“I don’t think we can afford not to save them”: Sam Dove speaks on heritage skills webinar
“I don’t think we can afford not to save them”: Sam Dove speaks on heritage skills webinar
This month, Senior Facilities Manager Sam Dove joined the panel for InstallerBUILD’s webinar on ‘Keeping Heritage Skills Alive’ to talk about how our plans will help support these endangered skills and why they are still so important today.
With 16 years at St Paul’s under his belt, Sam has witnessed the need for heritage craft skills firsthand. Sharing his experience, he commented:
“I don’t think we can afford not to save them. I think there’s definitely an opportunity for [heritage craft skills and modern technology] to work together.
“Even if you’re just making a baluster, you get the individuality of each mason carving the stone – you can get a stone laser-cut, but it’s about the journey that someone’s gone on creating that baluster. They’re a part of restoring the stone around the building, and it’s that personal touch that we can’t lose. Christopher Wren certainly didn’t have a laser-cutting stone machine, so we want to try and keep it that way.”
Despite their enormous contribution to the building, the Works and Property teams at the Cathedral have historically gone unnoticed by the general public, which has contributed to a lack of understanding of how important it is to keep these heritage skills alive.
“We’re hoping the Wren Centre of Excellence will help to break us out of the cupboard and say ‘Look what we’re doing, we’re maintaining this building in the centre of London!’. Nobody knows that these amazing skills are being done in workshops below the Cathedral, so it’s also to connect London to what we’re doing.”
As well as putting a long-overdue spotlight on these skills, Sam explained that the Centre of Excellence will also help to ensure the future of heritage buildings by training the next generation of craftspeople.
“A mentorship culture is what we want to build, so people have that pride in passing on their skills and knowledge – to be custodians not just for this building but for heritage crafts as well.”
Preserving the past, building the future
Our mission to save heritage craft skills would not be possible without support from generous donors. If you would like to learn more about how you can support our work, come along to our ‘Celebration of Heritage Craft Skills’ fundraising evening with acclaimed artist Lady Petchey on Tuesday 28th October or visit our webpage here.
