Sean Houlston, in his capacity as Head of Membership at the National Federation of Builders, represented the construction industry’s heritage interests at a high-level roundtable in Parliament this week.
The session, chaired by Nigel Huddleston MP, brought together senior leaders from Historic England, the National Trust, Historic Houses, the Heritage Alliance and Historic Royal Palaces to discuss the future of the heritage sector.
Attending on behalf of the heritage and traditional building sector, Sean ensured that construction heritage was given clear prominence in the debate. He set out the scale and significance of the traditional build sector, noting that heritage construction supports half of all jobs across the wider heritage economy and is responsible for the care and conservation of more than 6.5 million pre-1919 buildings across the UK.
Sean also highlighted the urgent workforce challenges raised in the Heritage and Traditional Build Sector Skills Plan, stressing the need to address shortages in specialist crafts, expand high-quality training routes and provide certainty around long-term skills pipelines.
Speaking after the roundtable, Sean said:
“Construction heritage is too often treated as an afterthought, despite being fundamental to the functioning of our wider heritage sector. Without skilled craftspeople and competent contractors, we lose the very fabric that makes our historic environment so valuable. I was pleased to champion this message in Parliament and underline the need for sustained investment in skills, training and long-term planning.”
