The King’s Foundation
The King’s Foundation is His Majesty King Charles III’s nature and sustainability charity and was first formed in 1990. The Country Houses Foundation is proud to support The King’s Foundation’s work to build sustainable communities and transform lives, primarily through traditional skills education and ensuring access to green space across a number of heritage sites.
The CHF has supported The King’s Foundation for over a decade and is one of very few organisations which receive repeat funding on a long-term programme. The grant is to the Foundation’s Building Crafts and Conservation Programme which focuses on training for young people in traditional crafts to achieve an NVQ3 qualification in heritage skills.
Opportunities for new Master Craftspeople
The Buildings Crafts and Conservation Programme supports those working in the construction and craft sector to push their skills to the next level and help them on their journey to becoming a master craftsperson.
Recognising that there is a shortage of skilled crafts practitioners providing expertise in traditional crafts like stonemasonry, thatching, plastering, carpentry and blacksmithing, the nine-month long Programme aims to establish a new generation of skilled master craftspeople – bridging the gap between basic qualifications and specialist heritage conservation skills.
The course has a particular focus on sustainable and heritage skills, looking to nature for inspiration for everything from design to building materials. To date the programme has seen 200 future master craftspeople qualify in traditional heritage building skills, helping to secure the future of our historic built environment.
What we fund
The Country Houses Foundation funding recognises the crucial importance of the Building Crafts and Conservation Programme in raising standards for heritage conservation.
The grant helps to provide bursary funding to ensure that students, who are all already employed in the building industry, can join the course from a wide variety of backgrounds. Specialist skills learned include stonemasonry, dry stone walling, carpentry and joinery, bricklaying, blacksmithing, plastering, thatching, roofing, tiling/ceramics, glasswork, painting and decorating.