Mill Architects has spent the last 20 years carrying out fabric repairs to multiple ownership properties.

These types of projects can be challenging on numerous levels. 30-40 Lochrin buildings approached Mill after two dangerous notices had been served on the tenement due to falling masonry and health and safety concerns.

There are 12 flats in the tenement and three commercial properties so the building has 15 owners in total. Mill approached Edinburgh World Heritage to secure funding for the fabric repair project. Unfortunately EWH did not provide funding and the owners had to bear full responsibility to carry out the necessary repairs adding further stress and challenges when getting the project off the ground.

The owners of the tenement building had received two Building Defect notices from Edinburgh City Council for falling masonry and as part of this process Edinburgh Council had carried out a make safe process by removing dangerous stone.

The owners collective appointed Jo Parry-Geddes as their Conservation Architect to provide a full Architectural service to carry out fabric repairs to the property ensuring it was safe and wind and water tight.

Jo helped the owners from the beginning of the project prior to her appointment. She assisted with communications to the owners, helped with Edinburgh City Council missing shares applications.

Jo spent two years assisting the owners and gathering all necessary information, communicating regularly and finally when appointed she prepared a full tender package, reviewed the tenders and helped the owners appoint a contractor. She then oversaw the project on site from start to completion.

As with all historic properties, there are often delays, in this case the project was delayed significantly due to sourcing stone from the quarry and areas of unknown fabric presented a number of practical problems that had to be overcome.

Jo attended site weekly to review the project, carried out all contract administration and kept the owners informed with meetings and regular newsletters. The building was challenging. It was in a dreadful state of repair and really unsafe with deteriorated fabric. The owners only had a limited budget so the most essential works had to be carried out using the budget available – deciding these works wasa balance of what was absolutely necessary, aesthetics and conservation ethos.

A balance between new stone, stone repairs, roof repairs and descaling has been carried out to make the building safe, wind and water tight.

Jo has carried out over 75 fabric repair tenement communal repairs over the last 20 years and has worked on prestigious category A listed blocks.

Lochrin buidling is not Listed and not deemed significant enough to get EWH funding, however the project was extremely significant to the owners and indeed the Councils when stone falls started to occur. Each building project is unique and important.

Contractor: Restorex Ltd