Branching out into traditional timber
Farmers in Essex are acquiring new skills to help them diversify into traditional timber-frame building and historic joinery. In a pilot scheme agricultural workers from the county are taught construction, repair and maintenance skills for working with timber-framed buildings.
The project is designed to not only enable agricultural workers to diversify their existing skills, but to also create a greater pool of craftsmen in the East of England able to carry out traditional buildings repairs.
"It is very important to us that we maintain the beautiful buildings we are lucky to have in Essex, not just for our pleasure but to preserve our heritage for future generations. This project is about training people so they can carry on traditions that are centuries old, and give them new skills to help them diversify during quiet periods in the farming calendar." Says Councillor Kay Twitchen, Cabinet Member for the Environment, Heritage and Culture.
"A good number of farmers understand that the continental style of farming suits them," Says shape Director Ben Koralek. "Working the land when the conditions are right, and having another skill to use when the weather isn't quite so good makes a lot of sense for agricultural workers in the region. As so many farming families have old buildings on the land they work, farmers relate to the specific craft skills needed to maintain these important parts of the rural built environment - all the more interesting when it could have been your great grandfather who laid the first brick!"
The five week course will involved three weeks learning the basic skills in a workshop and two weeks working on a 'live' restoration project at a 15th century barn on Lord Rayleigh's estate.
The basic skills will include all those contained in six of the relevant NVQ units. During the workshop training, students will start by making a pair of stools each, a traditional window frame and sash, and will also construct a miniature timber-frame building, using the appropriate joints. In the barn, the rotten parts of the sole plate will be replaced and morticed to fit the existing studwork.
Essex County Council, the Learning and Skills Council, ADER (Agricultural Development in the Eastern Region), CITB (Construction Industry Training Board), and SHAPE Cambridge run the course jointly.
