Young people get a hands-on experience of traditional building crafts

Building on Paisley’s historic environment, the event hopes to encourage more young people to get into traditional building crafts as part of the budding construction industry in the area.

Renfrewshire Council, Morrison Construction and West College Scotland jointly hosted the event, which included talks on college courses, foundation and modern apprenticeships, and the wider opportunities in the constructions field, including graduate apprenticeships and trainee schemes.

Young people took part in taster sessions for traditional skills like wood turning, painting, slating and leadwork, as well as seeing for themselves how some of these skills are being used in the refurbishment of Paisley Town Hall.

Morrison Construction are delivering the town hall transformation and, as part of the contract are delivering a series of community benefits to the local community including recruiting local people and providing work experience, training and skills development opportunities.

It also builds upon the council’s work on the Paisley Townscape Heritage and Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme and the wider heritage and culture of Paisley.

Convener for education at Renfrewshire Council, Councillor Emma Rodden, said: “Renfrewshire is steeped in heritage culture and has many buildings of great historic and architectural interest. These workshops are a fantastic opportunity for our young people to get a taste of the traditional crafts used to build them in times gone by.

“Construction and manufacturing are rapidly expanding industries in Renfrewshire, and we hope that these sessions will encourage young people to consider entering these fields as a career when leaving school”

David Ewing, managing director for Morrison Construction (Central), said: “We are delighted to be working in Partnership with Renfrewshire Council and West College Scotland to organise the traditional building skills event. We hope that by using the Paisley Town Hall site as a learning tool at this event, we can encourage pupils in Renfrewshire to consider a career in construction and highlight the opportunities within Morrison Construction, our supply chain and the wider industry.”