Traditional trades (known also as traditional building trades and preservation trades) is a loosely defined categorization of building trades who actively practice their craft in respect of

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

, heritage conservation, or the conserving and maintenance of the existing

built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...

. Though traditional trade practitioners may at times be involved in new construction, the emphasis of the categorization is toward work on existing structures, regardless of their age or their historic value, with a specific interest in replication or conservation of the original results and craft techniques.

Trade technologies

Traditional building trades commonly include

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

timber framing Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

log building Log buildings and structures can be categorized as historic and modern. They are placed in opposition to wooden structures built using frameworks, according to Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. A diverse selection of their forms and styles with examples of ...

, traditional roofing,

upholstery Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something. ''Upholstery'' comes from the Middle English wor ...

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. C ...

and

joiner Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes (such as laminate), to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, ...

y, sometimes

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses piping, pipes, valves, piping and plumbing fitting, plumbing fixtures, Storage tank, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. HVAC, Heating and co ...

plasterwork Plasterwork is construction or ornamentation done with plaster, such as a layer of plaster on an interior or exterior wall structure, or plaster Molding (decorative), decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. This is also sometimes called parge ...

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, blacksmithing, and ornamental metal working ( Bronze and brass). In addition to "hands-on" skills and knowledge of building processes, traditional trade practitioners incorporate knowledge of historic preservation, materials science, historic architecture, and procuring replacement materials. Contemporary practitioners of traditional trades must also avail themselves of modern technologies, current materials science, and 21st century construction project management. The work performed by these practitioners is not only essential to the maintenance of the historic built environment, but also to the preservation of the traditional trade skills and knowledge themselves. In many cases, traditional trade skills and techniques date back centuries. Traditional trades such as carpenters and timber framers; masons, plasterers, lime burners, and brick makers; painters; blacksmiths; and slate, metal, shingle, tile, and thatch roofers, are anecdotally said to be “dying” arts. While it is true that some techniques of the past are not well enough understood, it is also true that these crafts have been practiced continuously all over the world without dying at all. Traditional trades not only restore and help to maintain buildings, but also stabilize priceless archaeological sites, and in doing so, help us understand the techniques used at places like

Cuzco Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous province and department. The city was the capital of the Inca Empire unti ...

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...

, and

Angkor Wat Angkor Wat (; , "City/Capital of Wat, Temples") is a Buddhism and Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia. Located on a site measuring within the ancient Khmer Empire, Khmer capital city of Angkor, it was originally constructed ...

. Such trades are not solely practiced for the conservation of monumental heritage sites and can be applied to conserve vernacular sites such as barns.

Materials technologies

The traditional trades focus on preservation of the knowledge of craft work specific to historic building technologies and traditional/non-traditional building materials. Traditional building materials and traditional trade technologies are commonly associated with a host of materials, but not limited to, stone, brick,

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

, cork, leather, timber and log, bamboo, thatch,

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

and metal roofing, fine and vernacular carpentry, ornamental

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

(

scagliola Scagliola (from the Italian language, Italian ''scaglia'', meaning "chips") is a type of fine plaster used in architecture and sculpture. The same term identifies the technique for producing columns, sculptures, and other architectural elements t ...

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

, window and door restoration, wood refinishing, painting,

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

and

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

. In what may at times be considered non-traditional materials are found trades such as chandelier and lighting restoration where you have to be somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades with an understanding of electricity, and knowledgeable with properties and finishes of metals, glass, and optics. As an example of the mix of new and old materials, the art of restoration of mobile residential trailers requires a number of traditional trade skills associated with traditional and contemporary materials in a manner not dissimilar to those hand-work skills and preservation approaches required to restore an historic automobile, a biplane, rocket ship or steam locomotive.

Green trades

Traditional building technologies tend towards a closer relationship of the built environment to an in-practice understanding, interaction and use of

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

and recycled or salvaged building materials than is common in the practice of modern and contemporary building technologies. For example: a traditional timber framer in search of difficult-to-acquire materials with which to rebuild heritage structures will tend to seek out an understanding of forest management, tree harvest, conversion process and building design and technique. These integrated skills and their supportive knowledge base both in scale and localization are readily adaptable to strategies of sustainable new-build economies. Old buildings and structures were built once, energy and natural resources previously expended, and to adaptively re-use or recycle them often requires an understanding and appreciation of not only how the older materials with which they were built work together in a structure, but a need to understand the techniques by which these materials were originally worked, and an understanding of how they can most optimally be worked now.

Knowledge of process

As opposed to an emphasis on

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

(as with an architectural conservator) the primary orientation of a traditional trade practitioner tends toward the in-process work activity and physical interaction and intervention with the building materials and the coordination, education and

project management Project management is the process of supervising the work of a Project team, team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project initiation documentation, project documentation, crea ...

of in-field work teams.

Team members

Traditional trades are quite often team members with architectural conservators, preservation architects and structural engineers in both the design phase investigation of heritage sites as well as involved directly in the undertaking of the hands-on restoration process. Traditional trades as a resource to the historic preservation industry provide a physical grounding in feasibility, construction logic, field and site logistics, reference to skilled traditional trades practitioners, estimate and budget considerations.

Availability

Skilled traditional trades practitioners are generally available to preservationists and property stewards who give themselves a chance to find them. Besides the Internet and verbal networking, information about traditional trades can be found through trade associations and training programs, both private and governmental. If a particular job is limited to union workers, the union should provide workers with the appropriate skills or else allow an exception for a particular task. A traditional trades practitioner may also be able to recommend experts in related skills, as well as promote good communications among the different disciplines at work on any given project.

Education

Basic levels of training in contemporary building and craft skills are a prerequisite to specialization in traditional trades work. Individuals with an interest in learning a traditional trade can seek out learning opportunities either through formal vocational programs or through informal mentorship in at-work field practice under the tutelage of a traditional trade practitioner. Family businesses, trade unions, historic preservation businesses, government programs
National Park Service Historic Preservation Training Center
, college programs, religious and non-profit organizations are areas where an interest to provide education of traditional trade practice can often be found. As the individual increases in skill, learning will come from study, from workshops, from travel and personal contacts, and from clues found in the work itself. Some individual tradespeople provide training opportunities for their fellow tradespeople without a close association with the larger educational institutions. Individuals providing trades training include:
Steve Quillian, Historic Homes Workshop
Amy McAuley, Oculus Kelsie Gray Institutions providing trades education programs include:
The Preservation Education InstituteBelmont TechCollege of the RedwoodsSavannah College of Art & DesignAmerican College of the Building ArtsNorth Bennet Street SchoolPine Mountain Settlement School
Organizations providing trades education resources, and hands-on workshops include:
Preservation Trades Network
* In England are the Heritage Skills HUB, The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and The Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance. * In Europe are the Gewerbe Akademie in Rottweil Germany; Compagnons du Devoir in France, Telford College in Scotland, and masonry trades programs in Ireland. * International Trades Education Symposia (ITES) have been held in 2005 at Belmont Technical College in Ohio and in 2007 in Telborg, Sweden. These symposia deal with the availability and quality of traditional trades education programs worldwide.

External links

:Heritage Skills HUB is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, set up to promote and support Traditional Building Skills to all those who care for traditional buildings.
Preservation Trades Network
(PTN): membership community organization focused on traditional trades practitioners and allied professionals in the international preservation industry
PCLS: Interview Project
interviews of contemporary traditional trades practitioners
SLCT
The Scottish Lime Centre Trust is a non-profit that educates the public and promotes the benefits of using traditional materials and techniques. {{DEFAULTSORT:Traditional Trades Artisans Craft occupations Historic preservation Skilled tradespeople