TEACH (Training Enterprise and Assessment in Conservation of Heritage) at Waxham Barn Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust
Pictures: Norfolk County Council
Waxham Barn is a landmark building near Sea Palling, within the North Norfolk Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport classifies Waxham Barn as "Grade I" listed, making it one of the nation's most important historic buildings. The barn is also the largest within Norfolk. Prior to the project the building was redundant and some of its out-buildings derelict. The aim of this project was to repair the building and to open it up as a visitor centre, so helping to support the local tourist economy and ensuring a viable future for the building.

Building Conservation

The works included the repair of the barn's three derelict wings, with re-thatching of the roofs and the conversion of one wing to provide visitor facilities. Repairs were carried out using local materials - flint re-used from the site and reed thatch sourced locally.

Skills Training

The project organisers recognised that there were significant gaps in skills and training for the building conservation sector. Hence an important and integral part of this project was the provision of training and assessment in Conservation and Restoration craft skills. This enable more widespread benefits in encouraging the survival of local traditional construction skills.

By helping unskilled trainees to gain formal qualifications, enabling them to take on more demanding building conservation work, the project contributed towards the LEADER+ aims of supporting the underemployed.

Sustainable Tourism

Waxham Barn is now used as a visitor centre. Its character and location makes it an ideal site to provide visitor information relating not just to the importance of traditional local craft skills, but also about the area's fragile coastal environment.

Funding

Broads & Rivers LEADER+ offered a grant of £22,000, towards the total project cost of £462784, with the bulk of the funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage. The LEADER+ component was primarily to ensure the training component of the project could proceed. .

Wide Partnership

The TEACH project relied upon an impressive partnership between a number of organisations:

  • Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust which was responsible for overseeing the repairs, managing the barn as a visitor facility and providing an income for future maintenance and repair. It also managed the employment of staff at the Information Centre.
  • Norfolk County Council is the owner of the barn and also acted as Technical Advisor to the Trust.
  • RG Carter Builders, a major private company, acted as the main contractor for the repairs. It also provided training in Restoration and Conservation through its training arm, RG Carter Technical Services Ltd.
  • The Construction Industry Training Board is contributing funding towards the project and is the joint awarding body for Construction NVQs.

Contact

For further details, contact Caroline Davison.

caroline.davison.pt@norfolk.gov.uk