BCITO Solid Plaster Master Class

The Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) organised a Solid Plaster Master Class for their apprentices in February 2009. The success of this course provides an excellent example of what can be done to preserve unique workplace skills for posterity.

The master craftsman aspect of the solid plastering trade is achieved by completing an optional strand in Specialist Mouldings and Decorative Work within the Solid Plaster National Certificate qualification.

Unfortunately very few apprentices today have the opportunity to complete this strand because very little of this type of work is possible in modern buildings.

Retired master craftsmen are generally engaged whenever an historic building requiring specialised plastering work is refurbished. Consequently the trade could eventually have no one left to pass on specialist knowledge crucial to the restoration of New Zealand’s heritage buildings.

To rectify this problem, BCITO joined with other industry groups to facilitate a practical, two-week long Solid Plaster Master Class. Four senior master craftsmen mentors provided tutoring for ten young industry apprentices in specialist solid plastering skills.

The master class was timed to coincide with the multi-million dollar restoration of the historical Supreme Court building in Wellington. The class gave the apprentices the opportunity to learn the artisan side of the trade associated with running mouldings and decorative work in the workshop and at the Supreme Court site.

The graduates of the master class came away with unique skills and a qualification in a specialist strand of plastering which will always be in demand. As one of the apprentices remarked, “I feel really thankful at being given the opportunity to learn these new skills. Even though they are the skills of the past, they can be applied to the work of the future.”

WEBSITE - www.bcito.org.nz