BEFS News

Policy Spotlight: BEFS Policy and Strategy Manager takes a look at the new bill, part of A Vision for Scottish Agriculture – and highlights the role of the historic environment as part of this. Views are being sought on a new Agriculture Bill which will underpin Scottish agricultural policy for years to come. Give your views by 21st of November to raise the profile of the historic environment at this early stage of the legislative process.

Following a survey of Scotland’s local civic trusts and heritage groups, the Scottish Civic Trust has developed a suite of resources, which includes a new local heritage resources hub and updated planning toolkit. They have also restarted the Scottish Civic Trust Forum on Facebook, providing a welcome space for groups to chat about all things heritage and communities in Scotland.

Huge congratulations go to BEFS Board Member, Fernanda Acosta Ballesteros, who has been shortlisted in the category of Early Career Archaeologist, as part of the Archaeological Achievement Awards. We wish her all the best for the final later this month.

BEFS, along with Members Under One Roof was pleased to attend and provide secretariat for the re-formed Working Group on Tenement Maintenance last week, hosted by Graham Simpson MSP. It was great to see a large turnout for the meeting, which provided an opportunity to take stock of progress over the past few years and discuss strategic action around maintaining Scotland’s tenements for the future.

BEFS does not have a Communications Manager in post at this time. BEFS will continue to get readers all the information that matters, particularly ensuring parliamentary activity is covered. And we’ll endeavour to include Events, Training and related Vacancies. These will be presented in the Bulletin as links (we will not be updating the website Events diary or Vacancy pages) until the team is back at full complement. Next Bulletin dates are 17 November and 1 December – BEFS Members should submit information for inclusion by the Monday prior to publication.

Consultations

Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture. Proposals for a new Agriculture Bill
Scottish Government
Closes 21 November 2022

The Future of National Parks in Scotland
Scottish Government
Closes 30 November 2022

HES Responsible Tourism Framework
Historic Environment Scotland
Closes 30 November 2022

Developing a Scottish Tax to replace the UK Aggregates Levy
Scottish Government
Closes 4 December 2022

Scottish Civic Trust

Consultation Responses

New Build Heat Standards Part 2 (20/10/2022)

Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation (30/10/2022)

Publications

Scottish Government funding of voluntary organisations: A case study of voluntary sector intermediaries with insights from senior leaders (SCVO September 2022)

Guidance on Installing Heat Pumps in Historic Buildings (Historic England September 2022)

Strengthening Cultural Heritage Resilience for Climate Change (European Commission September 2022)

The Horizon Papers: Work Programme 2023-2024. Culture Creativity and Inclusive Society (European Commission October 2022)

Thinking about… Charity Reserves: Research Report into Charity Reserves Management in Scotland (IVAR October 2022)

The Place Commission for Glasgow: recommendations on how design can make a better Glasgow (Glasgow City Council October 2022)

Scottish & UK Government Publications

Joint Ministerial response to Scottish Affairs Committee regarding promoting Scotland internationally (UK Gov 6/10/2022)

Planning circular 3/2022: development management procedures (SG 21/10/2022)

Information about the regulation of short-term lets in Scotland (SG 24/10/2022)

Short-term lets: letter to housing conveners on commencement of short-term lets licensing scheme and letter to local authorities on updated licensing guidance (SG 24/10/2022)

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee Meeting: Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill (ScotParl 25/10/2022)

Report tracking the work of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee 2021-22 (ScotParl 26/10/2022)

Announcement of the establishment of a national public energy agency – Heat & Energy Efficiency Scotland (SG 26/10/2022)

Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero Energy and Transport, Michael Matheson, confirms establishment of national public energy agency to Net Zero Energy and Transport Committee (SG 26/10/2022)

Heat in Buildings Strategy: 2022 update (SG 31/10/2022)

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. Pre-Budget Scrutiny 2023-24: Funding for Culture Report (ScotParl 31/10/2022)

DCMS Committee: Reimagining where we live: cultural placemaking and the levelling up agenda (UK Gov 2/11/2022)

News Releases

Andrew Knight speaks with Daniel Mohamed as they discuss the application of data and technology by local authority planning departments (5/10/2022)

Applications are now invited for Europa Nostra’s 2023 European Heritage Awards – deadline for submissions is 25 November 2022 (12/10/2022)

The BES Scottish Policy Group co-hosted a ‘Pie and a Pint’ policy debate on National Parkswith CIEEM to discuss the Scottish Government’s agreement to establish at least one new National Park in Scotland (20/10/22)

The European Commission has published reports confirming that EU emissions remain 4% below pre-pandemic levels despite rebound after COVID recovery (26/10/022)

Charity chief is named as Moderator of the Church of Scotland 2023-24 General Assembly (28/10/2022)

Historic Religious Buildings Alliance release Summary of Survey Responses regarding rising energy costs for religious buildings in 2022 (27/10/2022)

Key findings from The BE-ST Fest 2022 Summit on zero carbon solutions for the built environment  (28/10/2022)

The National Churches Trust judges worked through almost 200 entries from churches across the whole of the UK for their inaugural awards and selected St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, as Scottish winner of their ‘Open for Visitors’ Award (31/10/2022)

Opinion & Comment

HES confirms no rockfalls have been recorded from Edinburgh Castle for four years (Edinburgh Evening News 18/10/2022)

Scotland’s cultural and natural heritage at risk from perfect storm that could see prized assets lost forever (The Scotsman 23/10/2022)

Lachlan Goudie calls for the reconstruction of the Glasgow School of Art to be treated with the same urgency as work on Notre Dame (The Times 24/10/2022)

Better funding deal for Scottish culture long overdue (The Scotsman 25/10/2022)

Marks & Spencer can still be true to its brand and change course on Oxford Street’; the retailer should retrofit it, not raze it (Architects Journal 26/10/2022)

Scotland’s arts and culture on the edge amid a perfect storm of threats and risks (Sunday Post 30/10/2022)

Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum celebrates its 25th anniversary (BBC News 31/10/2022)

Data is an asset, not a burden, and is key to improving services says Audit Scotland (Future Scot 1/11/2022)

John Swinney confirms further cuts to spending plans (The Guardian 2/11/2022)

Parliamentary Questions and Answers

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-11289 Sharon Dowey, South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 04/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07194 by Neil Gray on 16 March 2022, whether it will provide an update on the progress of protecting the properties in the care of Historic Environment Scotland that are reportedly being left to “gracefully die”.
Current status: Answered by Neil Gray 19/10/2022

