heritage craft-exec_summary

Mapping
Heritage Craft
Executive Summary
October 2012

Creative & Cultural Skills supports the skills and training needs
of the UK’s creative and cultural industries.

We deliver through our Skills Academy, a growing network of
employers and training providers who are committed to the
provision of high quality, industry-relevant creative education
and training, apprenticeships and careers advice. We are
licenced as a Sector Skills Council by the UK Commission for
Employment and Skills.
For further information, please visit www.ccskills.org.uk

This research was sponsored by the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills, which supports sustained growth and
higher skills across the economy.
www.bis.gov.uk

Creative & Cultural Skills Mapping Heritage Craft: the Economic Contribution of the Heritage
Craft Sector in England
CEO Prepared by TBR’s Creative & Cultural Team
Pauline Tambling
Catherine Large October 2012

To deliver this research, TBR worked in partnership with Qa Research
Trustees
and independent consultants Victoria Pirie and Sara Selwood.
Paul Latham
Ric Green
Please address enquiries about this report to:
Keith Arrowsmith
Gillian Clipson Research Department
Jane Glaister Creative & Cultural Skills
Rosy Greenlees Lafone House
Brian Kelly The Leathermarket
Roisin McDonough Weston Street
Jayne Mee London SE1 3HN
Robin Millar
Martin Penny Telephone: 020 7015 1800
Alison Wenham Email: london@ccskills.org.uk
David Worthington www.ccskills.org.uk

Table of Contents

Foreword02
Executive Summary 04
Introduction06
Definition06
Method06
Demand for Heritage Craft Skills and Knowledge 07
Business Performance 08
Gross valued added 10
Supply of Heritage Craft Skills and Knowledge 10
New entrants 11
Training available to the sector 11
Apprenticeships11
The Future of Heritage Craft 12
Legacy and passing on knowledge 13
Conclusion13

01

Creative Cultural Skills Mapping Heritage Craft

Foreword

We are delighted to present Mapping Heritage Craft, a major piece of economic research to define and
measure the size and scope of work in the sector. It stems from ongoing dialogue with Heritage Craft
practitioners who felt very strongly that the sector needed to be better understood. This is an often
unclearly defined and sometimes hard-to-reach sector, made up of a proliferation of micro-businesses.
We are extremely pleased that, through innovative work conducted with the sector itself, we are able to
shed new light on this area of the economy.

We are grateful to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), who were responsible for
sponsoring the research and who will be keen to hear recommendations from its findings, which is our
next stage of work. These recommendations will also build on the work conducted in 2009 to create
the Craft Blueprint – Creative Cultural Skills’ original workforce development strategy for the sector –
which highlighted the need for further investigation into this area.

The research provides evidence on the size, shape and nature of work in the Heritage Craft sector, which
will engender a consistent approach to supporting its workforce in the future. Anecdotal and isolated
evidence has led to a lack of awareness of the challenges facing the sector and its real size and scale.
This new evidence base shows that over 169,000 people work within it, using traditional hand skills to
provide products and services in response to growing public demand. The sector is set to grow in the
future; we anticipate a 12% growth in employment in the period leading up to 2022.

For the first time, the research also highlights the significant economic impact of Heritage Craft, with
the sector as a whole contributing £4.4 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy. This is
striking for a set of skills and jobs which are often considered hobbyist occupations or lifestyle choices.

The work also uncovers major issues for the future of the sector which must be addressed. The sector
is ageing; however, the vast majority of practitioners state that they are not passing on their skills and
knowledge to a next generation. Young people will need entry routes and guidance into the sector if it
is to be sustainable. Creative Cultural Skills is committed to helping this happen through programmes
such as the new Skills Academy for the Heritage sector, a new set of Craft Skills Awards, and new work to
support apprenticeships in Heritage Craft.

