Heritage skills gap threatens Britain's historic buildings

Millions of old buildings are under threat due to a lack of skilled heritage workers.

A recently published report from the National Heritage Training Group revealed a shortage of trained builders to work on properties including Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Areas lacking in skilled workers included stonemasons, thatchers and slate roofers.

From half a million architects in the UK only 507 are fully accredited conservation professionals, resulting in a one heritage surveyor to 85,000 heritage buildings. Although the lack of skilled workers had in fact eased in the last few years, a lack of knowledge was still apparent, the report found.

Research from the NHTG also reported that satisfaction with repair work carried out on various old buildings had declined considerably.