The philanthropist Hamish Ogston CBE has donated £29m to boost heritage skills training in the UK. The Guardian reports that the generous funds will help new apprentices learn traditional crafts such as plastering, carpentry and stonemasonry. These skills have been dying out, putting the future of historical buildings at risk.
Ogston is a British businessman and philanthropist who co-founded one of the first retail loyalty card companies, and has gone on to develop numerous other enterprises. In 2020, it was estimated that he was worth around £131 million. Over the past 10 years, he has donated around £10m to initiatives in health, heritage, and music.
His latest contribution is thought to be the largest ever private donation to heritage training. It will create up to 2,700 opportunities for trainees to learn about traditional crafts that can be very different from modern techniques, ensuring that the skills are carried forward to the next generation.
The funding will be divided between various UK heritage organisations, with English Heritage set to receive £11.2m. There are currently 5,000 buildings on the English Heritage At Risk Register due to deterioration and neglect. The apprentice scheme will aim to recruit people from some of the less privileged areas of the country.
Robert Bargery, the heritage project director at the Hamish Ogston Foundation, said:
“There could be some very good people who need a bit of a leg-up. The point of this programme is to help them do that, actively to go out and encourage people to look at heritage skills they might not otherwise have thought about as a career.”
He added that the aim was to create an “ecosystem of heritage conservation expertise”, commenting: “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.”
One such traditional skill that is used to restore older buildings is lath and plaster. This is often found in listed buildings that must be repaired or renovated to strict guidelines in order to preserve the original character of the building.
It’s a technique that dates back to the 18th century and involves fixing laths (strips of timber) to joists and then building up layers of plaster. The first coat, known as a pricking coat, consists of coarse lime plaster with hair or fibre mixed in for additional strength. The plaster is pushed through the laths to ensure that it stays in place.
The next coat is known as a floating coat, and consists of medium or coarse lime plaster that may contain hair, but is not always included. The plaster is applied evenly, and then scratched to prepare it for the application of a finer top coat. This final layer does not contain hair and gives a slightly textured finish.
Lime plaster is especially suitable for older buildings because it allows the timber frames and solid masonry to breathe. It can also be removed without damaging the masonry and can be recycled and used for further plastering projects.
