Project Outcomes

This Historic Buildings Skills Hub project was developed in response to identified capacity gaps within the regional historic environment sector, particularly relating to skills, confidence and resilience among owners of domestic listed and historic buildings. Funded through Historic England’s Funding for Regional Capacity Building programme, the project sought to strengthen regional capacity by delivering targeted activities designed to support sustainable skills development, knowledge exchange and partnership working.

Over the course of the project, a pilot programme of information and skills development sessions was delivered at the Tolpuddle Old Chapel. These activities have so far engaged twenty four home-owners, three conservation professionals, three practitioners and three special interest advocates and were designed to ensure relevance and responsiveness to local need. As part of the legacy of the project, in response to participant feedback, an online guide to relevant information and resources listed and historic home owners in Dorset has been created and published on the Old Chapel website here.

The project achieved its core capacity building objectives by increasing participants’ knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence in relation to owning and maintaining listed and historic properties, strengthening professional and organisational networks, and supporting more coordinated approaches to managing and promoting the historic environment at grass roots level within the region. Evaluation evidence demonstrates that participants reported increased knowledge and understanding and greater confidence in relation to their listed and historic property ownership.

The project also demonstrated that the Skills Hub concept has the potential to make a contribution to the sustainable operation of the Old Chapel as an income generating local community venue. While the immediate outcomes are clear, there is also evidence of potential longer-term impact. Skills and knowledge developed through the project and relationships established through the programme have laid the foundations for further activity and collaboration. The project has also highlighted areas of continued need and opportunity which can inform approaches to both regional capacity building and local resilience and sustainability.