We believe that Mapping Heritage Craft has created a substantial body of evidence to inform future
work to support the sector. We look forward to a period of direct action planning around Heritage Craft,
involving as wide a network as possible. This report is now freely available and publicly accessible via
www.creative-blueprint.co.uk, along with the rest of our research. We hope that it will be widely used
by the sector and its representative associations to aid their case for support, and by policy makers and
stakeholders in order to respond appropriately.

Catherine Large and Pauline Tambling
Joint CEO, Creative Cultural Skills


Those of us working in Heritage Crafts have been aware of a serious potential loss of skills for many
years. In the UK, we still have world-class craftspeople and there is strong demand for their products,
but many are approaching retirement without successors. The sector is characterised by large
numbers of micro-businesses and sole traders, and devoting time to training or employing assistants
is often difficult because of the need to prioritise craft work to make a living. Within the sector, we
have been aware of this through anecdotal evidence, and, since it was founded, the Heritage Crafts
Association has been calling for a survey to produce real data to confirm this. The quotations of working
craftspeople in the report give the true voice of those involved in Heritage Crafts, and this is the first
time that the anecdotal and qualitative evidence has been supported by hard facts and quantitative
research.

The overall figures are impressive. 83,490 firms in the sector employ 209,390 people in all, with a
turnover of £10.8 billion contributing £4.4 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the economy. The sector
is also predicted to grow, with employment rising by 12% over the period 2012-2022. These figures
again support anecdotal evidence which suggests that there is strong demand for these skills, with the
export market for heritage-branded luxury goods being particularly buoyant.

The skilled workforce is ageing, with approximately 50% of the workforce aged between 40 and 60
02
years old. There are also more people working in the sector over the age of 60 than under the age of 25.
03
This verifies anecdotal evidence from craftspeople and highlights the lack of training opportunities and
entry routes to the sector.

Respondents in the survey regard workplace learning as crucial to their current skills, with 73%
highlighting formal or informal apprenticeships, mentoring or on-the-job learning as being the most
important. However, 63% of the workforce have a level 2 or lower as their highest qualification, which
indicates that formal routes do not necessarily exist to train people. At a time of youth unemployment
and when many people are looking for more meaningful work, it would be a significant loss to future
generations if these businesses – almost all of which are viable and make a valuable contribution to the
economy – and the Heritage Craft skills used by them were not passed on to the next generation.

The Heritage Crafts Association looks forward to working with the government, Creative Cultural Skills,
appropriate agencies and with the sector to secure the future of Heritage Crafts. In particular, we want
to enable the sector to pass on skills through apprenticeships and qualifications that are relevant for the
sector, primarily involving bench-side learning. It is crucial to address the issues highlighted in this report
and to create the conditions in which the best of British craftsmanship can flourish.

Robin Wood
Woodworker, Chair of the Heritage Crafts Association
and research steering group member


Execut
Summ

Mapping Heritage Craft Executive Summary

ve 04
05

ary


Executive Summary

Introduction

This is the first comprehensive study to define, categorise and examine the size and shape of the
Heritage Craft sector in England.

To date, Heritage Craft has been a largely under-examined area of the economy. This has been
driven by two main factors: the difficulty in identifying and measuring the proliferation of very small
businesses that make up the sector; and the challenge of reaching a common definition around what
constitutes Heritage Craft practice.

The research has been sponsored by BIS and called upon the expertise of individuals and organisations
from within the Heritage Craft sector to formulate and test ideas on an appropriate methodological
approach and to achieve clarity around the activities that should be encapsulated in a definition.

Definition

The phrase Heritage Craft means so many different things to different people and organisations,
depending on perspective, that arriving at an agreed definition of what constitutes Heritage Craft was
arguably the most difficult aspect of this research.

