News
Local company achieves first Heritage endorsed Construction Skills Register Card
A Co Down based company, The Glass Shutter Company, is the first company in NI to get Heritage Endorsed CSR cards.
Director, David McClimond and employee Jonathan Black have both successfully completed an NVQ Level 3 in Heritage Skills Construction - Wood Occupations to enable them to achieve the endorsement.
Jonathan was a trainee on the first ever Heritage Specialist Apprenticeship Programme in Wood Occupations in Northern Ireland managed by CITB NI and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This programme resulted in 11 trainees receiving bespoke, structured training and assessment with experienced heritage contractors leading to the achievement of the Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Heritage Skills (Construction) – Wood Occupations.
Johnathan said, “I have always had a passion for carpentry and joinery and began my career working in the trade which had involved an element of historic maintenance work. I was excited on hearing about the Heritage Apprenticeship Programme as I knew this would help develop my skills in this area, gain a qualification and hopefully open up opportunities to be able to focus my career within the traditional building sector. I was fortunate enough to be accepted onto the programme and worked on projects for the National Trust to help put theory into practice. I am now using my qualification, skills to work on key projects. I am delighted to be the first to gain my Heritage endorsed CSR card which fully validates that I have the skills and knowledge to use appropriate methods on pre 1919 buildings.”
David, also stated, “We are very proud to be the first company in Northern Ireland to achieve this Heritage CSR card endorsement. This reinforces the work that we have been doing in relation to historic buildings in particular traditional sash windows. We hope that this endorsement allows us to develop further work in this area.”
Jonathan was one of a number of trainees that participated in Heritage Lottery Funded built heritage upskilling programmes funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. To find out more about Jonathan’s story read his blog on http://www.citbni.org.uk/Heritage/Blogs.aspx