Llanelli was the venue for a successful Level 3 Award - Repair and Maintenance of Traditional (pre-1919) Buildings. Hosted at the newly-refurbished function room at Stamps, a listed building itself, the two-day course provided a solid understanding of the importance of maintaining and repairing pre-1919 buildings appropriately and the challenges associated with this.
The course provided a balanced mixture of practical and theoretical content and was delivered by Nell Hellier and Tom Duxbury, of Llandeilo-based Tywi Centre.
The Tywi Centre, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in November, is one of the built heritage services within the planning department of Carmarthenshire County Council. Its aim is to support the protection of the historic buildings of Wales through delivering training, education and information to all custodians of old, pre-1919 buildings across Wales.
“The course was attended by a mix of delegates - plasterers, contract managers, conservation officers, site managers and housing inspectors,” explained Ruth Rees, of the Heritage Construction in Wales (HeCW) project which funded the event.
As well as the classroom part of the training, there was also a site visit to the Old Odeon in Llanelli, a walking tour of historic streets in the area and a practical lime demonstration. Feedback from the course was really positive and more training in the care and repair of historic buildings is planned for the new year.