The starting point for the definition was the paper Towards a definition of Heritage Craft1, which
provides a number of parameters that support the identification of a definition. Based on these
parameters, this research defines Heritage Craft as:

“Practices which employ manual dexterity and skill and
an understanding of traditional materials, designs and
techniques in order to make, repair, restore or conserve
buildings, other structures, modes of transport, or more
general, portable objects.”
In order to satisfy the dual needs of the project (firstly to find a definition that would be meaningful for
the sector, and secondly, one that can be measured) the research employs a two-tier definition:

1 “paper” definition: a listing of the various practices that could be considered to be Heritage Craft,
A
providing specific detail on the nature of the activities and products/outputs/services. This describes
in detail the materials and practices used and the products/services created and/or delivered.
2 “measured” definition: an aggregation of the detailed paper listing, bringing together practices
A
into manageable groups of activity in order that they could be measured.

A table showing the 16 groups of materials and composites in the Heritage Craft definition and 58
subgroups related to individual areas of activity can be found in Chapter 2. The paper definition is
available as an annexe to this report.

Method

The key challenge presented by this research was determining a method of measuring the economic
footprint of the sector. The method used employed six main steps as follows:

1 Creating a master database of Heritage Craft makers, practitioners and businesses using data
available from associations/guilds/membership bodies and online directories.
2 Utilising keyword searches on a business dataset2 to identify Heritage Craft businesses and their
economic activity.
3 Applying weights to this “known universe” of businesses and makers to scale this up to a population
estimate.
4 Undertaking a survey of 762 Heritage Craft businesses in order to collect specific data on the nature
of activity, business performance and needs.
5 Modelled data from ONS data sources on GVA and workforce demographics.
6 Historic trend data on employment and standard econometric forecasts of anticipated
performance in order to estimate a likely future employment footprint.

1 http://creative-blueprint.co.uk/library/item/towards-a-definition-of-heritage-craft1
2 The dataset used for the research was Trends Central Resource. For more information see
http://www.tbr.co.uk/pages/tbr-observatory/tcr-database.php


In addition to the core strand of quantitative research, the study also included:

• A series of 22 in-depth interviews with Heritage Craft businesses. Given the size of the sector, it was
not possible to undertake interviews with businesses in every craft group. As such interviews were
conducted in sets in order to deliver case study information on four craft groups: Stone, Wood plant,
Guns and Instruments. These interviews provide illustrative evidence of the reality of operating in the
sector in order to complement (and in some cases contrast with) the quantitative evidence.
• Desk research to develop an understanding of the supply of training available to the sector. This
research focussed on the learning opportunities provided through trade associations/guilds and the
availability of (and participation in) apprenticeship frameworks allied to Heritage Craft.

Demand for Heritage Craft Skills and Knowledge

The workforce

The sector currently employs a workforce of 209,390 people. This covers all individuals employed
in Heritage Craft businesses. A total of 169,550 (81%) of these people use Heritage Craft skills and
knowledge for the majority of their working time (Heritage Craft Emp in the table below).
06
07
This varies across the different Heritage Craft groups, with businesses in the Paint and Plaster groups
stating that more than 90% of their workforce use Heritage Craft skills and knowledge intensively,
compared to approximately 70% in Animal and Jewellery.

Table 1: Heritage Craft firms and employment

Heritage % Heritage Avg Heritage Craft
Group Firms Total Emp Craft Emp Craft Emp Emp per firm*

Paint 21,460 40,990 37,210 91% 1.7
Wood plant 16,400 34,710 30,710 88% 1.9
Metal 7,140 30,110 23,030 76% 3.2
Textiles 7,970 25,710 20,640 80% 2.6
Clay 4,370 16,550 8,100 49% 1.9
Plaster 11,460 15,600 14,760 95% 1.3
Glass 4,570 9,460 7,230 76% 1.6
Animal 1,030 8,790 6,210 71% 6.0
Stone 2,490 8,470 6,690 79% 2.7
Paper 1,670 7,900 6,160 78% 3.7
Instruments 2,130 3,730 2,910 78% 1.4
Precious metals 1,010 2,560 2,060 80% 2.0
Vehicles 900 2,530 2,010 79% 2.2
Guns 660 1,580 1,320 84% 2.0
Jewellery 120 450 300 67% 2.5
Toys automata 100 250 210 84% 2.1
Total 83,490 209,390 169,550 81% 2.0
Source: Heritage Craft Mapping Survey 2012 (TBR Ref: W1/S2)


