Provand’s Lordship

Glasgow Life appointed John Gilbert Architects and Narro to develop a scheme to preserve Provand’s Lordship for future generations while ensuring that it had the services and comfortable internal environment that would be expected of a modern facility. It is one of the city’s most significant buildings, with its earliest elements having been constructed in 1471, and is Category A listed.

Narro helped with the stabilisation of the south gable wall, retaining its distinct bowing whilst keeping all the original masonry intact. Retrofit principles were adopted to improve the thermal performance of all aspects of the fabric. This required careful collaboration with the architect to determine the correct repair detailing, needed in the roof, around windows and on the front façade masonry.

The structural repair and augmentation of the winding rear stone stair and balustrade was also a tricky engineering challenge, to maintain the character and heritage aspects as well as strengthening a publicly-accessible building.

The front façade masonry at low level was found to be corbelling out and when the exterior lime rendering was proposed, this caused issues with the support and damp-proofing of the low-level masonry. Narro worked with the architect and the stone mason to agree a new ‘underbuilding’ detail to allow the base of the wall to work with the relatively high ground level.

The project won an Award from the Glasgow Institute of Architects, and the stone masonry and lime works received also a Citation at the Natural Stone Awards in 2024.