Helping landmarks weather the years

Researchers have started using advanced techniques to study the effect of weather damage on two First and Second World War listed structures at the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian.

The research aims to predict how weather will damage brick and stone monuments, with the aim of making it easier to maintain them in the coming years. Although the studies are still being worked on, they've already caught the eye of Historic Scotland, which is looking to use them to care for Scotland's stone buildings.

The research used computer models to predict the movement of water in the structures, as over time ground water rising through the stones can dissolve the mortar that holds them together. Using sensors and weather stations to collect data, researchers can calculate the part of the building that is most likely to be damaged.

Dr Andrea Hamilton, who heads the research, said that was done by establishing how far up the structure the water rises in the summer months when it's drier, compared with the wetter winter months.

Dr Hamilton's research also looks at what impact climate change may have on accelerating the rate of deterioration.

"Climate change can affect the evaporation rate, it happens faster because there's a higher rate of water moving through the structure," she said. "How long it takes and the severity of the damage depends on what the wall's made out of."

The next stage in the research is establishing ways to prevent or slow the amount of water getting into the site by looking at methods such as damp-proofing and changing how rain gets into the building.

These solutions will be carefully considered by Dr Hamilton's PhD student Isobel Griffin who is studying the buildings at the air field. Water in the stone has caused a concrete render applied only five years ago to become damaged.

The National Museum's head of conservation and analytical research, Dr Jim Tate, said the National Museum of Flight was a listed historical site and as such the individual buildings are effectively a museum object in their own right, so need to be well preserved.

"This research is potentially very useful because it provides scientific information about the decay of simple concrete buildings over time in an environment that we can measure and understand," he said.

"The project will help National Museums Scotland develop a strategy for how best to continue conserving the site and its buildings, and at the same time will provide new information to the wider field of building conservation."