About This Traditional Building Skills Documentary

In 2013 I was commissioned by the North of England Civic Trust (now Cultura) to make this film for their Heritage Skills in Education project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and running across schools, colleges and universities in the North East. It was the first of what became three films I made for the Trust, and it introduced young people to conservation, repair and the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, alongside real pathways into traditional building skills as a career.

On Site With Craftspeople

Filming took place across several locations, including the South Mill in Durham, Victorian buildings and a number of John Dobson-designed churches. At each site, students worked alongside experienced craftspeople rather than simply observing them, cutting and assembling stained glass, pointing lime mortar into old brickwork, and trying woodcarving and stonemasonry for the first time. Most of them had never handled these tools before, and the film spends time on that first, slightly hesitant contact with a chisel or a piece of leaded glass, rather than jumping straight to a finished result. One tutor summed up what the sessions were for:

“We want them to see what’s involved, what stone feels like, how chisels work, how a mason brings something to life from an idea to a template to the finished stone.”

A Small, Quiet Setup

I kept the filming setup deliberately small for this one, a Panasonic AF101 and GH2, lapel mics and handheld lights, so I could move through the workshops without getting in the way. That let me stay close to the quieter moments: someone getting the hang of a technique, or the pride of holding up a first carved letter or a finished leaded pane. Looking back at this footage now, that same instinct, to keep the kit light and stay out of people’s way, is still how I approach most of my documentary work.

What the Students and Tutors Said

Tutors were candid about why sessions like these mattered. “If we’re not careful, we’ll have a generation that can’t cut wood or measure accurately,” one said. “These sessions help students build real-world awareness.” Another spoke about watching students grow from shy newcomers into confident presenters over the course of the programme.

Students had their own take on it too. “It’s nice to try a new craft, something we don’t get to do in school,” said one. Another put it more plainly: “I didn’t think I’d be good at this. Now I can imagine doing something like it for real.”

Beyond the Workshop

The programme was not only about craft skills learned by hand. Students also worked on the wider life of the buildings they visited, developing renovation ideas, drawing up conservation plans and proposing new uses for spaces that had fallen out of use, from a restaurant to a creative venue. One lecturer told me the whole curriculum became more holistic as a result, with students able to relate their coursework to a real heritage building rather than an abstract case study. That combination, hands-on craft alongside genuine design thinking, is part of what makes this traditional building skills documentary worth revisiting even years later.

Passing Something On

The film closes on a line from one of the stonemasons that has stayed with me since. “I learnt from my dad, who started in 1963. Now I’m passing on a little bit of what he taught me. You leave something behind you.” That is really what this traditional building skills documentary is about: not just the buildings themselves, but the knowledge and care that keeps them standing, handed from one generation of craftspeople to the next.