In terms of distribution across England, the West Midlands has the highest absolute number of Heritage
Craft workers, with 37,220 of the workforce being employed in this region, followed by the North West
with 32,965. There is a significant gap between these and the next highest employer, Yorkshire and the
Humber, with 27,460 employees. Links to broader industrial concentrations in some regions are evident.
For example, a higher number of Textiles employees in the North West, East Midlands and Yorkshire
and the Humber, and Metal in the West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber.

Across the sector, workers tend to be employed in micro-businesses, with 96% of people in firms with
10 employees or fewer. This figure is driven by the fact that 78% of the workforce works independently/
is self-employed (i.e. is employed in a firm with only one employee – themselves). This is reflected in the
majority of the workforce (84%) being employed on a permanent, full-time basis3. A further 10.6% are
permanent, part-time and 5.4% are operating on a non-permanent basis (either a fixed-term contract,
casual employment or unpaid). Businesses do call upon this small non-permanent workforce, using an
average of 1.3 additional workers (on top of those currently working with this business) per firm in a
given year. Scaling these figures up, it is possible that, at any one time, up to 112,530 additional people
could be working in the sector.

The key demographic characteristics of the workforce are:

• The sector has a very small proportion of employees from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)
backgrounds compared to the average for England; 95% of the workforce is white compared to 90%
across the economy as a whole.
• The workforce is predominantly male, 83% are male and 17% are female. This is in stark contrast to
the gender balance of England’s workforce as a whole, which is 54% male, 46% female.
• Employees in Heritage Craft are much more likely to have no qualifications or other qualifications in
comparison to the English workforce as a whole (14% compared to 6%, and 11% compared to 2%
respectively) and are also less likely to have a Level 6+ (postgraduate) qualification (2% compared to
10% in England overall).
• The workforce is older than the average for the rest of the economy. This is driven primarily by a lower
proportion of workers aged up to 34 (28.6% in Heritage Craft compared to 34.8% in England) and
proportionately more workers aged 60+ (11.6% in Heritage Craft compared to 8.5% in England).

Business Performance

Turnover

The total turnover generated by the sector is £10.8 billion, with £5.5 billion being directly attributable
to the Heritage Craft elements of the businesses. The turnover per firm generated by Heritage Craft
activity is highly variable across the different groups. However, the average turnover per firm that
is directly attributable to Heritage Craft is £65k. It should be noted that this is £12k below the VAT
threshold.

Animal and Paper generate the most Heritage Craft turnover per firm, with both having a high total
turnover and a large percentage directly attributable to Heritage Craft. Toys automata and Precious
metals have the highest percentage (92% and 87% respectively) of turnover directly attributable to
Heritage Craft.

3 Self-employed sole traders would be included in this category of permanent employees, but could be employed full or part time in their business.


Table 2: Turnover across the sector

Turnover directly
attributable to
Heritage Craft % Heritage Heritage Craft
Group Firms Total turnover activity Craft turnover turnover per firm

Animal 1,030 £482,802,420 £384,436,060 80% £373,240
Paper 1,670 £552,255,170 £458,035,580 83% £274,270
Precious metals 1,010 £190,198,670 £166,028,230 87% £164,380
Metal 7,140 £2,206,303,620 £975,775,090 44% £136,660
Guns 660 £179,944,220 £84,926,720 47% £128,680
Stone 2,490 £646,808,380 £276,531,510 43% £111,060
Textiles 7,970 £1,115,642,080 £855,006,230 77% £107,280
Vehicles 900 £136,672,510 £75,384,960 55% £83,760
Wood plant 16,400 £1,740,756,980 £1,324,177,450 76% £80,740
Toys automata 100 £8,566,490 £7,896,780 92% £78,970
Glass 4,570 £613,829,890 £263,537,840 43% £57,670
08
Jewellery 120 £13,395,770 £5,896,320 44% £49,140
09
Instruments 2,130 £127,567,530 £82,395,790 65% £38,680
Clay 4,370 £1,178,538,050 £137,412,340 12% £31,440
Plaster 11,460 £541,239,890 £166,740,390 31% £14,550
Paint 21,460 £1,112,008,010 £217,082,530 20% £10,120
Total 83,490 £10,846,529,670 £5,481,263,810 51% £65,650

