Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Commonwealth Heritage Skills Training Programme, Building Design News

Commonwealth Heritage Conservation Project news

22 May 2022

Largest Ever Commonwealth Heritage Programme Launches To Boost Skills And Rejuvenate Heritage Buildings Across The Commonwealth

Charities Unveil Skills Training Programme

Named In Honour Of Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth Ii’s Platinum Jubilee

Former British Residency Hyderabad, Telangana, India – neoclassical building since been repurposed for the Osmania Women’s College:

photo : World Monuments Fund India

Commonwealth Heritage Conservation Project News

London – The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Commonwealth Heritage Skills Training Programme – the largest ever Commonwealth heritage project – was launched 19 May 2022 by the Hamish Ogston Foundation and the Commonwealth Heritage Forum. The charities have been granted the rare honour of naming the five-year programme in honour of the Sovereign, thus recognising Her Majesty’s seventy years of service to the peoples of the Commonwealth.

Durbar Hall Restoration of Madras Terrace Brickwork:

The programme, launched at Marlborough House, home of the Commonwealth Secretariat, in the presence of Baroness Scotland, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, will help Commonwealth countries to develop the range of specialist skills needed to protect valuable heritage sites. Over an initial five-year period, the programme will build capacity across the Commonwealth by training up to 600 people in a wide range of heritage skills from stonemasonry and joinery to mud brick and thatch. Through targeted on-site training projects, it will help to secure the future of up to twenty important, but threatened buildings and places across the Commonwealth.

Traditional carpentry skills:

With £4.5m in funding provided by the Hamish Ogston Foundation, the Commonwealth Heritage Skills programme will be delivered by both UK and international partners, including The Prince’s Foundation, the World Monuments Fund India and an international network of educational institutions. One of the first initiatives will be bursaries at The Prince’s Foundation Summer School enabling trainees from different Commonwealth countries to develop their knowledge and understanding of traditional architecture, design and building techniques, and how these can be applied in the 21^st century to repair and conserve historic buildings at risk. Other opportunities will include MA scholarships at The Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, Commonwealth training fellowships and online courses covering up to twenty core heritage skills.

Durbar Hall at University College for Women, Koti, Hyderabad, India:

The initial focus will be on the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent with countries including Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, Barbados and India benefiting in the first tranche of projects supported. Trainees are already undertaking crucial restoration work under expert supervision on three historic gateways at the Osmania University College for Women in Hyderabad, India. Later phases of the programme will be extended to cover Commonwealth countries in Africa, Australasia, the Far East and the Pacific.

Amita Baig, Executive Director at the World Monuments Fund India and John Darlington, Executive Director at the World Monuments Fund Britain: “As two of the World Monuments Fund Commonwealth affiliates (India & Britain) we are delighted be key partners in an inaugural conservation project for the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Commonwealth Heritage Skills Training programme. Funded entirely by the Hamish Ogston Foundation and managed by the Commonwealth Heritage Forum, this pioneering project involves the repair and restoration of the three monumental gateways at the Osmania University College for Women in Hyderabad (once the former British Residency), as well as the reinstatement of its grand axial central Mall. Six UK trainees will have the opportunity to join ten local apprentices working alongside each other to learn a range of specialist heritage skills.”

Robert Bargery, Heritage Project Director at the Hamish Ogston Foundation: “The Hamish Ogston Foundation is proud to be funding this unique programme in honour of Her Majesty The Queen, whose dedication to duty over seventy years is repaid with the respect and affection of Commonwealth peoples across the world. We are delighted to be providing, in Her Majesty’s name, training opportunities for young people that will stand them in good stead for sustainable careers and enable them to contribute to the preservation of historic buildings of real value to their communities.”

Philip Davies, the Chairman and Founder of the Commonwealth Heritage Forum: “Supporting heritage training and building local capacity in some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities, our Commonwealth Heritage Skills programme will make a real difference. By creating the heritage champions of the future, we will help local people save the buildings and places they value generating unprecedented opportunities to enhance heritage skills, create jobs and build a more sustainable future.”

Simon Sadinsky, Executive Director of The Prince’s Foundation: “As a champion of heritage craft skills, The Prince’s Foundation is proud to support The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Commonwealth Heritage Skills Training Programme, an exciting collaboration between the Hamish Ogston Foundation and the Commonwealth Heritage Forum.”

Hyderabad building:

The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Commonwealth Heritage Skills Training Programme

Partners:

The Hamish Ogston Foundation

The Hamish Ogston Foundation is an ambitious, committed and commercially astute charitable organisation, based in the UK, with a global reach, and dedicated to three prime areas of philanthropic focus: Heritage, Health and Music. The Foundation was set up by Hamish Ogston CBE, a successful entrepreneur from a very early age, and thereafter a committed philanthropist.

While his charitable giving started as early as 2008, the Hamish Ogston Foundation was formed more recently in 2019, to add discipline, structure and ambition to his philanthropy, supported by some of the UK’s top specialists in his chosen sectors. His prime goals are to provide young people, especially disadvantaged ones, with the practical skills to develop careers in the heritage sector; to deliver healthcare to those without; and to provide wider music opportunities to children across the UK.

Durbar Hall Restoration of papier mache ceiling:

The Commonwealth Heritage Forum

Founded in 2019, the Commonwealth Heritage Forum is an innovative membership organisation open to all those interested in supporting the conservation of the built heritage of the Commonwealth. It welcomes membership from individuals, heritage bodies and trusts, professional practitioners and academic institutions.

Durbar Hall restoration of Terrace Dome:

With an extensive international network, the Forum is able to draw together many widely-dispersed specialist organisations and individuals across the Commonwealth and the heritage sector. By sharing expertise, best practice and innovative solutions to long-standing problems, its purpose is to kickstart conservation-led regeneration, sustainable economic growth, skills development, training and youth programmes.

Durbar Hall Terrace Dome:

The Prince’s Foundation

The Prince’s Foundation, England

The Prince’s Foundation provides holistic solutions to challenges facing the world today. It

champions a sustainable approach to how we live our lives and build our communities, runs a diverse programme of education and training for all ages and backgrounds, and regenerates and cares for places where communities thrive and that visitors enjoy.

Durbar Hall papier mache ceiling:

The charity works nationally and internationally but at the heart of the organisation is the heritage-led regeneration of the Dumfries House estate and its wider community, where its principles and philosophies are explored and put into practice.

Commonwealth Heritage Conservation Project images / information received May 2022

Architectural Designs

Architecture Designs – architectural selection below:

Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme, London, England, UK

photograph © UK Parliament
Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal