Mainstreaming Heritage Construction: A Route Map for the Industry

Summary

Please note: this event is for over 18’s only.

This webinar explores why heritage construction is not a specialist niche but an essential part of mainstream UK building practice. With over six million traditional pre-1919 buildings across the country, understanding how to maintain and retrofit these structures correctly is vital for quality, sustainability, and profitability.

The session will demonstrate how heritage competence offers contractors a clear business advantage — enabling access to new markets, higher-value projects, and stronger reputations for quality and craftsmanship. It will outline a practical route map for contractors to enter the heritage sector, upskill teams, and align their work with national Net Zero and retrofit objectives.

To bring this to life, Mike Dennis will present an inspiring case study in the second part of the webinar. Trained as a carpenter specialising in timber framing, Mike expanded his expertise through NVQ Level 3 qualifications in Stonemasonry and Heritage Plastering at the Tywi Centre. His commitment to traditional skills led to an extraordinary opportunity — working on the reconstruction of Notre Dame de Paris after the devastating 2019 fire. Once thought impossible to rebuild, the medieval roof structure was revived through rediscovered craft knowledge. Mike’s story highlights not only the career potential and global relevance of heritage skills, but also the lessons for the future of sustainable timber construction.

The webinar concludes with details of training and development opportunities through the Tywi Centre, which supports contractors, craftspeople, and SMEs across the UK in developing heritage and retrofit expertise.

Aims

· To demonstrate the mainstream importance of heritage construction within the UK building industry.

· To show the commercial and professional benefits of investing in heritage skills.

· To share a real-world success story showing how traditional craftsmanship opens new pathways and experiences.

· To connect contractors with training and support through the Tywi Centre.

Objectives

By the end of the webinar, attendees will:

1. Understand the scale and significance of traditional buildings in the UK.

2. Recognise the business case for heritage competence — including new markets, profitability, and reputation.

3. Learn from Mike Dennis’s case study how heritage skills can lead to exceptional professional opportunities.

4. Identify practical steps to build heritage capability and integrate it into day-to-day operations.

5. Discover how to access Tywi Centre training to develop skilled, future-ready teams.

Please note that all email reminders and webinar follow up information will be sent through Eventbrite. Please check your junk folder and add Eventbrite to your safe sender list to avoid missing any communications regarding this webinar.

Members: gain 3 CIOB CPD points when you reflect on the ethical aspects of your learning from this activity.

Speakers

Nell Hellier

[email protected]

www.tywicentre.org.uk

Nell Hellier is a highly experienced heritage educator, specialising in the conservation, maintenance, and sustainable adaptation of traditional buildings. She serves as Senior Built Heritage Officer and Tywi Centre Manager at Carmarthenshire County Council, where she leads the Tywi Centre - a nationally recognised hub for training, guidance, and professional development in historic building care.

Nell is passionate about sharing knowledge that bridges the gap between historic building conservation and sustainability. She has extensive experience designing and delivering accredited courses, workshops, and bespoke training programmes for heritage practitioners, local authorities, construction professionals, and community groups. Her teaching expertise spans appropriate repair techniques, energy efficiency in historic buildings, heritage impact assessment, and listed building consent, enabling participants to make informed, technically sound decisions that protect and enhance the historic built environment.

She has also developed a wide range of educational resources, guidance documents and public engagement initiatives to promote best practice in building maintenance, repair, and retrofit. Through her work, Nell combines technical authority with exceptional communication skills, fostering understanding and practical application of conservation principles across the sector.

Nell’s leadership and advocacy have established her as a respected figure in heritage education, promoting the sustainable management of traditional buildings in response to contemporary environmental and societal challenges.

Mike Dennis

With the help of a National Lottery Heritage Skills bursary, Mike undertook an old-fashioned apprenticeship around 15 years ago near Brecon under the mentorship of Alan Ritchie. His carpentry journey has taken him around the world, having worked on projects such as the Kinsol Trestle bridge on Vancouver Island; a heritage centre with Carpenter’s Without Borders in Guizhou, China; and notably the Nave of Notre Dame de Paris as carpenter and experimental archaeologist. Mike holds an MSc in Timber Building Conservation and an MA in Historic Buildings with the University of York. Through social media, Mike hopes to inspire the next generation of craftspeople as well as those that will employ them. This has led him to work and volunteer on projects such as reproductions of Viking and Saxon ships. With the help of the Tywi centre, he spent much of 2025 experiencing apprenticeships in other trades in order to better understand current issues facing the industry at ground level.

Online Platform

The webinar will be held using MS Teams. Before the session, you will receive an email from Eventbrite containing a link to complete your registration on Teams. After registering with Teams, you will receive the link for joining the webinar.

Time Zones

The webinar is being advertised in the GMT/BST time zone, but you can easily see the local time for the webinar using World Time Buddy: www.worldtimebuddy.com/.

Contact

Vicky Coxon

Member Services and Events Coordinator

[email protected]

How can we help you get the most out of this event? We want to ensure accessibility for all of our members. Please contact us in confidence prior to attendance and we will do our best to answer any questions and support any additional needs you may have.

CIOB Assist

The webinar is free for CIOB members to attend, but if you would like to make an optional donation to CIOB Assist you can do this during the registration process.