Provan Hall
Provan Hall is one of Glasgow’s oldest buildings and dates to the early 16th century.
The building is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and leased and managed by Glasgow City Council. While the building had remained in constant use, minimal maintenance had been carried out. There had been very little modernisation and this had resulted in an under-used facility in need of improvement. This project was essentially a generational refurbishment of the building, one that aimed to bring the buildings to a good state of fabric repair and would offer a sustainable community benefit.
The use of modern plastic wall paints and a modern concrete floor slab had led to significant and pervasive damp problems about the building. The walls comprised stone masonry in earth- and clay-based mortars. Careful research revealed that original earth-based plasterwork survived. We demonstrated that a carefully managed drying-out process, combined with the use of compatible clay- and lime-based materials, would be effective. These materials, including a new limecrete floor slab, were also suitable for repairing and consolidating the walls.
Roof Repair
The biggest challenge from a structural point of view was the stabilisation and repair of the 16th century roof structure in the North Range building. Continuous ad hoc alteration and repair of the original roof in combination with long-standing damp-related deterioration meant that repairs were complex and delicate.
The project team, including Historic Environment Scotland, prepared and reviewed a full suite of repair strategies. The repair strategy selected was the construction of a new steel chassis within the existing roof space. The chassis provides additional support to the existing roof and can function as a platform to carry out any new works. The strategy allowed the retention of all the surviving historic fabric of the roofs with only low-key enhancement to that fabric to improve its robustness. The chassis was also able to support any new carpentry required by the general overhaul of the roof finishes.
Crucially, we designed this approach to be completely reversible, safeguarding the building’s archaeological integrity while enhancing its resilience. By retaining as much of the original fabric as possible and making only minimal enhancements, the project successfully balanced heritage conservation with modern structural demands.
