Mindful to Maintain: Great turn out for Perth’s second Property Repair Seminar
Home owners and prospective owners of pre-1919 historic buildings enjoyed a relaxed and informative evening of short talks and Q&A on maintaining and repairing historic buildings in Perth’s Civic Chamber on 13 November. This was the second free event of this kind to be offered by Perth Solicitor’s Property Centre (PSPC) and Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust this year and was well attended with around 45 people turning out to hear key guidance on maintaining the condition and value of historic properties.
Buildings constructed before 1919 are full of traditional features that make them great places to live. Such character also brings specific needs and requirements when it comes to their maintenance and repair which many home owners find challenging to address through lack of appropriate information and the costs involved. Industry professionals spoke to a packed room at the first property repair seminar in March demonstrating a clear need for accessible advice on historic building issues.
The evening was chaired by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust and began with Annie Flint from Under One Roof who introduced the audience to a wealth of online accessible information on maintaining and repairing historic homes, especially those in multiple ownership such as tenements. Specialist talks followed from Graham Mitchell of @rchitects Scotland Ltd on the benefits of involving a conservation professional when undertaking repair projects, John McRitchie of Perth College UHI, on timber window maintenance, and Paul Higginson of Arc Architects Ltd on key repair issues that can be encountered.
The presentations were illustrated using examples of completed building repair projects in Perth City Centre offering the audience tangible evidence of the beneficial outcomes to arise from repairs employing best conservation practice. The evening was concluded by Sara Carruthers of Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust who introduced the Perth City Heritage Fund’s latest phase of grand assistance for home owners looking to repair their historic buildings which has become available this year.
For those who missed the seminar but would like to know more, the presentation slides can be downloaded from www.pkht.org.uk/resources /downloads. Historic Environment Scotland’s excellent series of Inform guides, Short guides and Technical advice notes can be downloaded (www.engineshed.scot), ordered in hard copy, or picked up for free from The Engine Shed in Stirling. More information on available funding for historic building repairs via the Perth City Heritage Fund, the Home Energy Efficiency Programme for Scotland (HEEPS) Equity Loan Scheme, or Perth and Kinross Council initiatives can be found at www.pkht.org.uk/pchf.
Funding for Perth City Heritage Fund Phase 3 Confirmed
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has announced that their support of the Perth City Heritage Fund will continue for the next three years. This exciting news allows the Trust to launch a third phase of the scheme bringing £750,000 of Scottish Government investment to Perth to assist with conserving and repairing historic buildings.
The main focus of phase 3 will be to offer grant-assistance to historic building owners with repairs in accordance with best conservation practice. This will build on the positive partnership working with Perth and Kinross Council developed in the earlier phases of the scheme where particular success has been achieved in tenement repairs. Here, support, guidance and funding to Owners' Associations has enabled a number of key listed tenements to be transformed through communal repair schemes.
PCHF manager Sara Carruthers explained:
“We have three themes for targeting the fund: Comprehensive repairs to historic tenements in multiple ownership; Repairs to historic buildings used or owned by local charities; and unused or under-used historic buildings, possibly in single ownership, being brought back into use.”
The scheme will operate between 2018 and 2021 with grants available for eligible works to historic buildings within the Perth Central and Kinnoull Conservation Areas.
“The grant themes are intended to focus the scheme’s efforts and maximise the regenerative impact of the funding from HES to bring both social and economic benefit to the city and its environs. Owners who are unsure if their building is eligible shouldn’t be deterred from getting in touch. We encourage enquiries as early as possible to ensure that the proposed works are eligible. We’ll consider large and small projects which meet the principle objectives of the scheme and the funding criteria.”
Educational and training projects will also be run to raise awareness of the importance of appropriate repairs using traditional materials and the skills associated with carrying them out. This will include the return of the popular traditional building skills roadshow that has taken place on King Edward Street in September for the past two years. This event offers secondary school pupils at career choice stages and members of the public the opportunity to try their hands at traditional crafts.
“We’re delighted to be continuing to work with Historic Environment Scotland and entering a third phase delivering the Perth City Heritage Fund. We look forward to grant assisting owners with conservation and repairs to their buildings and improving the city centre streetscape, the condition of people’s homes and enhancing the economic vibrancy of the city.”
PKHT Chairman Sue Hendry
HES CEO Alex Paterson joined PKHT Chairman Sue Hendry and PCHF manager Sara Carruthers to announce the funding outside the nearly completed Phase 2 grant-assisted property 31b-37 High Street. Business owner, grantee & chairman of 31b-37 High Street owners’ association Derek Paterson joined them for the occasion to celebrate the achievements of the previous two phases which have drawn in a total investment of over £2.5 million to the conservation and repair of Perth's historic buildings.
PCHF awarded two grants to revitalise the late 18th century tenement of 31b-37 High Street. A grant of £159,000 was awarded to the High Street Owners’ Association in 2017 to help meet the costs of a common repairs scheme using traditional materials in accordance with best conservation practice and an environmental enhancement grant of £20,000 towards the cost of a reordered shopfront has enabled Derek to expand his business into the vacant shop next-door increasing its retail and workshop space and bringing the whole ground floor of this prominent High Street location back in to use.
