Calling all traditional building owners…..free maintenance booklet!
L-R: Bill Hepburn from Crown and City Centre Community Council is pictured with Lorna Maclennan from the Inverness Townscape Heritage Project and Mike Smith from Inverness BID
The Inverness Townscape Heritage (TH) Project has launched a free Maintenance Booklet for owners of traditional properties within the City of Inverness.
The Maintenance Guide accompanies the programme of hands-on training events and talks currently underway.
While maintaining all property is essential, there are key considerations when dealing with older properties. This guide aims to help owners understand their property and how regular inspections and maintenance can reduce property costs and avoid expensive repairs in the longer term.
The call for regular building maintenance is backed by Inverness BID who is a key partner in the delivery of the Inverness Townscape Heritage Project. Mike Smith, Manager of Inverness BID commented: “The City Centre has many historic properties which add an important sense of place to Inverness. Many of them are well maintained, this guide had been developed to assist property owners fully understand the importance of regular inspections and how they inform an ongoing programme of maintenance.”
Crown and City Centre Community Council are involved in the delivery of the Inverness TH Project and are keen to raise awareness of what owners and tenants of traditional properties should be looking for. Bill Hepburn of the Community Council said: “We have a great quality of traditional buildings throughout our Community Council area. If owners and tenants are vigilant and know the signs to look for, potential problems can be addressed before they cause too much damage and become too costly!”
The Inverness TH Project is working with Frew Conservation to deliver a range of traditional building skills training courses. The courses have been designed around the needs of traditional buildings in Inverness and the surrounding area, addressing real issues and problems faced by building contractors, professionals and homeowners on a daily basis.
The next in the series of events is scheduled to take place at the end of August and will cover roof repairs, followed by stone repairs in October.
Chairman of the Townscape Heritage Partnership, Councillor Richard Laird commented: “The previous seminar on repairing traditional windows and lime mortars, were highly informative and very well received. I would urge anyone with an old property to book onto the forth coming talks and pick up a copy of the free maintenance guide.”
The Inverness TH Project is a collaboration of funding partners including Inverness City Heritage Trust (ICHT), Historic Environment Scotland (HES), The National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and it is coordinated and led by Highland Council.
The Highland Council’s City Manager David Haas added: “The Council regularly reminds building owners that the responsibility for ensuring the safety of members of the public in and around their buildings lies with them – whether the property is commercial, retail, business, public or privately owned. This new guide is going to be very helpful in highlighting things owners need to consider when carrying out their inspections and making maintenance arrangements.”
The Maintenance Guide can be downloaded from the Inverness Townscape Heritage Project website and all events can be booked on Eventbrite, by searching for ‘Traditional Building Skills’