Successful completion of the Heritage Skills NVQ Level 3 Specialist Apprenticeship Programme in Roofing - Members News - Blogs

Successful completion of the Heritage Skills NVQ Level 3 Specialist Apprenticeship Programme in Roofing

Posted by South Coast Roof Training on 6th May 2011.

Burlington random slates diminishing courses, decorative detail and swept valley

Torching technique using lime mortar

Diminishing course Costwold stone slating

The training aspect of the first pilot course for the Heritage Skills NVQ Level 3 Specialist Apprenticeship Programme in Roofing has now been successfully completed. The Heritage Skills NVQ Level 3 programme is endorsed by English Heritage.

The course was piloted by South Coast Roof Training Ltd at their training centre in Littlehampton, West Sussex. The pilot course tutor was Richard Jordan of Jordan Heritage Roofing. Future Heritage SAP courses will be delivered by Yusof Abdullah and Peter Cullingham, experienced tutors at the training centre.

During the course there were visits from English Heritage (Chris Wood and John Edwards), the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (Ray Horwood and Kevin Taylor), the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (Douglas Kent), CITB/CSkills and ProjectBook (James Mott), who were all very impressed with the facilities, rigs and materials that are available for both practical and theoretical work.

Chris Wood and John Edwards from English Heritage said:

"We were very pleased to observe the high quality training at South Coast Roof Training centre. Initiatives such as this are desperately needed and we hope more roofers will attend and similar training be provided in other parts of the country."

Ray Horwood, CEO, NFRC commented:

"You have an excellent centre with some first class rigs which combined with the new Heritage NVQ gives a real opportunity for future training."

Kevin Taylor, Technical and Training Officer, NFRC said:

"It has to be accepted that Heritage Training needs to be addressed differently to the standard roofing qualifications. Small dedicated groups being taught by knowledgeable and dedicated teachers, replicating real heritage examples are the way forward, and you have all this in spades.

For me, what I saw and heard at the centre demonstrated a great model for heritage training going forward."

The course covers aspects of clay peg tiling, random diminishing course slating, stone slates (e.g. swept and laced valleys, curved roof details, eyebrows, decorative elements) and the use of lime mortar and torching techniques.

The experienced candidates (NVQ Level 2 or 3 in Roof Slating and Tiling) came from various parts of the country: Kent, Hampshire, West Sussex, Devon, and each brought knowledge of different materials and techniques, so they learnt both from the course and each other.

Field trips during the course included visits to the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, Singleton, West Sussex; Trevillett Slate Quarry, Tintagel, Cornwall and local historic towns and buildings.

It has now been recognized that traditional roofing skills and techniques play an important part in keeping the integrity of our historic built environment.

The next Heritage Skills NVQ Level 3 SAP course is commencing 16th June 2011.

For further details and to register on the next course please contact South Coast Roof Training Ltd on 0845 678 0065.

On a visit to Trevillett Slate Quarry, Cornwall, Heritage Skills pilot course tutor Richard Jordan, of Jordan Heritage Roofing (back, centre) future course tutors (and candidates) from South Coast Roof Training Ltd, Peter Cullingham (back, left) and Yusof Abdullah (back, right) and candidates (front, left to right) Chris Morris from John Williams & Co (Contracting) Ltd, Sean Sexton from Excel Roofing Services Ltd, and Dan O’Sullivan from O’Sullivan Roofing.

To find out more about the South Coast Roofing Centre click here...

To find out more about Jordan Heritage Roofing click here...