S6W-11455 Alexander Burnett, Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party R
Date lodged: 10/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason planning permission is required for obtaining a short-term lets licence for flats, but not houses.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison 20/10/2022

S6W-11301 Liam McArthur, Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: 04/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-10436 and S6W-10437 by Shona Robison on 21 September 2022, how many local authorities have indicated that they were not in a position to establish their short-term lets licensing scheme by 1 October 2022.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison 21/10/2022

S6W-11494 Donald Cameron, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 11/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how much funding it has invested in the sustainable development of Scotland’s historic estate in (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23, in line with the Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto commitment.
Current status: Answered by Neil Gray 24/10/2022
 
S6W-11486 Donald Cameron, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 11/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has introduced three-year funding settlements for Scottish Government core funded cultural organisations, in line with the Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto commitment.
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray 25/10/2022
 
S6W-11323 Liam McArthur, Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: 04/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Green Heat Finance Taskforce has met since its creation, and whether a summary of the discussions and action points from these meetings has been published by the Scottish Government.
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie 25/10/2022

S6W-11324 Liam McArthur, Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: 04/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government when the final report of the Green Heat Finance Taskforce will be published.
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie 25/10/2022

S6W-11502 Emma Roddick, Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: 11/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether environmental protections would be reduced in any Scottish investment zones.
Current status: Answered by John Swinney 28/10/2022

S6O-01448 Claire Baker, Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date Lodged: 19/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to support the museum and gallery sector during the cost of living crisis.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26/10/2022

S6T-00915 Sarah Boyack, Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date Lodged: 24/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the reported “perfect storm” that the arts and culture sector is facing, in light of reports that organisations such as the Falkirk Town Hall, the Filmhouse in Edinburgh, the Belmont in Aberdeen and the Edinburgh International Film Festival recently entered into administration and the Modern Two art gallery in Edinburgh was forced to close for winter.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25/10/2022

Question from Matt Rodda Shadow Minister, Work and Pensions (UK Parl 24/10/2022)
To ask what steps the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, is taking to ensure local communities have the ability to preserve buildings and landmarks of local historical significance.
Current Status: Answered by Dehenna Davison, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 24/10/2022

Parliamentary Motions

S6M-06302 Emma Harper, South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Motion Transforming Scotland’s Vacant and Derelict Sites (27/10/2022)
That the Parliament notes with concern reports that Scotland has almost 9,500 hectares of vacant and derelict urban land, and that just over one quarter of Scotland’s 5.4 million population is estimated to live within 500 metres of a derelict site, with this percentage increasing in communities on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD); believes that Scotland’s stock of vacant and derelict land is a legacy of the nation’s industrial past, with many of these sites, including across the South Scotland Region, such as the George Hotel in Stranraer, former Interfloor Factory in Dumfries, Central Hotel in Annan and N Peal Building in Hawick, being in their derelict condition for many years; notes research, including from the Scottish Land Commission, University of Glasgow and Green Space Scotland, which shows that vacant and derelict sites can harm the wellbeing of communities, with findings reportedly showing that these sites can contribute to poor mental health, feelings of a lack of safety, anxiety and a persistent low mood; further notes reported concerns from communities around the traceability of the ownership of vacant and derelict sites, which, it understands, are often owned by absentee landlords and corporations as part of property and financial portfolios; considers that Scotland has a huge potential to lead the UK in transforming these sites into useful community assets; notes the view that focussing on these sites as a vehicle for delivery could help to enhance policy coordination across civic Scotland by concentrating effort and resources where they are most needed to benefit communities; welcomes the Scottish Land Commissions report, Transforming Scotland’s Approach to Vacant and Derelict Land, Recommendations from the Vacant and Derelict Land Taskforce; notes calls on the Scottish Government to set out its progress towards implementing these recommendations, and to outline its engagement with the Scottish Land Commission’s joint Vacant and Derelict Land Taskforce; further notes what it sees as the role of communities, as, it understands, has been seen in Heathhall, Dumfries and Galloway, in calling on Dumfries and Galloway Council to address the former Interfloor Factory, and notes the view that communities across Scotland should become involved in taking transformative action to ensure these sites dealt with as a priority.

Events

RTPI James Attwood Lecture – November 2022. The challenges of decommissioning the Dounreay site and readying it for future use
Date & Time: Thursday 10 November 2022; 7-8:30pm
Location: Inverness Town House, Castle Wynd, Inverness
This event is part of a series of annual lectures presented by the Continuing Professional Development in Construction (Highland and Islands) group, in memory of one of its founding members, the late Professor James Attwood, OBE, FCIOB who gave the first lecture in 1988. The member institutions of the group take it in turn to organise the event and in 2022 it is RTPI’s turn. Adreain Gill – Head, Interim Endstate Delivery at Dounreay Site Restoration Limited, will provide background to the Dounreay Nuclear Research Establishment, before focussing on the challenges of decommissioning the site and readying it for future use. Following this there will be opportunity for delegates to ask questions.

RTPI Planning Law Update – Edinburgh
Date & Time: Thursday 10 November 2022; 6-8:30pm, followed by networking
Location: Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP, 1 Exchange Crescent Conference Square, Edinburgh
The annual planning update is back. Please join us for the latest legal update with networking afterwards.

Heritage Trust Network Conference 2022
Date & Time: Friday 11 November 10:30am-4:30pm
Location: Online via Zoom
Join the Heritage Trust’s online conference to hear presentations from community heritage practitioners and leading experts in the field, with opportunities for discussion and networking. This event is for anyone considering taking on a heritage building, or those already managing one, who wish to connect with others across the country. The 2022 event will have a particular focus on heritage activity in Wales.
Tickets: £15 (members) / £30 (non-members)

AHSS & SGLH Judy Riley – Ornaments and Obelisks: Changes at Tyninghame in the Early 19th Century
Date & Time: Monday 14 November 2022, 6:30pm
Location: Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL (wheelchair accessible)
Note: Lectures will also be streamed online via Zoom
With the help of previously unpublished archival material, Judy Riley explores the development of Tyninghame House and gardens, in East Lothian, around the first half of the nineteenth century, including William Burn’s work for the 9th Earl of Haddington.

