BEFS Bulletin – Festivals, Awards, New Funding and all sector news and publications
Get The Latest Built Environment News, Policy Developments, Publications, Consultations And More.
BEFS News
BEFS are delighted to welcome our new Communications Manager, Kelda McLean. Kelda joins us from (and continues with) Glasgow Centre for Population Health. Her experience and interests, as well as considerable skill, are a fantastic addition to the team.
As we consider flicking through the various Edinburgh Festivals programmes for August, BEFS would like to champion the multiple events for the 10th Anniversary of Festival of Traditional Buildings. This festival is coordinated by the Scottish Traditional Buildings Forum, free to attend, and features an amazing variety of traditional skills, hands-on demonstrations, fascinating talks, and supports maintaining our traditionally built homes and buildings for a sustainable future.
With traditional buildings in mind, BEFS are also delighted to see the expansion of the Traditional Building Health Check scheme into Dunblane and Blairlogie.
BEFS congratulates all three winners of the IHBC Marsh Awards. We’re enormously proud that Jess Burrows (recently ‘of this parish’ – as Communications Manager) was one of the recipients for her insightful and considered work on Conservation Area Regeneration Schemes.
HES need your views:
There are surveys out in relation to the reimagining of the Buildings at Risk Register (BARR) where HES need to know what would be most useful for its future – closing 5th August. And, views are sought on MyCanmore, and how the restrictions of Covid19 changed the use of this site, this closes 31st July.
The annual SURF Awards are now open and full details on how to nominate, and the categories, can be found here. These Awards celebrate the best of community regeneration across Scotland. SPAB have also opened the Philip Webb Award, this is for early-stage career architects. The brief is to devise a scheme which sympathetically revitalises a historic building for reuse through careful repair of existing fabric and a significant element of new construction in a contemporary design. (Closing date 12th September). For those who can’t wait on seeing the shortlists for those awards, announced today (21st July) the shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize has just been released.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has launched a new heritage Innovation fund. The initiative is intended to involve three phases: Explore: defining the problem and developing potential solutions; Test: putting promising prototypes into practice and gathering evidence of what works; and Grow: implementing findings more widely within organisations and across the sector. Applications are now open for the initial Explore phase with grants of up to £25,000.
Following from a recent survey of local civic and heritage across Scotland, the Scottish Civic Trust have begun to develop a suite of inclusive heritage resources to support local groups in reaching new and more diverse audiences.
And finally, there’s a great opportunity to see heritage from around Europe through the series of short films of this year’s winners of the European Heritage Awards from Europa Nostra – congratulations to all winners and nominees.
Consultations
Proposed Domestic Building Environmental Standards (Scotland) Bill: Consultation by Alex Rowley MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife Region
Closes 27 July
Review of permitted development rights – phase 2 consultation
Scottish Government
Closes 3 August
Buildings at Risk Register (BARR): HES
Survey focusing on the reimagining of the BARR
**NEW Closes 5 August**
Views on the impact of budgetary decisions including the Resource Spending Review on the culture sector in Scotland
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Closes 19 August
Delivering Scotland’s circular economy: a consultation on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill
Scottish Government
Closes 22 August
Delivering Scotland’s circular economy: A Route Map to 2025 and beyond
Scottish Government
Closes 22 August
Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation
Scottish Government
Closes 25 September
Publications
Cultural Policy Tracker (Encatc April 2022)
Five new articles from the European network on cultural management and policy, Encatc, Cultural Policy Tracker, which is a quarterly publication gathering contributions from the members of their Culture Post Covid-19 Think Tank.
Scottish Third Sector Tracker Wave 3 Findings (SCVO Spring 2022)
Update on the health of the sector, and issues being faced, based on a survey of 457 third sector organisations based or operating in Scotland.
The facade of power and the power of the facade: memory and meaning in Victorian cities (Richard Rodger, Urban History Journal June 2022)
This article is a contribution the buildings bring to the sense of making places. It seeks to bring the social history of urban spaces into sharper focus by exploring what memory does to places and what places do to memory. Leicester and Edinburgh provide the two detailed, comparative studies.
Future Planners Project Report (RTPI July 2022)
Key findings on the promotion, recruitment retention of Planners in Scotland with recommendations, including the need to introduce new initiatives to increase the number of planners working in Scotland.
Scotland’s Colleges 2022 (Audit Scotland July 2022)
An assessment on the performance of Scotland’s colleges during the period 2020-21.
Why EPCs need to accommodate measured input (Luke Smith, RICS Built Environment Journal 2022)
Regulatory reliance on energy performance certification fails to acknowledge that the process itself depends on a range of assumptions that skew our understanding of building performance.
