A Newcastle-based heritage training scheme, designed to protect the North East of England’s rich engineering heritage, has been awarded a prestigious Europa Nostra Award.

First launched in 2002 by the European Commission, the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Awards were created to promote excellence, inspire and stimulate the exchange of best practice in heritage across the continent.

The Heritage Skills Initiative (HSI) won in the category of education and training, beating out 263 nominees from 29 countries. The HSI scheme was launched in 2006 as a response to lack of heritage craftspeople able to maintain the region’s engineering heritage. Not only does the scheme provide training in traditional heritage skills, but it also works with students, teachers, charities and other organisations to promote educational opportunities and heritage training skills, also awarding bursaries to help with training for the region’s heritage engineering, such as its steam trains.

“The programmes have been developed to ensure a wide participation from schoolchildren through to professionals, enhancing their understanding for both the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the region,” said the Nostra judges.

“The project has achieved a reputation for raising the profile of heritage skills and providing opportunities for everyone to participate.

“The jury hailed the substantial contribution made by the HSI in raising awareness of the built environment in the North East of England and Cumbria, assessing training needs and delivering a varied programme with opportunities to develop knowledge of specific heritage skills.

“The HSI creates structured means for people to understand and be involved in caring for their regional heritage, and perhaps to consider it as a career.”

Since its inception, HSI has provided 200,000 hours of training to 43,000 people. The scheme says that 91 per cent of its engineering trainees continued into heritage and engineering employment, while 400 children from 25 schools aged 13 to 15 have taken part in educational sessions.

28 organisations were awarded a Europa Nostra across four categories – conservation, research and digitisation, dedicated service to heritage, and education, training and awareness-raising.

HSI was among seven winners in the training category, with other winners including:

• Programme for Owners of Rural Buildings in Estonia, Tallinn, ESTONIA

• The Garden City of Stains, FRANCE • The Fota Walled Garden, Cork, IRELAND

• Saving Past Testimonies for Building a Future, Chisinau, MOLDOVA • The Outbuilding Project, Roros, NORWAY

• Young Archaeologists’ Club, York, UK