Οur team participated in the European ERASMUS+ project ‘HERO – Heritage Restoration for Inclusion Opportunities’, together with other European teams: the Acta Vista (France, leader partner), Bao Formation (France), Pour la Solidarité (Belgium), 4Grada Dragodid (Croatia).

This project promoted linking the implementation of architectural heritage restoration projects with professional training in heritage crafts, involving vulnerable* social groups, and adopting practices with a reduced environmental footprint.

In the first stage of the project, we developed a gallery of initiatives from different European and Mediterranean organisations involved in developing and implementing educational projects.  

In the following stages of the project, the teams collaborated to create a training handbook aimed at individuals who work as trainers in restoration and sustainable construction projects, or who are involved in educational activities related to heritage preservation.​

The educational material includes:

• a pedagogical part, with theoretical and practical tools for the transmission of technical knowledge and, in particular, for the inclusion of people from vulnerable social groups, 
• technical tools for professional training in historic building techniques that highlight the environmental dimensions of the latter, and solutions to reduce the environmental footprint of a restoration/construction project, and
• a series of 9 educational videos on the construction of dry stone structures, the application of plasters and grouts, and other techniques, as well as the organization of educational activities.

The project was completed with the publication of an advocacy paper for policymakers, featuring suggestions for advancing social inclusion, vocational training, and environmental sustainability in architectural heritage restoration projects.

In the framework of the project, several activities on communication and knowledge exchange took place with craftspeople and trainees in France, Greece, Croatia, and Belgium.

*The term vulnerable or specific social groups refers to people who are found in a disadvantaged position in their integration into the labour market for economic, social and cultural reasons, e.g. unemployed young people, long-term unemployed persons, people with limited professional or educational choices, who may be located in remote areas, etc., but also to other forms of social exclusion in general.