Increased participation in National Built Heritage Service traditional building skills courses recorded
- Published on: 29 December 2025
- Last updated on: 29 December 2025
Record number of participants in training courses
Funding support for Historic Structures closes soon
Interest in traditional building skills has this year seen a record number of participants take part in training events organised by the National Built Heritage Service at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
In its efforts to inspire tradespeople, custodians of heritage property and keep time-honoured skills alive in areas such as thatching, drystone walling and joinery, the National Built Heritage Service (NBHS) has fully funded or subsidised 45 traditional skills events around the country. These events provided 341 people accurate and impartial conservation advice on the day-to-day maintenance, retrofit and reuse of traditional buildings.
For the third year in a row, the NBHS assembled a team of conservation experts and practitioners for a series of short traditional skills training and information events aimed at owners and prospective owners of traditional buildings along with contractors and professionals looking to upskill.
Courses included subsidised training in thatching, the use of traditional lime and earth mortars, hedge laying, drystone walling and traditional joinery; eight free ‘Taking on a Traditional House’ events which provided information on grants available, retrofit and reuse of traditional buildings and eight free ‘Conservation Clinics’ which allowed owners of traditional buildings seek free advice with an accredited conservation professional.
The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne TD, said
“We are very fortunate in Ireland to have such an array of unique buildings and historic structures, but these require traditional building skills in order to conserve or restore them. Keeping our important built heritage alive is something I am proud my Department supports. I was delighted to see so many participants avail of training provided by the National Built Heritage Service. Traditional methods, be they used on a building, a drystone wall or even a traditional hedgerow are skills which can only be handed down. So, by taking these first steps, those learning the skills are helping our built heritage to live a very long life.”
Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan T.D. also paid tribute to those taking part in the courses:
“I strongly believe in the importance of local communities working to protect and conserve our shared built heritage, and I recognise that this relies on the dedication of many different parties, including owners, custodians and skilled craftspeople. The necessary traditional building skills have been in danger of disappearing, so it is incredibly heartening to see these training workshops building year on year with forty-five events in 2025. I am delighted that more are planned for next year and I hope to see many more participants in 2026."
Minister O’Sullivan added that as well as training events such as those organised by the NBHS, there is funding available for projects next year under the Historic Structures Fund, which closes for applications on 16 January 2026.
“The Historic Structures Fund is one of the key funding streams for the conservation and protection of our historic buildings and streetscapes. We have a duty towards our built heritage and the Historic Structures Fund will help to ensure that it continues to enrich all of our lives. The fund also supports Ireland’s built heritage sector by providing thousands of days of work for skilled heritage professionals, so I would urge anyone with a good project to contact the Architectural Conservation Officer or Heritage Officer within their Local Authority as soon as possible."
The NBHS worked largely with specialist practitioners in the area of building conservation and traditional skills for the events in 2025. They collaborated with Architectural Conservation Officers in Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Limerick and also with existing organisations and businesses such as the Building Limes Forum Ireland, Hedgerows Ireland, The Dry Stone Wall Association and the Donegal Thatch School for a number of events.
They will be launching the 2026 Spring-Summer schedule of events in early Spring.
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