£1bn repair bill for crumbling tenements

SCOTLAND'S traditional tenement blocks could reach the point of collapse unless a £1 billion programme of repair work is undertaken, according to government stone experts.

The Scottish Stone Liaison Group (SSLG) says that damage caused by the harshest winter for half a century has added to a backlog of maintenance to more than 200,000 tenements built mainly in the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

It warns that many blocks may now be at the "tipping point" at which repairs need to be made or face demolition as they gradually crumble and become unsafe to live in.

Thousands of flats could be affected across the Central Belt where tenements were built of sandstone. Areas at risk include Glasgow's West End, South Side and parts of the East End, Edinburgh's Morningside, Marchmont and Grange districts and central areas of Dundee. Many were built more than a century ago and have already suffered erosion problems, particularly thousands of flats in Edinburgh built with substandard stone.

Wear and tear has been amplified by the effects of the recent freezing winter, which brought subzero temperatures, heavy snowfall and ice formation. Experts say water will have penetrated cracks, frozen and damaged the stone.

Colin Tennant, chief executive of the SSLG, said: "We are talking about damage that could make buildings unsafe to live in. If a chimney collapses it could go through all floors of a tenement. There are dire consequences if properties are not repaired. Unless we start to look at this issue, I think we will see widescale demolition of buildings. They will become so sick it will not be possible to repair them in a cost-effective manner."

Scotland has 178,000 pre-1919 tenements, and another 55,000 built between 1919 and 1944. A 2006 survey warned that 97 per cent of Glasgow stone buildings would need repair work that would cost more than 500 million over 20 years and take 1.3 million stonemason days to carry out.

Tennant estimated that the bill for repairing buildings across the country would now be approaching 1bn.

He said: "There is a huge potential risk across Scotland and a need for investment. Experts say we are going to get more rain and extremes in temperature, and that will continue to put pressure on buildings that are not well maintained.

"No work is being done to quantify the risk and there should be a national survey. And we have to encourage the public to look after their properties and offer an incentive for building maintenance."

The SSLG, formerly part of Historic Scotland, is the country's foremost authority on stone buildings and advises the Scottish Government.

Structural engineer John Addison said: "We have reached the point that something needs to be done now. Homeowners should have a maintenance strategy in place and the government should be putting in money to the care and conservation of these buildings.

"The Scottish tenement is one hell of a tough building and will last another 100 years if the weather is kept out. Most of the buildings are only weathering on the outside. But if they continue to weather, it would cause enormous problems.

"The country has run out of money, but it's pretty serious stuff. Our buildings have taken a hammering and attitudes have to change."

The Housing Act allows councils to intervene if disrepair is causing unsatisfactory living conditions. Last month Glasgow City Council said it would force homeowners to carry out vital repairs, and charge a 15 per cent administration fee, if flat owners refuse to pay their share of work.

A council spokesman said: "In terms of the weather this year we expect that a lot of damage will have occurred – particularly to stone where water gets into small cracks, freezes and pushes shards of stone off."

City of Edinburgh Council said it was aware of maintenance problems with privately owned tenement blocks but there had not been a building collapse through negligence for many years. It dealt with requests for 12,000 property checks every year, of which around 2,500 resulted in statutory notices for repairs to the structures.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said it was up to the Scottish Parliament to pass laws requiring owners to carry out surveys. Spokeswoman Sarah Speirs said: "Tenement owners could be required to carry out a tenement condition survey or 'MOT' after given intervals, which goes beyond the piecemeal statutory notice repairs, the cost of which would have to be decided by parliament. But it's unlikely that these funds would be available from the taxpayer, so would probably fall on the owners."