The stuff we're made of: The resurgence of traditional building techniques

Published on Monday 1 March 2010 18:03

Traditional building techniques have helped shape the character of Scotland. Now a new book, exhibition and conference aim to capitalise on a resurgence of interest in using the materials that have for centuries provided the country with places to live and work, discovers Jim Gilchrist

• A stonemason working on stone that is to be used in the restoration of Observatory House. Picture: Jane Barlow

WE ARE what we build. Our sense of place and identity are influenced by the built environment that surrounds us and, as a major two-day conference in Edinburgh tomorrow and Thursday will discuss, that environment has in turn been determined by the traditional building materials used in Scotland over the centuries.

From the massive stonework of Neolithic monuments or the imposing masonry of castles and tower houses to the ruddy pantiles which give our east coast communities their distinctive roofscapes or the humble "auld clay biggin" celebrated by Burns, these materials, as a new book associated with the conference declares, "have literally been the building blocks of our rich built heritage".

Building Scotland: Traditional Building Materials In Scotland will be hosted by Historic Scotland in Edinburgh's Assembly Hall – an apt enough situation, perched as it is on the crest of the city's Old Town, amid an unrivalled variety of Scots urban architecture. A related exhibition is also running in the Laigh Hall of Edinburgh Castle before touring the country, while in association with the conference, a richly illustrated book of the same title, edited by Moses Jenkins and published by John Donald, will celebrate the 14 building materials being discussed at the event, from age-old stone and timber to more recent developments such as pantiles and the architectural ironwork in which Scotland was once a world leader.

As First Minister Alex Salmond writes in his foreword to the book, Scotland's farm cottages and tenements as much as its castles and historic houses, "form part of the world around us, that create our sense of place, and are a pivotal point of reference for understanding who were today".

And if such topics sound like the rarefied realm of specialists, remember that the essential maintenance of our built heritage, allied with a construction industry currently trying to ride out recession by turning to maintenance and refurbishment rather than new-build, are dependent on an understanding of these traditional materials – and, vitally, the ability to work with them at a time when building skills tend to be geared to goods that arrive in flat packs or on pallets. Not only that, but as David Mitchell, director of Historic Scotland's technical conservation group, points out, there are important issues of sustainability related to the use of native materials rather than the often long-distance importing of items such as stone, and even an ethical debate over the sometimes appalling conditions under which such materials are produced.

As Mitchell, who will welcome delegates to the Assembly Hall, points out, the availability of many of these basic components has become limited. "There's been a gradual decline in the availability of traditional building materials," he says. "For a small country, historically we've had a tremendous range. Early on buildings were constructed of whatever you had to hand – turf or timber, and depending on what part of the country it was, this varied, so, for instance, you might have different types of thatch – reed thatch around Dundee, heather thatch in the Highlands, even seaweed was used in some locations."

This link between local resources and buildings is perhaps most apparent in stone, Scotland's pre-eminent building substance. "Scotland's geology is incredibly diverse, and we've got some of the oldest rocks in the world," observes Mitchell, "so what's built above ground often reflects what's below it."

As architectural conservation consultant Ingval Maxwell writes in the book's chapter on stone, "the link between architecture and geology is inescapable". Times change, however. Edinburgh's once world-renowned Craigleith Quarry, which provided high-grade sandstone for the building of the city's New Town as well as exporting it to London, Europe and across the Atlantic, is today filled in and crowned by a Sainsbury's store – the sandstone cladding its entrance had to be procured from Stainton in the north of England.

"We reckon there have been some 20,000 working quarries and other exploited sources of stone in Scotland over probably the past 500 years. It's just mind-boggling. Yet we'd be lucky if there are more than half a dozen building stone quarries working in Scotland just now. We're obviously not going to get any more stone out of Craigleith, but at the same time, the sandstone runs under the ground and there's Cullaloe sandstone cropping up in Fife (as a replacement], essentially the same stone that was taken out of Craigleith."