Sara and the Perth City Heritage Fund team are now inviting expressions of interest for phase 3 and prospective applicants are encouraged to make contact with the Trust through the contact us page on the website or by calling 01738 477093. You can find out more about PCHF at: www.pkht.org.uk/pchf
Standing room only at Perth’s first Property Repair Seminar
Home owners and prospective owners of pre-1919 historic buildings packed in to the ball room of the Royal George Hotel earlier this month as Perth Solicitor’s Property Centre hosted Perth’s first ever property repair seminar. Solicitors, architects, estate agents and surveyors from across Perth and Kinross were also in attendance to hear building conservation industry professionals offer guidance and answer questions to a full room of around 70 people on topics ranging from organising comprehensive repairs to retaining and maintaining traditional windows. Buildings constructed before 1919 are full of traditional features that make them great places to live. Such character also brings specific needs and requirements when it comes to the maintenance and repair of historic buildings. The evening of short talks and Q&A was chaired by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust and offered key introductory level guidance on how to maintain the condition and value of a historic property.
The seminar began with guidance talks from Simon Roberts from the Scottish Government, Annie Flint from Under One Roof and Colin Tennant from Historic Environment Scotland who introduced the audience to a wealth of online accessible information on maintaining and repairing historic homes. Specialist talks followed from Colin Tennant on the importance of stone matching, John McKinney, National Federation of Roofing Contractors, on roof repairs and John McRitchie, Perth College UHI, on traditional window maintenance. The evening was concluded by Sara Carruthers of Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust who offered examples of recent comprehensive repair projects, supported by the Perth City Heritage Fund, where home owners have put the theory into practice to great effect.
For those who missed the seminar but would like to know more, the slides can be downloaded from www.pkht.org.uk/resources /downloads. Historic Environment Scotland’s excellent series of Inform guides, Short guides and Technical advice notes can be downloaded (see links), ordered in hard copy, or picked up for free from The Engine Shed in Stirling.
If you’re interested in learning more about matters concerning traditional building, we’re running a six part CPD programme in architectural conservation beginning in April 2018. More details can be found at: www.architcpd.eventbrite.co.uk.
As active members of the Fife and Tayside Traditional Buildings Forum, the Trust was proud to attend a reception at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh this month. The evening was hosted by Gordon Lindhurst MSP and organised to celebrate and recognise the valuable contribution made by the Scottish Traditional Building Forums to successfully raising awareness of traditional building skills in Scotland.
Our Historic Buildings Development Officer Sara Carruthers represented the Trust and was accompanied by Martin Richardson of TJ Ross Joiners Ltd as well as pupils and teachers from St John’s Academy who had participated in the Perth Traditional Building Skills event held on King Edward’s Street in September. PKHT have run two of these events in Perth now as part of the Perth City Heritage Fund outreach programme. Other members of the Fife and Tayside Traditional Buildings Forum were also present, as were schools and forum members from similar skills events delivered elsewhere in Scotland.
Raising awareness of traditional buildings skills and offering young people training opportunities are two of the Trust’s core strategic aims and it was a pleasure to present the work we’ve been doing in Perth and Kinross to MSPs and share this special evening with colleagues from across Scotland.
Working in close partnership with the Fife and Tayside Traditional Buildings Forum, we held our second two-day Traditional Buildings Skills event on King Edward Street in Perth. The event is intended to raise awareness of Scotland’s fantastic traditional buildings and the specialist skills needed to keep them in good repair through demonstrations and opportunities for people to have a go at traditional building skills. This year we had demonstrations by specialists in stonemasonry (Historic Environment Scotland [HES]), specialist joinery (TJ Ross Ltd & Perth College UHI), roof slating (Dundee & Angus College & Braisby Roofing), and painting and decorating (Ross Hastie-independent signwriter). Information and guidance was provided to homeowners interested in repairing and maintaining their buildings by representatives from HES, Perth and Kinross Council and PKHT. Construction careers advice was also available from Balfour Beatty’s Community Investment Manager.
Inspiring future generations through skills from the past is a major focus of this event, reflecting the core strategic objectives of the Trust. Secondary school pupils from Crieff & Perth High Schools, Breadalbane, St. John’s & Perth Academies, and Perth Grammar School attended half-day sessions where they got to try each of the skills in turn. These pupils are beginning to think about their career choices, so giving them these opportunities at this stage is really important in helping them consider and realise the potential of less well known practical career options.
The event was well attended and attracted a lot of interest from the passing public. We were also delighted to welcome local MSP Murdo Fraser and Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Roseanna Cunningham MSP. Peter Wishart MP also came along expressing great interest in what was happening and tried his hand at the trades.
The local press were also out with a particularly nice feature being published in The Courier.
The event was a collaboration between Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust, Perth City Heritage Fund, Perth and Kinross Council, Dundee & Angus College, Historic Environment Scotland, T J Ross Ltd, Ross Hastie Signs, University of the Highlands and Islands Perth College, National Federation of Roofing Contractors, Scottish Contractors Group, Construction Industry Training Board and Stone Federation GB and Balfour Beatty.