Scotland’s Towns Conference
Date & Time: Wednesday 16 November 2022; 9am-5pm
Location: Kilmarnock
Scotland’s Towns Conference is our annual, flagship gathering of stakeholders from across sectors involved in supporting Scotland’s towns and improvement districts.
Please follow link to book tickets for Members and Non-Members

New National Park Commission – National Scotland Event
Date & Time: Thursday 17 November, 2022; 3-5pm
Location: Online via Teams
Scottish Ministers are committed to establishing at least one new National Park by the end of this Parliament in early 2026.  As part of this process, NatureScot has been commissioned by Scottish Government to provide advice on the role and approach to National Parks and how areas for new National Parks could be selected. As part of the consultation process, they have organised an online event for organisations and groups to come together to learn more about the consultation and discuss the issues and opportunities it raises.

AHSS Geoff Bailey – The Architecture of  Matthew Steele
Date & Time: Thursday 17 November 2022; 7:30pm
Location: Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow
Note: Lectures will also be streamed online via Zoom
Geoff Bailey of the Falkirk Local History Society [Heritage Engagement Officer Falkirk Community Trust] will talk about the unique style of the provincial architect Matthew Steele who gave the town of Bo’ness near Falkirk much of its present character.  Working in the period 1910-1940 he adopted and adapted the latest designs and materials adding a Nordic twist to provide his own flavour.

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Lecture: “Hunter-Gatherer Ireland”
Date and time: Thursday 17 November 2022; 6–7pm
Location: Hybrid format; in-person at Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh and livestreamed online via Zoom
This lecture from Professor Graeme Warren provides an overview of the hunter-gatherer settlement of Ireland – mainly, the archaeology of the Mesolithic period drawing on his recent book Hunter-Gatherer Ireland: making connections in an island world (Oxbow, 2022). It will show the dynamism and complexity of the Mesolithic period in Ireland and its connections to the Mesolithic in Britain and Europe.

RTPI Investing in Place
Date & Time: Thursday 17 November 2022; 4–5pm
Location: Online via Big Marker webinar platform (more details on registration)
Scottish Enterprise commissioned consultants (Iglu Consulting, Steven Tolson and Nick Wright) to look at how to apply the Place Principle to investing in place. Their report will not be finalised until after NPF4 is published but they have kindly agreed to discuss their findings. They explore how to best deliver mixed use development and focus on where there is a need for public sector intervention. They lay out a case for change built on evidence and outline a framework for delivering and designing mixed-use development that will contribute to a greener, fairer and healthier Scotland. The event will be of interest to anyone concerned with how to deliver better places.

Edinburgh, Lothians and Borders Archaeology Conference
Date & Time: Saturday 19 November 2022; 9am-4:45pm
Location: Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh
This annual conference is organised by the City of Edinburgh Council, East Lothian Council and Scottish Borders Council.  For the 20th anniversary there will be an exciting programme of talks about recent discoveries and archaeological research in Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders.
Conference tickets are £30, with an optional buffet lunch priced at £10  (NB lunch must be pre-booked by 16 November). Conference tickets only will be available on the day. Book tickets here

RICS World Built Environment Forum – Natural solutions to human-induced problems: Is green infrastructure the answer?
Date & Time: Wednesday 23 November 2022; 4-5pm
Location: Online
Join the conversation as we explore what new and revised financing and governance frameworks are required to successfully up-scale nature-based solutions. How broadly could these solutions be implemented, and are policymakers rising to this legislative challenge?

ICON Scotland 25th Annual Plenderleith Memorial Lecture: Even on a Mountain, there is still a road: Reflections on Conservation in post-Conflict Afghanistan
Date & Time: Thursday 24 November 2022; 7-8:15pm
Location: City Art Centre, 2 Market Street, Edinburgh
Join Icon Scotland for their 25th annual lecture in memory of Dr Harold Plenderleith, one of the founders of modern conservation. This year’s speaker is Dr Richard Mulholland, Senior Lecturer on the Conservation of Fine Art MA programme at Northumbria University. A Paper Conservator and Technical Art Historian, Richard has been engaged in research on the conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage collections at risk in conflict zones, particularly focused on Afghanistan. His lecture will consider what is being done to equip collections staff to respond to these crises and reflect on the future of culture in an increasingly polarised world.

A&BS The (Income) Generation Game: In-person
Date & Time: Tuesday 29 November 2022; 4pm-6:15pm
Location: Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh
Link to register
A&BS The (Income) Generation Game: Online
Date & Time: Wednesday 30 November 2022; 4-6pm
Location: Online
Link to register
Chairs of heritage or mixed arts/heritage organisations are invited to network and learn from experts and peers in a mini-series called ‘The Heritage Chairs Network Exchange’.
The sessions focus on challenges chairs might be facing having come out of lockdown, and the wider context organisations need to respond to. The sessions will bring together chairs to allow participants to expand their peer networks and share experience. With unprecedented pressure on public funding, what are some of the ways organisations can respond to remain financially sustainable?
These in person and online sessions will look at the role of the board and chair in fundraising, and other income generation options available to heritage organisations and mixed heritage/arts organisations.

Richard Rodger – Happy Homes: Cooperation, Community and the Edinburgh Colonies
Date & Time: Monday 12 December 2022; 6:30pm
Location: Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL (wheelchair accessible)
Note: Lectures will also be streamed online via Zoom
Edinburgh and Leith colony housing represents a very distinctive, immediately recognisable built form. Or so you might think. In fact there is considerable divergence in design, in prices (rents) and in the occupants. In this talk, Richard Rodger dissects the background to the housing, their owners, occupants, and other characteristics to reveal a new perspective on this housing type.

Training

GCHT CPD: The Risk of Fire in Historic Buildings
Date & Time: Monday 14 November 2022; 12:30-1:30pm
Location: GCHT Office, 54 Bell Street, Glasgow; Online via Zoom
Every year, historic properties are lost to fire across the UK: in the last five years Belfast, Glasgow, and Liverpool have all suffered the loss of irreplaceable buildings. In this CPD Conservation Architect Peter Drummond will provide an overview of the special risks which are found on historic buildings, how designers can assess these risks, and the development of a holistic approach which protects buildings and their occupants.

A&BS Business Briefing: Introduction to being a Board Member Course
Date & Time: Tuesday 15 – Wednesday 16 November; 10:00am-1:00pm
Location: Online via Zoom
Do you have new trustees who have joined you in recent months, or perhaps you have taken on a trustee role for the first time yourself? Covering everything you need to get you launched on your board career – and still useful if you would like a refresher – over the two sessions the course will include:
–    Duties of charitable trustees/board members
–    The different roles and responsibilities of board members and staff
–    Meeting management and decision making
–    Advocacy and fundraising
–    Your role in strategic planning
–    Understanding the finances

CIfA – Practising Ethical Competence in Archaeology
Date & Time: Wednesday 16 November 2022; 2-5pm
Location: Online
This CPD workshop is for accredited professionals and those that need to demonstrate ethical abilities as part of their application for accreditation.

