Warning over traditional skills

There have been warnings of a traditional skills shortage

Training in traditional building skills is vital if Scotland's heritage is to be preserved, according to experts.

A conference in Aberdeen is discussing a "crisis in old-fashioned skills" needed to maintain properties.

Historic Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland said there was a major shortage of people coming into the industry.

The general construction trade and the more specialist traditional trade are facing a major skills shortage.

Scotland's ancient properties, from castles to cottages, require constant and costly maintenance.

Experts at the summit - backed by Robert Gordon University - include master craftsmen in skills such as masonry, ironmongery, slate and timber.

Training centre

Specialists are examining how the decline in traditional craft skills has been tackled in places such as Romania.

Prince Charles visited the site of the pioneering traditional skills training centre at Fyvie Castle last year.

It is expected to accept its first pupils after the summer.

The centre, believed to be the first of its kind in Scotland, will offer courses such as traditional joinery and garden maintenance.

The project will teach stone masonry, traditional joinery, lime pointing and rendering, path-making, dry-stone dyking and garden and landscape maintenance.