In no single group does 100% of turnover come from Heritage Craft activity. This is not to say that no
single business takes 100% of turnover from Heritage Craft activity, rather that this is rare.

Across the sector there are four key activities that businesses engage in to generate revenue (businesses
may do one, some or all of the following):

• Making/reproducing things: where a new object or structure is created.
• Repairing/maintaining things: where repairing/maintaining means fixing an item in order to make it
functional again, not specifically taking into account the original design and using modern materials
alongside original materials.
• Restoring things: where restoring means returning something to a functional state, specifically taking
into account the original design and using original materials.
• Conserving things: where conserving means maintaining something to secure its survival, countering
deterioration, and preserving the object/building/structure’s history and value to the greatest extent
possible.

Approximately three-quarters of businesses provide goods/services that involve repairing/maintaining
or restoring things, and half of businesses make/reproduce or conserve things. However, this profile of
activity changes considerably when businesses are asked to specify the main activity undertaken. This
brings making/reproducing and repairing/maintaining to the top of the list.

In terms of reaching the market for these goods/services, the majority of the Heritage Craft sector sells
its products/services via word of mouth (73%), which 65% of businesses regard as the most important
route in terms of the total value of sales. The next two main methods used were advertising through a
directory (30%) or online through the business’s or individual’s own website (22%). However, these were
rarely viewed as the most important methods for contributing to the total value of sales (4% each).

The reliance on word of mouth as the most important method of generating income is reflected in the
data on location of customers: the sector is highly dependent on locally-based customers for generating
income; an average of 67% of income across the sector is generated from customers based in the local
area. However, this is variable by group.


Gross valued added

Across the sector as a whole, GVA is £4.4 billion, with £2.2 billion (50%) of this being directly
attributable to the Heritage Craft activities of businesses. Overall, Wood plant has the highest
Heritage Craft GVA (£519m) and has a high proportion of its total GVA as Heritage Craft GVA (76%).
Jewellery has the lowest Heritage Craft GVA (£2.3m) and also a relatively low proportion of the total
GVA being attributable to Heritage Craft activity (44%).

GVA per head delivered by Heritage Craft employees working in the Heritage Craft aspects of the
business is highly variable, ranging from £32k in Guns to £2.8k in Paint. The average for Heritage Craft
employees is £12.8k. This compares to an average GVA per head in England of £30.9k.

Guns, Precious metals and Paper deliver the highest levels of GVA per head of the workforce,
demonstrating that employers in this group are able to generate the most value from their Heritage
Craft skills and knowledge.

Table 3: Gross value added across the sector

Heritage Heritage % Heritage Heritage Craft
Group Craft Emp Total GVA Craft GVA Craft GVA GVA per head

Wood plant 30,710 £680,846,020 £519,110,600 76% £16,900
Metal 23,030 £785,541,350 £368,842,500 47% £16,020
Textiles 20,640 £408,957,460 £313,009,540 77% £15,170
Paper 6,160 £219,621,480 £190,720,090 87% £30,950
Animal 6,210 £151,797,360 £124,787,140 82% £20,090
Stone 6,690 £256,200,660 £109,384,770 43% £16,350
Paint 37,210 £546,847,780 £106,753,820 20% £2,870
Glass 7,230 £264,022,380 £104,345,500 40% £14,440
Plaster 14,760 £307,619,520 £94,768,700 31% £6,420
Precious metals 2,060 £73,201,760 £63,888,010 87% £30,960
Clay 8,100 £467,757,850 £55,692,220 12% £6,870
Guns 1,320 £89,536,930 £42,257,970 47% £32,000
Instruments 2,910 £59,777,320 £38,413,340 64% £13,190
Vehicles 2,010 £58,304,970 £32,659,030 56% £16,250
Toys automata 210 £4,211,850 £3,882,570 92% £18,460
Jewellery 300 £5,437,890 £2,393,560 44% £7,990
Total 169,550 £4,379,682,590 £2,170,909,350 50% £12,800