Problems start, however, when in the restoration and conservation of old buildings, different stone, however well intentioned, is used to replace deteriorating stonework. "In the 1980s," says Mitchell, "when knowledge wasn't so advanced, people often put the wrong type of stone in, although it may have looked right colour-wise. If you put in a harder stone it can actually erode the stone around about it because it sheds water on to it. You'll see examples all over Edinburgh where this has just accelerated the decay."

Working with stone is one area in which, against a background of declining traditional building skills, interest from contractors and individual tradesmen has grown as they turn from the currently beleaguered new construction sector to capitalising on the ongoing need for repair, maintenance and restoration of building stock. In 2008, when Historic Scotland, the largest employer of stonemasons in the country, advertised a stonemasonry training scheme, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Scottish Enterprise, they expected perhaps 100 applications. They received 600.

Such apprenticeship and other training schemes continue to be oversubscribed. "Scotland still produces really good tradesmen, but they're often not taught in college how to use traditional materials," says Mitchell. "There's a generation lost within the construction industry who just haven't used that kind of stuff. So we've been running a 3 million training project on masonry, and a lot of it is mid-career guys who've got the hand skills but no basic knowledge (of specialised stonework]. They just need a wee bit of help to get their heads round the traditional stuff and as often as not they take to it like ducks to water. They like doing it because it has that aura of craftsmanship which new-build doesn't have."

Looking at the litany of materials covered by the conference – which as well as obvious items such as stone and timber includes pantiles, glass, clay and even earth itself, often overlooked as a component of vernacular buildings – Mitchell is optimistic on some areas but pessimistic on others. Stone, he reckons, is looking better than it has done in a long time while lime, a long-neglected staple of traditional construction, is undergoing a resurgence of interest as tradesmen realise the damage modern cement can do to an old building.

Traditional thatching, however, is down to a handful of exponents, while what Mitchell terms "vernacular building, clay and earth and thatch, is bumping along, but I'm hopeful that the eco-build side can encourage that, although it's always going to be specialist."

His own particular interest, on which he's contributing a paper/chapter to the conference and book, is ironwork. "For a period, Scotland was the leading architectural iron founder in the world. In Glasgow alone in 1890 there were some 300 companies producing gutters, bandstands, railways station canopies, that kind of stuff.

"I'd say there are only three companies in Scotland who do architectural ironwork now to any significant degree, and there's no training at all for apprentices in Scotland, while there are about four people left who can do pattern making – carving the wood patterns for the castings."

Much of the demand for cast iron today would be conservation-led, such as the Heritage Lottery Fund's historic parks project. A few years ago Historic Scotland funded a wood carver to work and learn with an experienced pattern maker: "Now she's gone into business herself, which is fantastic."

However, what few home manufacturers there are in such a field have to compete with a major foreign import market. "There's really no company in Scotland any more making rainwater goods – guttering, down-pipes and the like – because the stuff is so cheap to buy in China, for instance where they don't have the same health and safety and labour costs.

"The foreign import side is a real concern. We did some research recently looking at the carbon footprint of imported stone versus locally sourced. Obviously the carbon footprint of stuff coming from China or India is much higher than stuff from Scotland, but unfortunately, under the Kyoto agreement, the carbon counting doesn't start until you dock your ship in port.

"Then there's the ethical stuff. We've all seen horrendous photographs of four-year-olds in India sitting breaking up granite setts – but then you're into an ethical dilemma; do you just stop buying from them and give them no job at all? Do you try and improve conditions?"

So far as any increased use of traditional Scottish materials are concerned, however, Mitchell remains most excited by the potential of the sustainability agenda, particularly when it comes to their use in new buildings rather than being confined to repair and restoration. "Using local materials and local skills offers tremendous opportunities, but we've got to get architects designing in traditional materials. Unless these materials have a future in new-build, it's going to be very difficult if we're just using them for repairing and maintaining our buildings."

• For further details of the Building Scotland conference, see www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/buildingscotland

The associated exhibition runs in Edinburgh Castle until the end of March, after which it will tour various venues across the country.

Building Scotland: The Traditional Building Materials of Scotland is published this week by John Donald in association with Historic Scotland, priced 25