Free courses on how to look after our historic buildings to take place as part of Grantham project

The district council is funding a series of three online talks about the maintenance of historic, traditionally constructed buildings.

Experts from Historic Lincolnshire, in partnership with Historic England, will be delivering the talks by Zoom as part of the Grantham High Street Heritage Action Zone programme.

The talks will take place each Thursday for three weeks from Thursday, February 17, funded by South Kesteven District council.

The talks are aimed at anyone living, working or with an interest in historic buildings, and will explore what makes the buildings so special and provide advice on how to preserve them.

These sessions will be valuable for people in the construction industry or interested in learning about the requirements of historic buildings.

Claire Saunders, project manager of the High Street Heritage Action Zone programme, said: "These workshops will be a fantastic introduction for anyone who wants to understand more about traditional building maintenance and preservation, and to learn simple ways to make their property more energy efficient and things to avoid."

Claire added: "Whether you live in a Victorian terrace or a listed building, these workshops are an ideal place to start.

"The courses provide a great starting point for anyone in the building industry who would like to understand more about the historic buildings they work on, or to begin specialising in work on traditional buildings."

An estimated 21% of homes, 33% of offices and 50% of retail properties nationally were built before 1919.

With energy prices on the rise, it is increasingly important to make traditional buildings more energy efficient, without damaging the building's fabric or losing what makes them special.

As building materials have significantly changes since 1919, modern materials and methods for maintaining buildings can cause damage to traditionally built properties.

The first two sessions will provide a better understanding of traditional building techniques and materials to help participants properly maintain buildings, and so preserve them for the future.

During the first session the talks will explain heritage designation categories and traditional building materials and techniques, whereas the second workshop will show participants how to identify signs of disrepair and carry out maintenance.

After these, the final session will explore how to address the 21st century problem of increasing efficiency whilst minimising the impact on the historic significance of the property.

Booking is essential for these talks and tickets are available through https://www.heritagelincolnshire.org/shop/all/tickets/cpd-talks