A&BS Business Briefing: Data Protection and Marketing Update
Date & Time: Tuesday 22 November; 12-1pm
Location: Online via Zoom
The use of data has never been so valuable but the question of what you can and cannot do legally with contact data to market your goods and services is complex. In this session we will look at how data protection laws apply to the arts, heritage and culture sector and how it can use contact data to keep in touch with audiences and supporters. We will cover:
–    Marketing and data protection laws – the basics
–    Cookies, consent and the risks
–    The Data Reform Bill and changes which could assist the third sector

Scottish Lime Centre Trust – Climate Change – How to protect our buildings
Date & Time: Friday 2 December 2022; 9:30am-4:30pm
Location: Charlestown Workshops, Fife
Cost: £200 +VAT
What on earth we can do to protect our buildings? From more robust roof design, retro-fitting for pre and post 1919 buildings, bigger and better rain water goods, all about insulating plasters and render and we think mortar skew fillets have their days numbered.

Vacancies

SURF – Facilitator, Alliance for Action Programme
Salary: £33,000 pro rata
Status: Part-time, 17.5h per week
Location: Peterhead, Aberdeenshire
SURF is seeking a part-time Facilitator to support its new Alliance for Action programme site in Peterhead. The successful applicant will be responsible for helping to build on local progress towards the regeneration of Peterhead town centre, supporting collaboration and project delivery in response to community demand.
Closing date: Monday 14 November 2022

BEFS News

With the close closing date, we’re putting this up-front in the Bulletin this week. UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy BEIS) have a survey out, following the UK government’s Energy Relief Bill Scheme announcement, when the government committed to finding out more about the needs of specific sectors. It is technical and demands standard industry classification codes for completion. But we appreciate that information gathered here could have genuine impact in relation to Energy Relief for the future.

We’re also delighted that BEFS Members, GCHT have launched a new and refreshed grants programme. GCHT Historic Environment Grants are available to property owners, commercial businesses and community groups in Glasgow who want to look after or celebrate Glasgow’s unique historic environment.  You can find all new guidance materials and instructions here.

Staying with funding, but with a very different focus – the Centre for Cultural Value’s second round of the Collaborate fund is now open to the cultural sector. The fund supports innovative new research partnerships between cultural sector practitioners and academics that ask new questions about the difference culture makes to people’s lives.

We’re always interested in the topic of maintenance and wanted to draw attention to a couple of news items in this regard. Firstly, that built environment professional bodies (including BEFS Members, RICS) have joined forces to align the data standards that are used to manage costing, carbon and building and facilities maintenance, in a bid to clear up confusion and shift the digital focus from new build to whole life building performance. And, that RICS has collaborated with Historic England and the PCA to produce a Joint Position Statement – Investigation of moisture and its effects on traditional buildings: Principles and competencies. The document has been additionally supported by Historic Environment Scotland, Cadw, Historic Environment Division Northern Ireland, SPAB and IHBC.

Culture and Heritage are interlinked and BEFS wants to draw attention to discussions had at the Scottish Parliament Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee on both 29th September and 6th October. In the first instance the cultural-heritage sector made representations to the committee, including evidence from Lucy Casot (Museums Galleries Scotland), Sir John Leighton (National Galleries of Scotland), and Alex Paterson (Historic Environment Scotland). At the second, pre-budget scrutiny in relation to culture took place.

Whilst all representatives across the sector are at pains to demonstrate the benefits and positive outcomes of our cultural heritage, the mood music remains deeply concerning as cost of living and energy crises impact the sector deeply. The recent news about both the Film Festival, and the Modern 2 – National Gallery, illustrate this all too keenly.

Thinking globally, and looking at the bigger picture, BEFS draws attention to the Global culture declaration from MONDIACULT, held in Mexico in September 2022. Reminding us all, at global scale, of the protections necessary, and cultural importance of all our places.

Late addition to BEFS news, Museums Galleries Scotland have just released their draft strategy and accompanying consultation – survey closes 1st November!

And finally – The New Library, Magdalene College, at Cambridge University has been crowned as the 26th Stirling Prize winner by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). We congratulate all those shortlisted.

BEFS does not have a Communications Manager in post at this time. BEFS will continue to get readers all the information that matters, particularly ensuring parliamentary activity is covered. And we’ll endeavour to include Events, Training and related Vacancies. These will be presented in the Bulletin as links (we will not be updating the website Events diary or Vacancy pages) until the team is back at full complement. Next Bulletin dates are 3  & 17 November – BEFS Members should submit information for inclusion by the Monday prior to publication.

Consultations

Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation
Scottish Government
Closes 30 October 2022 

Battlefields: Planning Best Practice 
Historic Environment Scotland
Closes 3 November 2022

Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture. Proposals for a new Agriculture Bill
Scottish Government
Closes 21 November 2022

The Future of National Parks in Scotland
Scottish Government
** NEW Closes 30 November 2022**

HES Responsible Tourism Framework
Historic Environment Scotland
Closes 30 November 2022

Developing a Scottish Tax to replace the UK Aggregates Levy
Scottish Government
Closes 4 December 2022

Consultation Responses

None at this time.

Publications

Testing our Resilience: Report examining the impact of the cost of living crisis on volunteering and volunteers (Volunteer Scotland 27/09/2022)

Arts Professional: Pulse Report on an Arts Pay Survey to gauge the realities of earnings in the sector (Arts Professional 13/10/2022)

Scottish & UK Government Publications

Tenant Protection Bill (SG 06/10/2022)

Just Transition Fund Awards (SG 10/10/2022)

Regional Land Use Partnerships: phase 1 process evaluation – final report (SG 12/10/2022)

Climate change – loss and damage: First Minister’s speech (SG 11/10/2022)

Chief Planner Letter: stakeholder update (SG 11/10/2022)

Legislative consent memorandum on the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill (ScotParl 11/10/2022)

Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport’s response on Forestry Grant Schemes, Highly Protected Marine Areas, Public consultation on ‘Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation’, Circular Economy Bill Procurement Requirements, Criminalisation of Ecocide and The Community Bus Fund (SG 13/10/2022)

Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport’s response on the role of local government and its cross-sectoral partners in financing and delivering a net-zero Scotland (SG 13/10/2022)

Scoping Culture and Heritage Capital Report (UK Gov 17/10/2022)

Building a New Scotland: A stronger economy with independence (SG 17/10/2022)

Chancellor brings forward further Medium-Term Fiscal Plan measures (UK Gov 17/10/2022)

News Releases

The UK National Commission for UNESCO has been awarded £250,000 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund (UNESCO 05/10/2022)

You can now download and connect to GIS spatial data on Historic England’s open data hub (Historic England 13/10/2022)

The BBC and Historic Environment Scotland have jointly selected the buildings, landscapes, and places that have defined the broadcaster’s 100-year history. They have produced an interactive map to showcase the buildings and places they believe have shaped the BBC (HES 13/10/2022)

Modern Two Gallery will close this winter amid rising energy costs (STV 18/10/2022)

Opinion & Comment

Donelan: DCMS will prioritise economic growth (Arts Professional 04/10/2022)

What does Community Wealth Building mean at a community level? (Jocelyn Cunliffe; SURF bulletin 06/10/2022)

We are mere custodians of Scotland’s beauty. We should not decry the ‘outsiders’ who enjoy it (The Herald 06/10/2022)

How to Recycle a 14-Story Office Tower (The New York Times 06/10/2022)

‘Perfect storm’ warning for Scottish arts sector amid fears of ‘significant’ funding cuts (The Scotsman 06/10/2022)

Galleries are fighting ‘just to keep the doors open’ (The Times 08/10/2022)

National Trust urges Liz Truss not to ‘rip up critical nature protections’ (The National 09/10/2022)

Glacier grief: how funerals and rituals can help us mourn the loss of nature (The Guardian 10/10/2022)

Need to build affordable homes could be relaxed in planning reforms (The Times 11/10/2022)

‘Drastic’: Warning over budget cut threat to Scotland’s threatened wildlife and iconic landscape (The Herald 14/10/2022)

Conserving cultural heritage is vital for climate adaptation (The Hill 15/10/2022)

Parliamentary Questions and Answers

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-11181 Miles Briggs, Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 23/09/2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide any reskilling or training initiatives to train workers to install net zero heating mechanisms such as heat pumps.
Current status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 6 October 2022

S6W-11182 Miles Briggs, Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 23/09/2022
To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to housebuilding organisations in order to build net zero housing.
Current status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 6 October 2022

S6W-11494 Donald Cameron, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 11/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how much funding it has invested in the sustainable development of Scotland’s historic estate in (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23, in line with the Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto commitment.
Current status: Answer expected on 8 November 2022

S6W-11502 Emma Roddick, Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: 11/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether environmental protections would be reduced in any Scottish investment zones.
Current status: Answer expected on 8 November 2022

S6W-11485 Donald Cameron, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 11/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to introduce the Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto commitment for a Percentage for the Arts scheme.
Current status: Answer expected on 8 November 2022

S6W-11537 Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: 13/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the status is of each (a) single building assessment and (b) single building assessment application it has received under the grant-based approach.
Current status: Answer expected on 10 November 2022

Debate on the Energy Prices Bill (UK Parl 17/10/2022) question from Rosie Winterton MP, Doncaster Central, Labour concerning tenement buildings and new clause 1—Impact assessment on VAT zero rating insulation works for tenement buildings in Scotland—Within six months of the date of Royal Assent to this Act, the Secretary of State must carry out an assessment of the impact of zero rating value added tax on work.

S6W-11584 Donald Cameron, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 18/10/022
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Historic Environment Scotland regarding the flexibility to use its reserves, and whether it has plans to extend any such flexibility to other organisations.
Current status: Answer expected on 15 November 2022

Events

ICON ECRN: Building a Salvage Network for Scotland
Date & Time: Thursday 27 October 2022; 9:30am–4pm
Location: The Engine Shed, Stirling
Edinburgh Collections Response Network is hosting a day of knowledge and skills sharing open to anyone involved in disaster recovery work from the GLAM sector in Scotland. ECRN is a voluntary group of conservators, curators, archivists and others based in and around Edinburgh who form a disaster recovery coalition that spans many organisations from national to local. The group is keen to foster closer connections with the wider Scottish heritage sector, and share the knowledge and lessons they have learned from collaborating. Event run in partnership with Icon Scotland, SCA and HES.

AHSS & SGLH Judy Riley – Ornaments and Obelisks: Changes at Tyninghame in the Early 19th Century
Date & Time: Monday 14 November 2022, 6:30pm
Location: Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL (wheelchair accessible)
Note: Lectures will also be streamed online via Zoom
With the help of previously unpublished archival material, Judy Riley explores the development of Tyninghame House and gardens, in East Lothian, around the first half of the nineteenth century, including William Burn’s work for the 9th Earl of Haddington.

Scotland’s Towns Conference
Date & Time: Wednesday 16 November 2022; 9am-5pm
Location: Kilmarnock
Scotland’s Towns Conference is our annual, flagship gathering of stakeholders from across sectors involved in supporting Scotland’s towns and improvement districts.
Please follow link to book tickets for Members and Non-Members

AHSS Geoff Bailey – The Architecture of  Matthew Steele
Date & Time: Thursday 17 November 2022; 7:30pm
Location: Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow
Note: Lectures will also be streamed online via Zoom
Geoff Bailey of the Falkirk Local History Society [Heritage Engagement Officer Falkirk Community Trust] will talk about the unique style of the provincial architect Matthew Steele who gave the town of Bo’ness near Falkirk much of its present character.  Working in the period 1910-1940 he adopted and adapted the latest designs and materials adding a Nordic twist to provide his own flavour.

Edinburgh, Lothians and Borders Archaeology Conference
Date & Time: Saturday 19 November 2022; 9am-4:45pm
Location: Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh
This annual conference is organised by the City of Edinburgh Council, East Lothian Council and Scottish Borders Council.  For the 20th anniversary there will be an exciting programme of talks about recent discoveries and archaeological research in Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders.
Conference tickets are £30, with an optional buffet lunch priced at £10  (NB lunch must be pre-booked by 16 November). Conference tickets only will be available on the day. Book tickets here

Richard Rodger – Happy Homes: Cooperation, Community and the Edinburgh Colonies
Date & Time: Monday 12 December 2022; 6:30pm
Location: Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL (wheelchair accessible)
Note: Lectures will also be streamed online via Zoom
Edinburgh and Leith colony housing represents a very distinctive, immediately recognisable built form. Or so you might think. In fact there is considerable divergence in design, in prices (rents) and in the occupants. In this talk, Richard Rodger dissects the background to the housing, their owners, occupants, and other characteristics to reveal a new perspective on this housing type.

