There are still places available for the May 2022 registrations.
Places are now available for L2 SAP Structural Post & Beam NVQ and L3 HSAP Heritage Carpentry. Registrations for 5 places on each course will take place in Spring. Please refer to the CITB Grants & Funding tab on this site for details of eligibility.
To register your interest please contact admin@oftf.org.uk
CITB launched the Skills and Training Fund in 2016 to help Small and Micro businesses invest in their people. Since its launch, the fund has delivered over £20m of funding to 4500 employers who are developing the skills of their workforce and improving their businesses as a result. Ongoing conversations with industry has led CITB to broaden the scope of the Skills and Training fund, expand the Fund to medium sized businesses, and offer the opportunity for Training Groups to submit collaborative applications to the fund on behalf of members. The new funds will be launched on 1st April 2020.
CITB is expanding the scope of the fund to pay for a wider range of training and skills development activity, and to place more emphasis on innovation and Management & Leadership training. The funds will support different forms of skills development (such as coaching or mentoring), and allow funding of training not currently covered by the CITB Grant Scheme (as long as projects meet certain requirements). This is alongside the continued support of grant-eligible construction sector training, with amounts of funding available still determined by staff numbers, and still paid in advance.
For Small and Micro employers this will mean an opportunity to explore how skills and training can positively impact your business – be that the use of technology and associated skills, or simply new initiatives and practices not previously implemented. It is up to you to determine what you need; OFTF and CITB are both here to support you.
For Medium-sized businesses this means an entirely new way to fund the new initiatives your business needs, and the ability to support transformational Management & Leadership training – an evolution that is a direct response to feedback from stakeholders across industry.
More information and fund guidelines are available on the CITB website. If you would like more information on how the OFTF is supporting members to be part of our collaborative application, please contact admin@oftf.org.uk
More information can be found on the Skills and Funding FAQ page.
Two roofing courses were recently run at 16 King Street, Bristol which is, by the way, now also the registered address of the National Heritage Training Group. The first course was Regular Hip & Valley Roofing and the second course took this to a higher level with Advanced Roofing – Theory and Practice. These were both level 3 & 4 courses run by Alan Creasey who has a lifetime of experience in both contemporary and heritage roof construction techniques. A further advanced level course is planned for later in the year which will be a step-up to Complex Roofing. Alan also covers the history and development of roofs from Norman times onwards and infuses his delivery with many quirky historical facts and anecdotes which combine to make this course more entertaining than you might imagine it could be!
I have many years of experience of post and beam carpentry and also site carpentry and one of the most demanding elements of the craft for many people is the understanding of Euclidean geometrical theory applied to the construction of traditional roofing. For me the first course was a refresher in the setting-out of hips and valleys on regular roofs but it was also aimed at others in the group who had no experience of this type of roof layout. There are many books on the subject illustrated by many accompanying diagrams but they are no substitute for a course such as this where, as a group, you can work together under expert guidance to demystify some of the complexities involved.
The first week comprised theory sessions which investigated the mathematics of the trigonometry used in calculating the angles and lengths of the main roof timbers. This cumulated in a summary table of information which could be used to cut the roof in the workshop or on-site. With this information we went on to build a scale model of a hip and valley regular roof with a dog-leg gable feature.
During the second week we applied similar albeit more complicated geometry to the construction of a regular pentagonal 1.25 spire with jacks and purlins. To give some perspective the hips of our model were around 1.6 metres long.
I would certainly advise completing the first course before embarking on the advanced course. This point was also emphasised by the tutor who clearly understood that during the first week you develop a good basic grounding in the geometry and in the second week you build on this knowledge – with the assumption that you have grasped the geometry and the pace is a little quicker.
These courses are becoming rarer due to the commitments of the current tutor but if you do get the opportunity of getting your name down for the next ones I and many other fellow carpenters who have done it would recommend that you do so in order to increase your confidence and ability in this specialist area. Courses are advertised on the Carpenters Fellowship & Oak Frame Training Forum websites & social media.
The courses are run by the OFTF & supported by the CITB & NHTG
Jeff Storer Feb 2020
Bristol Timber Framing Company Ltd
This is a roofing course for carpenters wishing to move into the more complicated league. N.B. This course will begin with a brief recap of regular hipped roofs, however, the assumption is that attendees will not be novices to traditional cut-timber roofing.
Topics
Learners should bring their own tools, PPE, log/trig tables or scientific calculators (or mobile phones!)
The centre provides timber, drawing instruments and paper/card.
![FullSizeRender[6]](https://theoftf.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/fullsizerender6.jpg)
Registration is from 09:00, for a prompt start at 10:00 when the first lecture starts. If you can’t stay for the whole weekend, you can buy Day tickets for this event only at the CFshop *You can buy weekend tickets here, too*
IMPORTANT – If you would like a meal on Thursday evening, this will cost £10, payable on the day. However, you MUST book your meal, at least 24 hours in advance, by emailing Tim Potts at TP@carpentersfellowship.co.uk to let him know.
The campsite will be open on Thursday 31st August
Ours is the first event to be held in the brand new state-of-the-art 120-seat lecture theatre at St Fagans, which should be a pleasure for presenters and delegates alike.
Friday 1st September
| Time | What’s happening |
| 09:00-10:00 | Registration |
| 10:00-11:00 | Piers Taylor |
| 11:00-11:15 | Break |
| 11:15-12:15 | Fergus Feilden |
| 12:15-14:00 | LUNCH & Museum visit |
| 14:00-15:00 | Oakwrights Passive House |
| 15:00-15:15 | Break |
| 15:15-16:30 | Glazing Green Oak Frames |
Saturday 2nd September
| Saturday lectures |
| 09:00-09:45 Robert Demaus – The Assessment and Repair of Historic Timber |
| 11:15-12:00 Laurie Smith – Historic Geometrical Building Design in Wales |
| 13:00-13:45 Hooke Park – Advanced Fabrication, Experimental Architecture. |
| 15:00-15:45 Rick Collins – “The Most Famous Barn in America” |
Sunday 3rd September
| Sunday lectures |
| 09:00-09:45 Grigg Mullen – From Timber Framing to Boat Building, an interesting transition…. |
| 11:15-12:00 David Young – The vernacular architect of Ethiopia |
Llys Llewellyn (welsh for Llewellyn’s Court) is intended to be a reconstruction of one of the five royal residences that were in use in Wales in the early part of the 13th Century. Sadly none of these buildings has survived. The Carpenters’ Fellowship UK, working alongside the archeology experts of the Museum have created a design for this timber and stone building based on evidence from contemporary surviving wooden halls.
The construction is to be undertaken by a core team of CF members but other CF participants will be given the opportunity to get involved at the stage immediately prior to the site erection of the building.
All participants in the course will have the opportunity to contribute to the fabric of this unique building which will be a spectacular living history resource for many generations to come.
The Oak Frame Training Forum 