Supply of Heritage Craft Skills and Knowledge

Training requirements and habits

The most popular forms of training and education undertaken to develop Heritage Craft skills and
knowledge are experience through working/learning by doing (43%), formal apprenticeships (30%),
and mentoring from an experienced craftsperson (21%). This reflects the skills profile of the workforce,
particularly the tendency towards either non-qualification based training/learning or vocational
qualifications.

Similar patterns occur when it comes to employers maintaining and improving the Heritage Craft
skills and knowledge used in the business. The method most commonly used was experience through
working/learning by doing (55%). Furthermore, very few pursued short courses, adult education classes,
mentoring, or free online tutorials. Of concern, though, is that a fifth of businesses actually do nothing
to maintain and improve their Heritage Craft skills and knowledge.

A potential explanation for this is that only one-third (33%) of businesses overall felt that there were
currently Heritage Craft skills and/or knowledge that they themselves or their team would like to
develop. Where businesses did note the requirement for further skills and knowledge development, this
most commonly related to additional skills working with a specific material related to their craft, or
formalising their skills through further study and/or qualifications.


New entrants

12% of the Heritage Craft workforce is made up of new
entrants who have been working for under a year.
A further 27% of the workforce has been in their current role for 1-5 years. Taking into account a
varying learning period of 3-6 years in order to establish skills and knowledge in a craft, it would be fair
to describe these two groups combined as “apprentice” workers. In which case, just under 40% of the
workforce is in the apprenticeship phase of developing their skills and 60% are established Heritage
Craft workers.

New entrants are most likely to be aged between 20 and 34. However, approximately one-third are also
likely to be aged between 35 and 49. This reinforces anecdotal evidence that, for many, the move into
Heritage Craft is a career change later in life, rather than a first career. It also adds further insight to the
age profile of current employees, highlighting the small proportion of young people choosing the sector
for their first job.
10
Training available to the sector
11
Training from guilds and associations

A review of the learning opportunities provided across Heritage Craft guilds and associations identified
that the main type of training provided is at entry level. The aim of this training is largely to support
members of the public to learn the basic skills and knowledge of a particular craft, in order to develop as
an amateur.

Following on from this, the “next step” of training provided by the guilds is a range of courses to support
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for professionals already operating in the sector. This type
of training is aimed at individuals who have already attained a specific level of skill in the craft and who
wish to specialise in a certain area. CPD courses are less extensively offered than entry-level courses, but
are a significant element of the training offer.

A key element of the offer from guilds in terms of the development of professional (rather than amateur)
skills is their engagement with and support of apprenticeships in the sector. The level of engagement
in the provision of apprenticeships appears to function at two levels: 1) the guilds act as a mediator for
connecting businesses (usually members of the guild) with apprenticeship vacancies to persons seeking
an apprenticeship in that craft; 2) a deeper level of engagement with the supply of apprenticeships,
including involvement in the design of the apprenticeships and acting as a governing body.

Informal learning and development opportunities – such as exhibitions and lectures, which do not have
specific learning objectives but provide the opportunity to keep up to date and network with peers –
are also a common feature of the landscape.

Apprenticeships

Mapping the availability of apprenticeships is not a straightforward task. Apprenticeships are
offered under a variety of frameworks according to the sector in which they are delivered and data
is usually reported at the framework level. Only limited data is available to describe the nature of the
apprenticeship and therefore it is not possible to determine the extent of relevant Heritage Craft activity.

