Why heritage can be highly dangerous..

Published on Wednesday 5 March 2008 08:23

After a woman narrowly escaped injury when a roof tile plunged on to Princes Street, Adrian Mather asks what is being done to ensure that the city's historic buildings are properly maintained.

FOR millions of tourists who visit the Capital every year, it would be hard to find fault with Edinburgh's most prestigious historic buildings.

From the Scott Monument to Edinburgh Castle – not forgetting the countless, centuries-old properties lining the streets of the Old and New Towns – it would appear to the outside world that we have a well-maintained city centre worthy of its World Heritage Site status.

But every so often an incident occurs which brings the fragile balance of the city's heritage into stark reality. For despite the beautiful Georgian facades and ancient walkways running through the heart of the Capital, we have properties that are falling into decline through poor maintenance.

In 2000, it was the death of Australian waitress Christine Foster outside Ryan's Bar that brought the problem into the public's consciousness. Crushed to death by a piece of falling masonry as she served customers outside the popular West End bar, the tragedy highlighted the dangers posed by the city's crumbling buildings.

Christine's death prompted a decision that a city-wide inspection of properties should be carried out to identify whether any were at risk of falling to the same fate as Ryan's.

But the issue has proved difficult to tackle. In 2002, the council carried out a buildings audit and issued 46,000 letters to properties across Edinburgh – but only 14 per cent of owners replied to the survey.

Following the failure of the audit, officials suggested legislation needed to be reviewed to include statutory powers requiring owners to audit the condition of their properties by survey – and be punished for failing to do so. But that has not happened and the problem remains.

In 2005, figures released by the council showed that there were two masonry falls across the city every week and, even over the past year, there were still 340 instances where council building safety teams were called to investigate masonry falls, broken chimneys and falling debris from properties.

"Edinburgh is a historic city and, like any city with a high proportion of older traditional buildings, there is a risk of falling masonry and building materials," says Gordon Mackenzie, the city's head of finance and resources.

"Property owners, including tenement owners, are responsible for ensuring their buildings are safely maintained and repairs are carried out. The council is playing a major role in raising awareness of these responsibilities and we have tackled this area as a priority.

"We have also played a leading role in the research and identification of concerns regarding building fabric safety, the development of best practice and the distribution of appropriate advice to owners and professionals." The problem is, however, that aside from raising awareness and hoping that homeowners take responsibility for their properties, there is little else the council can do to ensure the city's buildings don't deteriorate to such an extent that it puts the public at risk from falling masonry.

It generally takes a fall or an accident to bring a building to the council's attention. If a building is deemed unsafe after an inspection, it is only then that the council can take action to secure it. If the owners do not fix the problems, the local authority can undertake the work and bill the owners once it is finished.

Ex-city councillor Brian Fallon, who was in charge of Edinburgh's property management before retiring from the council at the last election, says it is this lack of authority that is fuelling the problems. "Edinburgh has an awful lot of sandstone buildings that are not properly maintained," he says. "And although owners are responsible for their properties, it's very difficult in practice to ensure they keep them well-maintained.

"It's a situation that hasn't changed for many years and, under the last administration, we had a lot of problems trying to work with property groups and private owners to ensure that they took responsibility. We sent out a lot of leaflets informing people how to look after their properties, but it's up to them whether they take any notice. There's practically nothing that the council can do as far as pre-emptive measures are concerned. What they really need is statutory powers to insist properties are regularly inspected."

Of course, if these powers were actually granted, it would then throw up a number of questions over how the system would be monitored and enforced.

Should, for example, the council be in charge of carrying out the equivalent of an MOT on the city's buildings and bill the owners once completed? That would be a costly exercise requiring scores of council inspectors and with the likelihood of expensive court battles if any owners refused to pay for work done.

The system could also be opened up to private building companies to carry out inspections, although that could lead to some unscrupulous contractors ripping off homeowners unless there were specific rules in place or an effective way of policing any work carried out.

If that stance was taken it could also cause disgruntlement over who was liable to pay for inspections and be forced to make repairs. The owner of a private house and grounds in Merchiston, for example, could be exempt from the rules – as the building would not be considered a hazard for passers-by – while tenement flat owners in Leith would have to pay for an inspection on their property.

Any new legislation would require consultation prior to reaching the statute book to determine exactly how it would be implemented – but there does appear to be a need for change in the way the city's buildings are maintained.

If the current situation – where action is taken as a reactionary measure rather than a preventative one – continues, it may even take the death of another pedestrian crushed by falling masonry before anything changes.