Training 

Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust – Architectural Conservation CPD 2022 Programme
Date & Time: Saturday 26 October & Wednesday 30 November 2022
Location: Online
The Perth and Kinross annual series of Architectural Conservation CPDs is underway. The programme continues with sessions on conservation techniques for historical sculptures and retrofit of traditional buildings.

RIAS Conservation Committee: Helping you care for buildings – Conservation CPD
Date & Time: Thursday 27 October 2022; 1pm onwards
Location: Online
The RIAS Conservation Committee are hosting a virtual CPD session, for any parties interested in saving and re-using historic buildings, including those considering conservation accreditation, architects, planners, and people working in the heritage sector.
The price of this CPD is £80 (+ VAT)

CIfA – Practising Ethical Competence in Archaeology
Date & Time: Wednesday 16 November 2022; 2-5pm
Location: Online
This CPD workshop is for accredited professionals and those that need to demonstrate ethical abilities as part of their application for accreditation.

Vacancies

SURF – Facilitator, Alliance for Action Programme
Salary: £33,000 pro rata
Status: Part-time, 17.5h per week
Location: Peterhead, Aberdeenshire
SURF is seeking a part-time Facilitator to support its new Alliance for Action programme site in Peterhead. The successful applicant will be responsible for helping to build on local progress towards the regeneration of Peterhead town centre, supporting collaboration and project delivery in response to community demand.
Closing date: Monday 14 November 2022

Cupar Development Trust – Projects & Administration Officer
Salary: £30,000 pro rata
Status: Part-time, 12.5h per week
Cupar Development Trust is seeking a highly motivated individual for the post of Projects & Administration Officer. You will provide professional support to CDT’s Board, Sub-Committees, Staff, and Volunteers, and work with other organisations with which CDT is collaborating in pursuit of key activities across Cupar & District. The successful applicant will have excellent communication and organisational skills and the ability to work with wider community groups. In addition, they will be able to set and achieve realistic targets and manage own workload, along with sound computer skills.
Closing date: Friday 4 November 2022

BEFS News

BEFS are proud to be supporting Members of the Climate Heritage Network, and wish to draw attention to the launch of a new Action Plan 2022-2024. We too believe that: Heritage has the power to help people imagine and realise low carbon, just, climate resilient futures.

Looking to the future, now is the time to give your views on HES’ new Responsible Tourism Framework, where the focus is on how Scotland’s tourism sector has a key role to play in tackling the climate crisis and achieving net-zero while contributing significantly to the Scottish economy.

And if you’re thinking of travelling – Europa Nostra 2022 European Heritage Awards winners have just been announced: read all about the fantastic projects here. We’d also draw attention to the Prague Manifesto – “For a Value-based and Culture-driven Europe”.

A little closer to home, BEFS were delighted to be at the Engine Shed in Stirling to work with AHSS and HES to host the Conservation Areas Seminar. This sold-out event enabled practitioners and professionals across the sector to hear more about policy development, good practice, and the challenges of working in and managing conservation areas. Thank you to all who made it possible! For those within a Local/Planning Authority with responsibility for conservation areas – and not already connected – you can become part of the Conservation Officers Group (COG).

In other policy news, Robbie Calvert RTPI Policy, Practice and Research Officer gave Evidence on the Levelling Up Bill for Scotland to the Net Zero Committee. You can read their written response here.

Considering the state of the sector – the latest UK Heritage Pulse Survey has been published. This iteration was designed in response to what the heritage sector told NLHF was most important; it focused on organisational resilience, recruitment and staffing, and environmental sustainability. We recommend that organisations (particularly within Scotland) who want to be part of future surveys sign-up to be part of the process, helping to inform future strategy and policy for the sector.

And, when examining those very topics: MGS with BEFS and greenspace scotland are holding focus group sessions to assist the co-design of the Business Support Programme (NLHF funded) 2023 extension. Book here to be part of the focus groups.

Congratulations are due across the sector:
Jackie Bird has become the new NTS president, after being endorsed at the charity’s AGM. Her nomination information can be found here.

Well done to HTN for a successful bid to NLHF for the start of their Essential Networks project. We look forward to seeing the project develop.

We appreciate all the work, and volunteering across the sector that produces the Festival of Traditional Buildings, and were delighted to see this work, and the importance of the topic, highlighted in a parliamentary motion to celebrate and support the Festival’s 10^th Year.

And finally, whilst we bring the news that The Egyptian Halls working group, led by the Scottish Civic Trust, has secured funding from Glasgow City Heritage Trust and the Architectural Heritage Fund to develop a business plan for the restoration of this site. We also congratulate Susan O’Connor, current Director of the SCT who is moving to take on a role integral to sector sustainability, Head of Grants at HES. If you want to continue her great work with SCT, and The Egyptian Halls (as well as many other projects), please see details of the role available here.

BEFS does not have a Communications Manager in post at this time. BEFS will continue to get readers all the information that matters, particularly ensuring parliamentary activity is covered. And we’ll endeavour to include Events, Training and related Vacancies. These will be presented in the Bulletin as links (we will not be updating the website Events diary or Vacancy pages) until the team is back at full complement. Next Bulletin dates are: 20^th of October and 3^rd November – BEFS Members should submit information for inclusion by the Monday prior to publication.

Consultations

New Build Heat Standard: consultation – part two
Scottish Government
Closes 20 October 2022

Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation
Scottish Government
Closes 30 October 2022 

Battlefields: Planning Best Practice 
Historic Environment Scotland
Closes 3 November 2022

Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture. Proposals for a new Agriculture Bill
Scottish Government
Closes 21 November 2022

HES Responsible Tourism Framework
Historic Environment Scotland
** NEW Closes 30 November 2022**

Developing a Scottish Tax to replace the UK Aggregates Levy
Scottish Government
** NEW Closes 4 December 2022**

Consultation Responses

None at this time.

Publications

Is heating homes with hydrogen all but a pipe dream? (Jan Rosenow Sept. 2022)
A significant evidence review of papers relating to hydrogen heating for domestic homes.

