Visit to the Buildings Craft College

This afternoon, Thursday 18th November, Mrs Moira Davies, Head of Careers and Further Education, accompanied two Upper Sixth Form pupils, Quinn and Corin on a visit to the Buildings Craft College (BCC) in East London. A fascinating few hours which included a tour of the college to learn more about the core skills training courses offered in carpentry, stonemasonry and conservation. Both Quinn and Corin have a strong desire to become skilled carpenters and Building Crafts College has a long tradition of delivering high quality education training in building crafts and building conservation.

The College teaches a wide range of fine woodworking, stonemasonry and construction courses and apprenticeships as well as related subjects such as conservation and restoration. Evening crafts classes are also available. The student population of the College is fairly diverse with a wide range of ages and backgrounds. BCC courses stretch across a very wide variety of skills-based work opportunities. It is possible for a student to enter the College to complete a Level 1 multi-skills course and then progress through to complete a degree in Historic Building Conservation, or a Construction Management qualification.

King Edward’s has historical links with the Worshipful Company of Carpenter’s, so our tour of the college was an insightful and exciting opportunity to learn more about these highly skilled training courses reconnecting us with our foundational ethos.

The Building Crafts College was founded in 1893, by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters’, a City livery company, to train young people in a range of construction crafts. The first Chairman of the College was architect Professor Banister Fletcher, the author of the world renowned book ‘A history of Architecture on the Comparative Method’, which was first published in 1896 and is still in print today. The College occupied the same site in Central London from 1893 to 2001 before relocating to a purpose-built facility in Stratford, East London in 2001.

The Building Crafts College is constituted as an Educational Charity and is governed and financially supported by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters. Approximately 60% of their income is derived from public sources, 25% in fees and 15% from charitable sources, mainly the Carpenters’ Company Charitable Trust.