A £3.2 million project to revitalise Holyhead’s historic town centre is boosting skills in the local workforce.
Building tradesmen are retraining to acquire forgotten skills as they carry out work to restore some of the town’s historic buildings under a scheme managed by Isle of Anglesey County Council.
It is part of the Holyhead Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) and the skills becoming fashionable again include working with traditional materials like lime plaster, lead and repairing and refitting timber sash windows.
One of the companies to benefit from the training courses being run with the Natural Building Centre, near Llanrwst, in Conwy, has been Holyhead builders DU Construction.
Director Mark Blackwell has sent nine of his workforce on a variety of courses and is already reaping the benefits: “It has meant we are now able to take on work which we previously would have been unable to carry out,” he said.
“We have been working on 19, Stanley Street as part of the Holyhead THI but we have also taken on several barn conversions across Anglesey and been able to use these skills on those jobs.
“I have sent people on courses for lime plastering and mortar, for working with lead on roofs and flashings and I’ve had joiners go on sash window courses and now we have the certificates to prove we can do this work.
“In the past it’s cost me a fortune to get specialists in from outside the area to do this sort of work but now we’ve got these skills in house and if it generates work then I can invest in apprentices and see them develop into tradesmen.”
Holyhead THI Project Manager Nathan Blanchard said: “This has always been part of the concept of the THI so that not only does it refurbish the town but it also revitalises building skills which would once have been commonplace.
“That’s important because when the money for the refurbishment is spent it is spent locally as that also plays a huge part in benefiting the local economy which is what the whole project is about and supported by local Councillors.
“In Wales 34 per cent of the properties are pre-1919, the highest proportion across the UK, but very few people have been able to do that kind of work, although now it is slowly growing
“Buildings were supposed to work in a different way so that if you block up fireplaces then you get damp because you are interfering with the air circulation.
“We have worked with Conwy County Borough Council and with the Natural Building Centre to encourage local people to take these courses and we’re delighted it is bearing fruit.
“When we, applicants and their agents are looking at tenders for work now it gives us confidence because companies like DU Construction have got the certificates and competencies and we know from what they have done at 19, Stanley Street that they do a great job.”
Gareth Williams, a plasterer from Bodedern is one of those to have taken a course in working with lime and he said: “I’ve been a plasterer for over 40 years but the course I went on has definitely added to my skills and it was very interesting.
“We were working with lime and doing old-fashioned lath and plaster work that I’d never done before and since then we’ve done a barn conversion in Church Bay where I’ve been working with lime plaster so it’s been very useful and a great experience.
“It just shows you’re never too old to learn.”
DU Construction Site Manager Geraint Looms, a joiner by trade, said: “I went on the course on sash windows and have restored the old windows at 19, Stanley Street so it’s certainly added to my skills.”
The new skills acquired are also appreciated by architects such as Matt Osmont, of international conservation specialists Purcell whose client list includes Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and St George’s Hall in Liverpool as well as Holyhead’s Cenotaph and 19, Stanley Street.
He said: “What is key is that it is driving an agenda to use quality materials and once contractors are used to doing that then there is more of a choice so that you can use local firms to do the work.
“Modern materials are designed to keep things like damp out and are intended to work in modern buildings but old buildings were built differently so that they breathe and dry out naturally.
“When you seal them and stop them doing that then you get problems such as damp so it’s a different approach to the same problem and for us as architects knowing that you have people who can work in the traditional way is great.”