SAIR 100: The excavation of a prehistoric settlement at Lower Slackbuie, Inverness (SoAoS 26/09/2022)

Climate Heritage Network Action Plan 2022-2024 (CHN 28/09/2022)

Interim Strategic Plan (Environmental Standards Scotland Sept. 2022)

Prague Manifesto “For a Value-based and Culture-driven Europe” (Europa Nostra Sept. 2022)

RICS Sustainability Report 2022 (RICS Sept. 2022)
Based on the sentiment of 4000 real estate and construction professionals from across over 30 countries.

Construction Innovation Hub – Value Toolkit Resource Library (Oct. 2022)

BE~ST Annual Impact Report 2021-22 (BE~ST 03/10/2022)

Addressing overheating risk in existing UK homes (Arup CCC 4/10/2022)
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) commissioned Arup to appraise the current and future risks posed by summertime overheating to the UK housing stock at scale.

Scottish & UK Government Publications

Fiscal Statement (UK Govt 23/09/2022) Note some polices may have changed since time of publication.

Community Ownership in Scotland 2021 – Annual publication showing the extent of community ownership in Scotland. (SG 27/09/2022)

National Partnership for Culture recommendations: Scottish Government response (SG 27/09/2022)

Environmental impact of mini-budget and Retained EU Law Bill: letter to UK Government (SG 29/09/2022)

Report on the National Performance Framework: Ambitions into Action (ScotParl 03/10/2022)

Emergency Protections for tenants (SG 03/10/2022)

News Releases

Europa Nostra 2022 European Heritage Awards winners announced (26/09/2022)

Edinburgh Council agrees powers to regulate short-term lets. (BBC 29/09/2022)
and Scottish Housing News (30/09/2022)

Funding Secured to help save Glasgow’s at-risk Egyptian Halls (26/09/2022)
The Egyptian Halls working group, led by the Scottish Civic Trust, has secured funding from Glasgow City Heritage Trust and the Architectural Heritage Fund to develop a business plan for the restoration of Glasgow’s A-listed Egyptian Halls. 

Fife pupils get a taste of traditional construction skills (Project Scotland 30/09/2022)

And finally …not just any old iron (Scottish Construction Now 30/09/2022)
The underwater discovery of a distinctive wrought iron anchor found by ScottishPower Renewables at the bottom of the southern North Sea has been hailed as an “incredibly rare” find.

UK Heritage Pulse Survey Second Wave results (NLHF 05/10/2022)

Opinion & Comment

Older buildings could have vital role to play in meeting net zero targets (Project Scot 13/09/2022)

Emergency budget: what it means for arts and culture sector (Arts Professional 23/09/2022)

Scottish and UK ministers hold ‘constructive’ discussions on investment zones (Herald 04/10/2022)

Investment zones could be allowed in England’s national parks (Guardian 03/10/2022)

Parliamentary Questions and Answers

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-10632 Liam Kerr, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 26/08/2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10006 by Michael Matheson on 23 August 2022, in light of it stating that it has not yet assessed the cost of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 and not providing a suggestion of a figure, whether it has at least assessed the cost of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 within an approximate range or figure, or whether it has no estimate of the cost of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.
Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 September 2022

S6W-10745 Stephen Kerr, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 01/09/2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many times ministers have called in planning applications from planning committees in each of the last 10 years.
Current status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 27 September 2022

S6W-11154 Sarah Boyack, Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date Lodged: 27/09/2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it will publish its refreshed Culture Strategy Action Plan.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 25/10/2022

S6W-11264 Emma Roddick, Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party,
Date Lodged: 30/09/2022
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to fulfil its commitments to protect nature in Scotland and maintain or exceed EU environmental standards, in light of the reported plans by the UK Government to dismantle laws protecting nature.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 28/10/2022

S6W-11289 Sharon Dowey, South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date Lodged: 04/10/2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07194 by Neil Gray on 16 March 2022, whether it will provide an update on the progress of protecting the properties in the care of Historic Environment Scotland that are reportedly being left to “gracefully die”.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 01/11/2022

Parliamentary Motions

10th Festival of Traditional Buildings

Submitted by: Gordon MacDonald, Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party.
Date lodged: Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Supported by: Jeremy Balfour, Colin Beattie, Miles Briggs, Stephanie Callaghan, Foysol Choudhury, Bob Doris, Jackie Dunbar, Annabelle Ewing, Christine Grahame, Bill Kidd, Monica Lennon, Fulton MacGregor, Paul McLennan, Stuart McMillan, Audrey Nicoll, Alex Rowley, Collette Stevenson, Kaukab Stewart, Paul Sweeney, David Torrance, Elena Whitham

That the Parliament congratulates the Edinburgh Traditional Building Forum on delivering the 10th Festival of Traditional Buildings in August 2022 and the welcomed return to it being delivered in person; notes that the event focussed on sustainability of traditional buildings; recognises the efforts of the forum to celebrate Edinburgh’s traditional buildings, bringing together experts with the wider public, in order to demonstrate knowledge and skills across a whole spectrum of traditional construction skills; understands that the festival was a collaboration between the National Federation of Roofing Contractors, Historic Environment Scotland, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, the Built Environment Forum Scotland, the Stone Federation Great Britain, the British Geological Survey, GLM Chartered Surveyors, Bannockburn House, Scottish Lime Centre Trust, David Fisher & Sons Plastering, Nevin Decorators, Developing the Young Workforce, and City of Edinburgh Council; believes that this collaborative approach plays a vital role in widening the public’s understanding of the importance of maintaining Scotland’s traditional buildings with the right knowledge and skills, and thanks each of the organisations for their ongoing efforts to protect and maintain Scotland’s historic built environment.

Events

AHSS Dr Alistair Fair – Building a Modern Scotland: The New Towns, 1947–76
Date & Time: Monday 10 October 2022, 6.30pm
Location: Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL (wheelchair accessible) Note: Lectures will also be streamed online via Zoom
Between the late 1940s and the early 1970s, six new towns were begun across Scotland, inspired by the ideals of the earlier Garden City Movement. For policymakers, they reflected an ambition to build a new Scotland; for architects and designers, they were an opportunity to create new kinds of urban environments. In this talk, Dr Alistair Fair surveys what was planned, some of the key buildings, and what happened subsequently.