Managing sustainable impact: A tool for calculating carbon (Built Environment – Smarter Transformation July 2022)
BE-ST resource for calculating carbon for industry on its journey to zero carbon.
How to scale a highly skilled heat pump industry (Nesta July 2022)
The current state of the heat pump market from a skills, training and productivity perspective and ways of increasing the supply chain’s capacity to install heat pumps.
Historic Environment (Wales) Bill (Senedd Cymru July 2022)
The Bill includes provision to consolidate legislation relating to the historic environment in Wales. It provides for the protection of monuments, buildings and conservation areas by bringing together and restating already-existing legislation (both primary and secondary) in one place.
Happy Homes: Cooperation, Community and the Edinburgh Colonies (Richard Rodger July 2022)
An exploration of the history of Edinburgh’s ‘Colonies’ housing – what they are, their enduring appeal and the role of women in their construction through the Edinburgh Cooperative Building Company.
Leading the Change Together – A National Impact Agenda for the Preservation Movement (US National Trust for Historic Preservation July 2022)
Contains seven goals that aspire to represent end-state positive outcomes for the preservation field.
SAIR 99: Two Iron Age duns in western Scotland: excavations at Barnluasgan and Balure, North Knapdale, Argyll (Roddy Regan and Ewan Campbell, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland July 2022)
This report discusses the excavation of two stone-walled duns situated in North Knapdale, Argyll and Bute, led by Kilmartin Museum.
Scottish Government Publications
How is Scotland Performing? (11/07/22)
This blog provides a snapshot of the current performance of the National Performance Framework (NPF) 81 National Indicators.
Edinburgh Declaration on post-2020 global biodiversity framework (15/07/22)
Setting out the aspirations and commitments of the Scottish Government, Edinburgh Process partners, and the wider subnational constituency of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in delivering for nature over the coming decade.
News Releases
Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy recognised with listing status
Significant examples of Modernist post-war hospital design celebrated for architectural and historic interest.
Peter Reekie: Help us transform Scotland’s construction sector
Peter Reekie, CEO of the Scottish Futures Trust and chair of the executive group of the Scottish Construction Leadership Forum (CLF), calls on the construction sector to embrace transformation.
TBHC Scheme now open to properties in Dunblane and Blairlogie
After the successful trial expansion to Bridge of Allan, the Traditional Buildings Health Check scheme is extending the expansion trial to Dunblane and Blairlogie.
RIBA unveils shortlist for 2022 Stirling Prize
Mæ and Panter Hudspith join veterans Hopkins, Reiach and Hall, Niall McLaughlin and Henley Halebrown in final fray for UK’s highest architecture accolade.
Opinion & Comment
Edinburgh council’s tenement repairs app is copied by other Scottish councils (Edinburgh News 19/07/22)
‘It’s like an oven’: Life in Britain’s hottest neighbourhoods (BBC 18/07/22)
Climate-wrecking air conditioning units aren’t the only way to survive a heatwave (The Guardian 15/07/22)
Uncovering the Secrets of Scotland’s Only Industrial Ghost Town in Galloway (Dumfries and Galloway What’s Going On 13/07/22)
Housebuilder goes to court over planning refusal (Inverclyde Now 13/07/22)
Former hospital in Dumfries to become £15m cultural site (Arts Professional 12/07/22)
New sketches released of how a redesigned George Square in Glasgow could look (Evening Times 11/07/22)
Big Read: Is Edinburgh beating Glasgow in race to save built heritage? (The Herald 09/07/22)
St Andrews Cathedral reopens graves of world famous golfers to the public (The National 08/07/22)
What Is the Environmental Impact of Each Building Material? (Arch Daily 07/07/22)
Clandon Park: National Trust reveals ‘laid-bare’ design for fire-hit house (BBC 06/07/22)
National Lottery: DCMS predicts £65m boost for good causes (Arts Professional 05/07/22)
Parliamentary Questions and Answers
Scottish Parliament is in recess until 4th September
Questions marked with a triangle (?) are initiated by the Scottish Government to facilitate the provision of information to the Parliament. Questions in which a member has indicated a declarable interest are marked with an “R”.
S6W-08710: Maurice Golden, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 26 May 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown, by local authority area, of the area of green space currently being created and/or restored through projects funded by (a) the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme and (b) the Nature Restoration Fund. Answered on 14/06/2022
S6W-09404: Brian Whittle, South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 28 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it will submit the final draft of the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) to the Parliament. Answered on 06/07/2022
S6W-09368: Miles Briggs, Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 27 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the updated draft fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4), and whether it will consult on the updated draft NPF4 once it is published. Answered on 06/07/2022
S6W-09579: Pauline McNeill, Glasgow, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 4 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-01292 by Patrick Harvie on 29 June 2022, whether it will publish the referenced data on heat pumps. Answered on 08/07/2022
S6W-09263: Liam Kerr, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether the estimated £33 billion required to decarbonise heating in Scotland’s homes, as set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, is still currently an accurate assessment of the cost, and, if not, what the revised estimate is.
