to go further with learning these skills following the courses.

In 2021 we ran week-long courses at Lower City Mills and Aberdalgie Green Shoots Walled Garden offering training in carrying out basic repairs to stonemasonry and re-pointing with natural lime.

Before cement, locally-produced lime was used in most of our buildings but today, the skills are in short supply to maintain the traditional stone-built structures that define and give character to our towns, cities, castles and countryside homes. Modern cement started to replace lime use in the late 1800s, mostly because it sets much quicker. Traditional lime still has many advantages over its modern counterparts but it takes more skill and knowledge to use it effectively. It can help a building last longer, control damp much better and be repaired much easier.

The use of lime is also a great way to help reduce our carbon footprint too as it takes much less energy to produce. (Portland cement production is responsible for around 8% of all carbon released globally – if it were a country, it would be the 3rd largest carbon emitting state in the world after the USA & China!)

Our training sessions offer the opportunity to learn some of the background to this versatile material and get hands on experience of traditional construction skills on a real conservation project. Participants work alongside leading craftspeople and get a flavour of what lime-work involves in a very real way.

The courses are coordinated by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust with the support of Historic Environment Scotland. All attendees receive a certificate to confirm their learning and an information package on where to go to find further training available to them if they wish to get involved in conservation grade construction skills as a career.

A city training venue with Perth and Kinross Association of Voluntary Service (PKAVS) Walled Garden at Murray Royal, run by PKAVS as part of their Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub. Coordinated by Frew Conservation, the training followed the approach taken by Tay Landscape Partnership’s (TLP) Megginch Castle project: a series of placements in basic traditional masonry skills for high school pupils, colleges and PKAVS volunteers and service users. Each trainee received a certificate and feedback was very positive.

Through the Perth City Heritage Fund, the Trust has been working in partnership with the Fife and Tayside Traditional Building Forum (the regional branch of the Scottish Traditional Building Forum) and Developing the Young Workforce Taycities to address the skills shortage by promoting traditional skills to young people at an annual event in Schools.

This event offers young people at career choice stage, opportunities to try their hand at traditional building crafts such as roof slating, stone masonry, dry stone work, specialist joinery conservation, craft painting & decorating and even how to assess old buildings for damp using modern technology under the guidance of local professionals.