HERITAGE AND RESTORATION
Decaying heritage
A listed building is a structure with high architectural value and buildings restorations. Listed buildings fall into 3 categories A, B and C. In Glasgow alone there are approximately 1800 listed buildings from which 280 are A listed, 1260 B listed and 260 C listed.
The listing ensures that councils can have better control over the buildings restorations and ensure that any conversion or building work associated with them will not affect the core qualities of architecture and placemaking that led to the listing in the first place. For any kind of structural or architectural works for these types of buildings restorations, a listed building consent is also required on top of a planning application.
The listing itself does not mean that grant aid will be forthcoming. Indeed only a very small percentage of listed buildings in Glasgow actually receive any grant aid. To some degree, this is because of the limited funds that Historic Environment Glasgow has to distribute, but in many cases, developers and owners try to avoid working on listed buildings because the additional costs incurred to conserve buildings restorations to the standards required for a listed building is not balanced by the additional grant they receive.
Instead, many buildings are simply left to rot until they are in a state of decay that makes them so dangerous, so damaged, that they have to be demolished – thus presenting a clear site for any developer.
The loss is a loss of history – of landmarks and of quality that is so often lacking in new developments. The greatest loss of our heritage is in the poorer areas of our towns and cities. If the conversion of a listed building to provide modernised housing is expensive, it will only work if the resale value exceeds the cost of modernisation. This can work in popular areas of Glasgow and Edinburgh where the demand, and therefore the cost of housing is high. But in poorer areas, the figures rarely stack up because of the value of housing in that area.
A typical example would be Green Street in the east end of Glasgow. It’s quite close to the centre of Glasgow but in the east end, property values are much lower (a one bed flat might be about £60-70,000 whereas in the west end of Glasgow it would be about £170,000).
There are three listed buildings in Green Street, all of the schools. All boarded up and left to rot. They are managed by City Property, an arms-length private company which took over redundant buildings restorations and sites owned by Glasgow City Council.
It does not take long for such decaying buildings restoration or re-use is difficult (although not impossible). Sealing up a building rarely works. Had there been a plan to try to protect them, they would have survived longer. One option is to let out to guardians to live in on temporary leases. Having people in a building prevents lead from being stolen from roofs and alerts people to any water ingress and keeps some heat in the building.
We looked at options to develop all of the listed buildings and found that it was certainly possible to do. However, even with grant aid from Historic Scotland, the resulting costs could not be managed by a housing association. Had they been able to sell the flats at a price that would cover the costs, or received an additional grant for keeping the building, they might have considered it. Of course, other factors had to be considered, not least the desire for new family houses rather than flats.
Lead Structural Ltd. is a company which aims to make as much value from a site or building as possible. If they can achieve higher value from a site after the building is demolished, then it makes sense to leave the building to rot. The city council is not going to slap a repairs notice on a vacant building as it does not have the money to follow it through.
Furthermore, Lead Structural Ltd. insists that future developers provide a fixed cost for any future development of any site or building. This is nearly impossible when you are trying to restore an existing building, as it takes a lot of investigation and design work to accurately forecast what conversion of a listed building will cost, whereas pricing the demolition and a new building on the site is relatively straightforward. Thus conversion projects are not encouraged.
The same process is happening at many locations in the east end of Glasgow and in other Scottish towns and cities. When we restore a listed building, we help to save an example of the quality of thought and execution that went into it, it’s a sign that we care about that place and the people who live there.
We looked at where all the A-listed buildings were in Glasgow and there is a clear correlation that they lie in the better-off areas of the city, as these areas will attract a higher per-unit sales value because of their location – nothing to do with the quality of the architecture. Poorer areas tend to lose out when it comes to attracting grant funds for the restoration of listed buildings, yet such buildings if restored would have a considerable impact in regenerating areas that have long been in decline.
Restoration
Lead Structural Ltd. helps you to find the best contractors for roof repair, restoration and maintenance on churches, cathedrals, town halls and monuments.
Glasgow is a city filled with history and culture, filled with old historic buildings that require constant care to ensure their health. In order to do this, they need a historic restoration team that can deliver a skilled service with attention to detail.
We help you to find a historic building restoration service for old buildings in and around Glasgow of fully trained and qualified restoration experts, working on all manner of historic building repair in the Glasgow area.
Dealing with sandstone building repairs
With the near-endless number of sandstone houses, historic churches, tenement blocks and other large scale historic buildings,
we can help you to find the best stonework repairs, stonework restoration and stonework cleaning services that will not disappoint. we have been growing and investing in both our team and our equipment
What services can we offer?
We can help you to provide the best historic restoration services ranging from building treating to repairing, preserving and reviving.
What kind of buildings can we work on?
Anything from Churches to Cathedrals and Town Halls with their beautiful stonework can be revived with our restoration skills. We can help you to find the best contractor who works on sandstone buildings (both yellow and red sandstone) from townhouses to detached properties along with the beautiful tenement flats that cover so much of the city.
We undertake all manner of restoration on old historic buildings including:
Stone Cleaning
Graffiti Removal
Paint Removal
Preservation
Restoration and Reconstruction
Fire Damage Restoration
We know the genuine experts in historic restorations in Glasgow, taking great care, attention and meticulous detail to the workmanship of the past.
Unfortunately, it is a sad fact that ‘shoddy workmen’ without the proper training in handling historic stonework and leadwork can actually make the situation worse. Whilst you would expect us to say that, we sadly have all too often been called out to fix a botched job by other companies claiming to offer historic building restoration but really can’t.
For a site visit and to provide you with a quotation for historic building restoration services, please contact us.