Answered on 08/07/2022
S6W-09262: Liam Kerr, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of homes available for social rent it estimates currently have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of band C or above. Answered on 08/07/2022
S6W-09298: Sharon Dowey, South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to (a) encourage applications and (b) make an application itself for Scottish sites to feature on a new tentative list of natural, cultural and mixed sites for potential nomination for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Answered on 08/07/22
S6W-09270: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the NESTA report, Estimating the willingness to pay for a heat pump, in determining the level of financial support that it will provide to householders, and the contribution of heat pumps, to meet its target for the rate of zero carbon heating system installations in new and existing homes and buildings to double every year from the current baseline to at least 64,000 installations in 2025. Answered on 12/07/2022
S6W-09621: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 5 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing to enable digital surveys to take place on buildings suspected of having combustible cladding. Answered on 19/07/2022
S6W-09643: Miles Briggs, Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 6 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many empty homes there have been in each local authority area in each year since 1999. Answered on 19/07/2022
S6W-09618: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 5 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what the value is of tenders for the Single Building Assessment service that have been placed through Public Contract Scotland (i) to date and (ii) are expected in the next year of the programme. Answered on 19/07/2022
S6W-09722: Stephen Kerr, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 12 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment, including calculations, it undertakes to understand any additional cost burden that is expected to fall on local authorities when new policy requirements that are to be delivered at local authority level are introduced. Answered on 19/07/2022
S6W-09723: Stephen Kerr, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 12 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of new policies introduced for roll-out by local authorities in the last two years have had additional local authority capacity resource attached to them to ensure delivery. Answered on 19/07/2022
S6W-09593: Craig Hoy, South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 5 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00751 by Tom Arthur on 5 July 2021, whether it will provide an update on how many empty commercial properties there have been in each local authority area in the South Scotland parliamentary region, in each year since 2007. Answered on 19/07/2022
S6W-09619: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 5 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what data and information it collects on (a) remediation and (b) removal of combustible cladding from affected householders and property factors outside of the Single Building Assessment programme. Answered on 19/07/2022
S6W-09248: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many surveyors and fire engineers it has procured to carry out single building assessments. Answered on 20/07/2022
S6W-09249: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many single building assessments it has offered directly to date. Answered on 20/07/2022
S6W-09250: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 80 unique blocks that submitted an expression of interest in the single building assessment it has written to. Answered on 20/07/2022
Events
For the full list of BEFS Members’ upcoming events see our events calendar.
STBF – Festival of Traditional Buildings
Date & Time: Monday 22 – Friday 26 August
Location: Edinburgh and online (hybrid)
This will be the 10th Scottish Traditional Buildings Forum Festival of Traditional Buildings, with a rebranding from Edinburgh Traditional Building Festival. In the last two years the event has been hosted online due to the pandemic, creating a truly global audience. Whilst the team are delighted to be back delivering the festival in-person, this will be a hybrid event so those unable to attend in person are still able to participate in the events.
Full details also available here.
From Slogans to Sound Strategy? The 2022 SURF Annual Conference
Date & Time: Thursday 25 August 10am-3pm
Location: COSLA Conference Centre, Edinburgh
Anyone involved with the regeneration of Scottish places, is very likely to have heard repeated references to Community Wealth Building and Levelling Up in recent times. SURF’s 2022 Annual Conference will critically examine policy and practice developments associated with both concepts, with particular reference to the Argyll & Bute town of Dunoon.
Participants will learn about national policy developments associated with the new regeneration context from the Scottish and UK Governments, and hear emerging lessons on the ground from Dunoon and elsewhere in Scotland.
Growing Your Community – Carluke High Mill
Date & Time: Tuesday 6 September 9.30am-2.30pm
Location: Carluke High Mill, Carluke
Join Heritage Trust Network on 6th September for a visit to Carluke High Mill.
Hear from a fantastic team who have made huge progress in connecting with their community, whilst progressing towards a major heritage regeneration project. There will also be plenty of time to get to know other attendees, hear from projects across the country and chat with funders.
