News
HRH opens a construction skills centre in Poundbury
9th December 2009
The Prince of Wales tried his hand at stonemasonry when he opened a new skills centre in Poundbury, an urban extension of Dorchester.
His Royal Highness was opening the Dorset Construction and Training Centre which teaches sustainable building skills.
Poundbury was built on Duchy of Cornwall land to His Royal Highness’s architectural principles. Watch a film about Poundbury on The Royal Channel on YouTube.
Today The Prince met students in the college's workshop and was handed a slab of Portland stone to carve.
His Royal Highness used a steel dummy and letter cutting chisel to carve out parts of a nail point pattern in the slab and was taught how to properly hold the chisel.
Lecturer Richard Mortimer said: "It's not every day you get to teach royalty. I can't believe it, it's a really great honour for me."
"He said he had had a little go before," said Mr Mortimer.
"He did really well. He picked the chisel up straight away and went straight into it, he didn't hold back at all. I'm very surprised he had a go.
"He was asking which way to cut the stone and whether he was holding the chisel correctly," added Mr Mortimer.
Unveiling a plaque to mark the official opening, The Prince said: "A training centre like this really is important to focus on sustainable construction and stonemasonry. Here in Poundbury, perhaps, is the ideal place for it to be."
He added: "I couldn't be more pleased to see what is happening here. The quality of the training and the apprentices is remarkable.
"All I have done is to make a complete fool of myself by being offered a go at making a nasty mess of a lump of stone, which makes me more appreciative of the amazing skill needed to do this work.
"There's a large black hole in terms of skills out there in this country. The fact what is happening here is making a difference is of enormous importance."
The Prince said it made him proud to think some of the college's students would go on to work on great buildings, having trained in Poundbury, and he wished them success in the future.
The students will give a stone and teak bench to Clarence House as a gift once it is finished.
The Prince was also shown tucals - African style mud huts - made by the students to hone traditional building skills such as thatching.
The centre hosts all of Weymouth College's stonemasonry courses and also runs heritage-based courses such as dry stone walling.
It has been open since 1st February, is one of three colleges to teach stonemasonry in the UK and aims to become a centre of excellence in sustainable construction.
Earlier, The Prince led visitors around Poundbury to show them how an urban extension can be built sustainably with the needs of the pedestrian in mind, rather than the car.
The Prince, who has been Patron of the Samaritans charity since 1999, went on to meet volunteers from the Weymouth branch, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next spring.
He officially handed over the keys to their new £5,000 van, bought after more than a year of fundraising, to transport up to six volunteers at a time.