However, data is available on the number of vacant apprenticeships currently advertised on the
National Apprenticeship Service website and the number of apprenticeships started and achieved in
frameworks allied to Heritage Craft between 2002 and 2012.

At the time of writing, there were only 221 vacant apprenticeships currently advertised on the National
Apprenticeship Service website in frameworks allied to Heritage Craft, the majority of which tended to
be in construction-related activities.

The data on starts and achievements shows a similar bias towards construction-related apprenticeships,
with 64% of all those started in the last ten years being in this field.


The Future of Heritage Craft

The size of the footprint

Forecasted employment over the next ten years estimates
that the number of employees in the Heritage Craft sector
will have grown by 25,000 people (12%) to a total of 234,600
by 2022.
Overall, there is cautious confidence within the Heritage Craft sector for the forthcoming two to three
years; 34% of businesses expect some growth in demand, 38% expect that demand will remain at the
same level, and only 16% expect demand to decline.

Stone and Precious metals show a percentage change of almost 50%, with Stone also having one of
the highest levels of absolute growth. Metal and Paint, starting from some of the higher bases in 2012,
also make a significant contribution to absolute growth. Although small in numbers, growth is also well
above average in percentage terms in Vehicles and Guns. The forecast also predicts decline in a small
number of groups, with Jewellery seeing the largest decline in percentage terms and Wood plant in
absolute terms.

Table 4: Heritage Craft employment forecast 2012-2022

Change 2012-2022
Group 2012 2017 2022 Absolute Percent CAGR*

Stone 8,470 10,255 12,380 3,910 46.2% 3.9%
Precious metals 2,560 3,070 3,665 1,105 43.2% 3.7%
Vehicle 2,530 2,895 3,300 770 30.4% 2.7%
Guns 1,580 1,775 1,990 410 25.9% 2.3%
Metal 30,110 33,090 36,300 6,190 20.6% 1.9%
Paint 40,985 44,115 47,355 6,370 15.5% 1.5%
Textiles 25,710 27,415 29,160 3,450 13.4% 1.3%
Clay 16,550 17,615 18,730 2,180 13.2% 1.2%
Toys automata 245 260 270 25 10.2% 1.0%
Animal 8,790 9,140 9,450 660 7.5% 0.7%
Glass 9,465 9,725 9,995 530 5.6% 0.5%
Plaster 15,595 15,945 16,260 665 4.3% 0.4%
Paper 7,895 7,865 7,820 -75 -0.9% -0.1%
Wood plant 34,710 34,410 34,065 -645 -1.9% -0.2%
Instruments 3,735 3,605 3,470 -265 -7.1% -0.7%
Jewellery 450 415 385 -65 -14.4% -1.5%
Total 209,810 221,585 234,600 25,215 12.0% 1.1%
Source: TBR Observatory 2012 (TBR Ref: W1/S6)
* CAGR = Compound Annual Growth Rate


In terms of the drivers behind this anticipated growth, the most prominent causal factor noted by
businesses was changes in the state of the economy, followed by increasing awareness/recognition of
their brand. Comments around changes in the economy focussed on the positive impact of economic
growth and the recession lifting; people having more money to spend and the recession being “good
for business” – the latter particularly relating to customers seeking to restore or repair items, rather than
buy new.

When considering the changes required to the current workforce in order to meet an increase in
demand, three different types of action rise to the top, each noted by approximately one-third of the
businesses anticipating growth:

1 No action. Suggesting that some businesses are currently performing under capacity and the
increase in work would be met by fully utilising the resources available.
2 Increase working hours/improve use of working time. Just under a third of businesses felt that
they would need to either increase the number of hours their staff worked (22%) or increase the
productivity of their skilled craft workers (10%).
3 Recruit. Most commonly there was a need to recruit people into non-craft roles. When probed as to
which roles these might be, employers mainly commented on administrative functions or sales and
12
marketing.
13

In terms of the drivers of decline in demand, whilst only 16% of businesses are anticipating decline, this
is also mainly driven by the state of the economy. For these businesses the recession was anticipated to
continue to have a negative impact on the business, with people having less spending power.

