Blog 002 - The Arts of Specialist Contracting

“For this relief much thanks. 'Tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart.” William Shakespeare, Hamlet

The Arts and Construction sector have been thrown a small lifeline by the Chancellor in his most recent statement, releasing £880m of grants for the financial year to April 2021 and supplemented by £270m of repayable loans. A further £100m of targeted support for national cultural institutions in England and £120m to restart construction work at cultural sites will be made available by the Treasury.

This will come as a lifeline for parts of the specialist contracting sector. Whilst it may not seem it, the Arts & Culture serve not just in an entertainment function but as an important employer to the specialist contracting sector. Projects paid for by the Arts and Culture sector range from large scale gallery and museum extensions and refurbishments, to set building for pantomimes and lighting installations above art work. The Arts & Culture as a construction employer often provides the workstream for the most niche of specialist contractors, from Stone Masons undertaking repairs at heritage and cultural sites to hand carved joinery in old theatres. These are skills that as industry we cannot afford to lose and without the funding to continue these projects, whole trades will be lost along with the buildings and performances that rely on the Arts and Culture sector.

I hope that the Chancellor’s statement and any forthcoming budget provides a much-needed stimulus and in the quick time that the sector needs it. Without appropriate representation of the Specialist Contracting Sector at a national level it is important that companies and tradesman take the opportunities available to them but also take the time to investigate grants and funding to help their trades and businesses survive. The Government must work to cut the red tape so that sole traders of specialist nature can work on contracts in the arts and culture sector without the expense and administration required for endless and over complicated pre-qualification. Main Contractors and Employers should be encouraged to provide coaching to smaller specialists to help them in the production of critical safety and quality documentation that is a requirement on these projects but even more, to do it without charging!

I hope that to safe guard these trades and in turn, the buildings that they work on for the future, accessibility to the Youth Training Scheme funding is made simple and easy for the small scale business such as stone masons and plaster of Paris moulding makers and restorers to encourage the employment and training of the next generation of niche specialist contractor. Whilst there will always be a future private sector demand for traditional trades such as brickies and chippies, it is essential that Britain retains its depth, breadth and historic skill of its specialist contracting sector.

Now is a critical time for the preservation of our specialist contractors and careful attention must be given to ensure that in the push for Government “box building” of houses, important and historical trades are not lost forever as a by-product.

If you want to know more or want to see what grants you have available, you should contact your relevant trade association. Otherwise, you can always drop me an email and we can have a chat and see if we can help each other.