Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee 04 June 2025
I think that there are opportunities there. Scotland’s architectural past is full of very interesting buildings and structures that are no longer with us because they have deteriorated—some of them accidentally, through fire and things like that—and we had to lose them.
The buildings at risk register is probably the best indicator of an early warning of potential loss of significance. That is maintained through Historic Environment Scotland, but, as far as I am aware, there is a very limited budget—if any—for doing something to intervene for those buildings at risk, and therein lies the challenge.
The first step is being aware of just how big a problem that is. The buildings at risk register is probably the best reference point for that. The next step is to decide whether, as a nation, we want to be more proactive in rescuing those buildings at risk. That will require finding some money, somehow or other, to enable us to do so.
Hazel Johnson made a very good point about the criteria for net zero buildings and for getting to a situation in which our built environment is far less energy intensive than it currently is. There is a very good case for retaining existing structures with external shells such as solid stone buildings, which are pretty robust. To replace them with something equivalent would be very expensive in terms of carbon, never mind money. The best choice nowadays, in considering reuse for any building, is to retain the building and adapt it, rather than demolish it and start again. That should be the first option, whether the building is listed or not.
An example is the old Royal infirmary of Edinburgh building that is now the Edinburgh Futures Institute. When that building was stripped back, it was found that most of the timber inside it was rotten—it was far worse than it had been thought to be. That could have been a case for proceeding with demolition and starting again with something else, but, thankfully, the University of Edinburgh did not do that. The building was thoroughly refurbished, and the timber was renewed or refurbished. It is now a functioning building that reflects the original appearance of the Edinburgh royal infirmary from the outside, and preserving it in that way has done a fantastic job for the city of Edinburgh.