Across the small proportion of businesses in the sector that felt that they were likely to experience
decreased demand, the most common response to this was to close the business (14%). Whilst 8% of
respondents with decreasing demand felt that they would not have to make any changes if demand
decreased, 12% felt that they would need to reduce the size of the workforce in some way, 6% would
not replace workers who left the business (either through retirement or leaving for other reasons) and
3% said they themselves would retire.

Legacy and passing on knowledge

Overall, the majority (77%) of businesses in the Heritage Craft sector do not undertake activities to pass
on craft skills and knowledge to people outside of the business. For those who do, the most popular
activity is to teach informally and free of charge, with 30% of respondents stating that they do this.

Of those who do not undertake any activities, 34% state that they would like to but either do not know
how to get involved in such activities, do not have the time, feel that cost would be a prohibiting factor
or perceive there to be a lack of interest in such activities.

For those who did not want to participate in such activities, they either did not see the need to (again,
there was a perceived lack of interest for such activities), did not have time or had concerns about
“training up the competition”.

Conclusion

Through this research, there now exists a detailed, robust evidence base that delves in-depth into
Heritage Craft activity across England, enabling a new understanding of the sector. The issues and
questions it raises will form the basis of debate and review in the next stage of action planning.
However, this is an important line in the sand, a grounding of evidence which both the sector and other
bodies can use as a starting point from which to move forward.

This research has been led by Fiona Dodd, Head of Research at TBR, in association with Qa research
and POMEGRANATE.
TBR is an economic development and research consultancy with niche skills in understanding the
dynamics of local, regional and national economies, sectors, clusters and markets. TBR has a wealth of
experience in delivering mapping and skills based research in the creative and cultural industries and
related sectors. TBR celebrated its 25th year in business in 2011 and is proud to continue providing
invaluable evidence and knowledge, from which strategic decisions can be made.
www.tbr.co.uk
POMEGRANATE works across the cultural industries by providing research and analysis, and supporting
organisational change and development. We help our clients make effective use of their resources and
data in order to plan and deliver successfully, and become more resilient.
Partners: Sara Selwood Victoria Pirie
www.pomegranateseeds.co.uk
Qa Research is an award winning full service social and market research agency specialising in a range
of sectors including travel and tourism, education, healthcare, business and skills.
We provide a wide range of innovative qualitative and quantitative research techniques, tailored to the
needs of the audience in order to build trust, encourage openness honesty therefore providing high
quality and accurate data. We are accredited to ISO:20252 and are a Market Research Society (MRS)
Company Partner.
www.qaresearch.co.uk

Published in October 2012
Creative and Cultural Industries Ltd is registered in England as a Charity No. 1105974
and as a limited company by guarantee No. 5122855 at Lafone House, The Leathermarket,
Weston Street, London SE1 3HN.
All photography © of Briony Campbell
Design by Project
www.thisisproject.com

London Office Scotland Office Wales Office Northern Ireland
Lafone House 28 Castle Street 1 Caspian Point 77 Malone Road
The Leathermarket Edinburgh Pierhead Street Belfast
Weston Street EH2 3HT Cardiff BT9 6AQ
London SE1 3HN CF10 4DQ

T (020) 7015 1800 T (0131) 226 4642 T (02920) 444195 T (02890) 385272
E info@ccskills.org.uk

www.ccskills.org.uk

For further publications by Creative Cultural Skills
please visit www.creative-blueprint.co.uk

ISBN 978-0-9564298-8-9

heritage craft-exec_summary

More Related Content

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to heritage craft-exec_summary (20)

More from Association of Independent Museums (20)

heritage craft-exec_summary