Why Protecting Heritage Means Protecting Skills

Article

By Conserve Connect Editorial Team

The built heritage sector faces a deepening crisis—not just of funding or policy, but of craftsmanship. In her article for Building Design, architect Eleanor Jolliffe issues a powerful warning: historic buildings cannot be preserved without the traditional skills required to care for them. This is not a theoretical concern. As specialist skills decline and training pathways disappear, the legal protections around historic fabric begin to feel like a façade—strong in name but hollow in practice.

The following is a five-paragraph reflection on Jolliffe’s key themes, alongside selected quotes that resonate with the mission of Conserve Connect: to strengthen the link between skilled conservation professionals and the clients, institutions, and projects that need them most.

Summary

1. The Preservation Paradox
Jolliffe opens with a central contradiction: we are increasingly rigorous in listing and protecting historic buildings, yet alarmingly lax in safeguarding the skills needed to maintain them. Buildings may be legally preserved, but without skilled artisans, their material fabric is at risk of irreversible loss.

"We cannot preserve historic buildings without preserving the skills that maintain them."

2. Skills at the Heart of Heritage
Modern contractors using inappropriate materials or methods can do more harm than good. Traditional buildings require traditional solutions—lime mortars, hand-cut timber, and craft-specific knowledge. Without this, conservation becomes decay by another name.

"Knowing when to leave a wall slightly bowed or where to introduce a lime-based repair requires more than a textbook—it requires trained hands."

3. The Erosion of Training and Pathways
Decades of underinvestment in vocational training have hollowed out the ranks of heritage trades. Apprenticeships are rare. Specialist schemes are underfunded. Even university courses in conservation often lack practical skill-building components.

"We are losing the ability to pass on centuries of knowledge, not because we do not value it, but because we do not fund it."

4. The Role of Institutions and Gatekeepers
Jolliffe calls on planners, architects, and conservation officers to demand and fund skilled craftsmanship. Where grants are issued or approvals given, they should be contingent on the use of appropriately trained professionals.

"Every conservation decision must be rooted in craft as much as in compliance."

5. A Sector-Wide Call to Action
Without structural reform, we risk a future where only the outward forms of heritage remain—emptied of the methods and meaning that once sustained them. Investment in skills is not an optional extra—it’s the foundation.

"A law can protect a building’s façade, but only hands can keep its soul intact."

Conserve Connect’s Takeaway

This is a critical moment for heritage conservation. Our built legacy depends not only on laws, but on live expertise—passed from one generation to the next. Conserve Connect exists to make those connections visible and viable. The revival of conservation must begin with those who know how to care for it.