Study Day: The Hill House and Hermitage Park, Helensburgh
Date & Time: Saturday 10 September
Location: Hill House and Heritage Park, Helensburgh
Scotland’s Garden and Landscape Heritage are hosting a study day at Mackintosh’s Hill House and nearby Heritage Park. It will start with a walk along the Hill House Box gantries, with an opportunity to meet the NTS gardener and lunch provided at The Hill House on the roof-top cafe comprising soup, sandwich, tea, coffee and a sweet treat. After lunch there is a guided tour of the town’s recently restored Hermitage Park led by project landscape architect Jon Simmons, CMLI between 1.30-2.30pm
Walk & Talk: Maintenance in Edinburgh’s Old Town (Part of Doors Open Day 2022)
Date & Time: Sunday 25 September 10.30am
This tour will be presented by Estelle Meyer, architectural historian and tour guide from Cobbletales. She will be joined by Nic Boyes, SPAB Scotland Guardian and stone conservation expert. Between them, you will hear some history of the buildings, but also be encouraged to look up, so spot the maintenance issues, to discuss past and possible future repairs. We hope this will be a lively and interesting roving debate!
Training
Arts & Business Scotland Heritage Chairs Knowledge Exchange
Date & Time: Various sessions from Tuesday 26 July onwards
Location: Both online and at Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh
Arts & Business Scotland’s Building Capacity: Developing Skills programme is providing a limited number of fantastic opportunities for Chairs of heritage organisations or mixed arts/heritage organisations to network and learn from governance experts and peers.
Finzean Watermills Working Party
Date & Time: 14-18 September
Location: Finzean, Aberdeenshire
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) Scotland Working Party is at Finzean, Aberdeenshire this year. The work you will be undertaking will be to repair various parts of these largely timber mill buildings. We will be repairing wooden guttering, mending broken or missing sections of the timber lade which brings water to the mill, creating a stock of paddles for the water wheels, doing a small amount of masonry / lime mortar work, and other small repair works. No prior experience in any aspect is necessary. All we ask is an enthusiasm to learn, and a willingness to try your hand at new skills under instruction!
The Point by Dandara – Site Visit
Date & Time: 15 September 5:30-6:30pm
Location: Schoolhill, Aberdeen
The Point by Dandara is a Built to Rent development of 342 fully furnished studios, 1-bedroom apartments and co-living suites which are designed to offer a fuss-free way to live and rent. Its development has transformed a vacant derelict brownfield site in the heart of Aberdeen and brought housing back into the city centre. In addition to this, its development has also enabled refurbishment of the Category C listed Spire that sits in the heart of the site. Please join the RTPI for a fascinating tour of this development led by Dandara’s Austin McGuire.
Planning Aid Scotland, SP=EED Community Engagement Skills training
Date & Time: Thursday 15 September, 10am-3pm
Location: Online
Want to brush up on your community engagement skills? Join our next live ‘SP=EED’ training, Thursday 15 September 2022. SP=EED is a unique development programme designed to develop your skills and confidence in designing, delivering and evaluating effective community engagement. Web link for booking/more information.
Conservation Areas Seminar
Date & Time: Thursday 29 September 10am-4:30pm
Location: Engine Shed, Stirling
Historic Environment Scotland (HES), the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) and BEFS will host a day of discussions focussing on Conservation Areas, their management, designation, and exploring their role in creating good places. This event is aimed at anyone with a role in decision making within a Conservation Area, Local Authority officers and policy makers.
STBA and SPAB Annual Conference – Sustaining Buildings 2022
Date & Time: 12 October 9.30am-5pm
Location: Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh
This is an in-person only event.
The popular STBA / SPAB annual conference returns in-person this autumn for a full day of presentations and Q&A sessions by UK experts in the field. With retrofit and the green agenda firmly in the eye of the public, SPAB Scotland and STBA bring you a selection of speakers who will dive deeper into these topics and provide expert analysis of WUFI, embodied carbon analysis, training opportunities, and much more.
Vacancies
Glasgow City Heritage Trust Heritage Officer – Activities
Salary: £21,000
Status: Temp (Maternity cover)
Location: Glasgow
An exciting opportunity has become available for an Activities Officer to support the implementation of the Trust’s new Historic Built Environment Activities programme for the benefit of all people living, working in and visiting Glasgow. As part of our Activities Team, this will involve the planning and co-ordination of a range of events, including talks and debates, tours, practical workshops and training opportunities for both a professional audience and the general public. You will also assist with a number of other projects designed to achieve our strategic objectives, such as community engagement workshops.
Closing date: 12 noon, Friday 29 July 2022
Stirling City Heritage Trust Part-time Office Manager
Salary: £28,000 – £30,000 (FTE)
Status: Fixed Term until 31 March 2023 (with possibility of extension subject to funding)
Stirling City Heritage Trust are seeking an enthusiastic Office Manager to join their small team in Stirling. Set up in 2004, it is one of 7 City Heritage Trusts operating in Scotland.
We are seeking an enthusiastic Office Manager to join our small team based at The Barracks in Stirling.
Closing date: 12 noon, Thursday 4 August 2022