SoAoS October Lecture – Mary of Guelders and the Architecture of Queenship in Fifteenth Century Scotland
Date & Time: Thursday 20 October, 6pm
Location: Hybrid (in-person at Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL) and live streamed online via Zoom
During her widowhood, Mary of Guelders, Queen of Scots, pursued an energetic programme of architectural patronage, including renovations to Falkland Palace in Fife, and the commissioning of Ravenscraig Castle (Fife) and Trinity Collegiate Kirk and hospital outside Edinburgh. Recent dendrochronology at St Giles’ Kirk in Edinburgh also suggests that her patronage was more extensive than previously thought. In this lecture, Dr Rachel Delman will explore how Mary’s building projects articulated messages regarding her gender, piety, power, and status during her son’s minority.

AHSS Dr Diane Watters – Scotland’s Post-War New Towns: Plan, Lives and Legacy
Date & Time: Thursday 20 October 2022, 7.30pm
Location: Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow  Note: Lectures also be streamed online via Zoom
Dr Diane Watters, architectural historian, will provide a brief introduction to the inter-disciplinary Leverhulme-funded research project on New Towns led by the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. In the face of ongoing condemnations, such as the ‘Plook on a plinth’ award, the project aims to uncover the original vision, plans, reception, and their legacy. She will focus on Cumbernauld (the speaker’s hometown) and Livingston.

ICON ECRN: Building a salvage network for Scotland
Date & Time: Thursday 27 October, 9.30am – 4pm
Location: The Engine Shed, Stirling
Edinburgh Collections Response Network is hosting a day of knowledge and skills sharing open to anyone involved in disaster recovery work from the GLAM sector in Scotland. ECRN is a voluntary group of conservators, curators, archivists and others based in and around Edinburgh who form a disaster recovery coalition that spans many organisations from national to local. The group is keen to foster closer connections with the wider Scottish heritage sector, and share the knowledge and lessons they have learned from collaborating. Event run in partnership with Icon Scotland, SCA and HES.

RTPI Scotland – The Point by Dandara site visit
Date & Time: Thursday 3 November 2022, 5.30pm
Location: The Point, Aberdeen
The Point by Dandara development has developed a vacant derelict brownfield site in 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. Join RTPI Scotland for a tour of the development lead by Dandara’s Austin McGuire.

AHSS & SGLH Judy Riley – Ornaments and Obelisks: Changes at Tyninghame in the Early 19th Century
Date & Time: Monday 14 November 2022, 6.30pm
Location: Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL (wheelchair accessible)
Note: Lectures will also be streamed online via Zoom
With the help of previously unpublished archival material, Judy Riley explores the development of Tyninghame House and gardens, in East Lothian, around the first half of the nineteenth century, including William Burn’s work for the 9th Earl of Haddington. 

Scotland’s Towns Conference
Date & Time: Wednesday 16 November 2022
Location: Kilmarnock
Scotland’s Towns Conference is our annual, flagship gathering of stakeholders from across sectors involved in supporting Scotland’s towns and improvement districts. 
Links here for Member and Non-Member Booking

AHSS Geoff Bailey – The Architecture of  Matthew Steele
Date & Time:Thursday 17 November 2022, 7.30pm
Location: Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow (barring any new Covid 19 restrictions) 
Note: Lectures will also be streamed online via Zoom
Geoff Bailey of the Falkirk Local History Society [Heritage Engagement Officer Falkirk Community Trust] will talk about the unique style of the provincial architect Matthew Steele who gave the town of Bo’ness near Falkirk much of its present character.  Working in the period 1910-1940 he adopted and adapted the latest designs and materials adding a Nordic twist to provide his own flavour.  

Training 

PAS SP=EED Community Engagement Skills training 
Date & Time: Thursday 13 October, 10am – 3pm
Location: Online – Zoom
Looking to sharpen your community engagement skills? Join our next live ‘SP=EED’ training, Thursday 13 October 2022. SP=EED is a unique development programme designed to develop your skills and confidence in designing, delivering and evaluating effective community engagement

SPAB – Repair of Old Buildings Course
Date & Time: 17 to 21 October 2022
Location: Online
The Repair of Old Buildings course delivers an extensive programme of lectures and recorded site visits demonstrating building repair projects, accompanied by a series of live online Q&A sessions with speakers and site hosts. Presented by leading building conservation professionals, the Repair Course considers British and international approaches to the conservation of old buildings.  The SPAB philosophy of repair and maintenance – established by William Morris in 1877 – underpins the course programme of case studies, presentations and site visits.
The SPAB has a small fund to allow it to award bursaries to individuals who might not otherwise be able to afford a place on the Repair Course.

RICS Explore the potential impact of Commercial Real Estate within the UK Government’s Levelling-up agenda
Date & Time: Tuesday 18 October, 4pm
Location: Online
Hear first-hand, the opportunities and challenges for Commercial Real Estate in driving and enabling levelling-up across the United Kingdom.
In this webinar session we will explore the latest prospects and headwinds, as well as what actions can be undertaken to drive Commercial Real Estate forward.

Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust – Architectural Conservation CPD 2022 Programme
Date & Time: Saturday 26 October & Wednesday 30 November 2022
Location: Online
The Perth and Kinross annual series of Architectural Conservation CPDs is underway. The programme continues with sessions on conservation techniques for historical sculptures and retrofit of traditional buildings.

RIAS Conservation Committee: Helping you care for buildings – Conservation CPD
Date & Time: Thursday 27 October, 1pm onwards
Location: Online
The topics will be of interest to all who are interested in saving and re-using historic buildings, including those considering conservation accreditation, architects, planners, and people working in the heritage sector. The price of this CPD is £80 (+ VAT).

CIfA – Practising ethical competence in archaeology
Date & Time: Wednesday 16 November, 2-5pm
Location: Online
This CPD workshop is for accredited professionals and those that need to demonstrate ethical abilities as part of their application for accreditation.

Vacancies

The Auchindrain Trust Conservation and Maintenance Supervisor/ Urras Achadh an Droighinn
Salary: £27,300
Status: Full time, permanent
Location: Auchindrain Historic Township, Argyll
As a result of the retirement of a long-serving member of staff, the Trust are seeking to recruit a suitably-skilled and experienced person as Conservation & Maintenance Supervisor for the museum at Auchindrain Historic Township in Argyll. The post represents a rare opportunity for someone who would like to develop a career in the care, conservation and management of Scotland’s historic environment, with a strong emphasis on the use of traditional building skills in the modern world. 
Closing date: 12 noon, Friday 7 October 2022 

Director of the Scottish Civic Trust
Salary: £45-50k
Status: 35h per week
Location: Glasgow office and home working combined
Scottish Civic Trust are currently recruiting for a talented and dynamic individual to become their new Director, their most senior position. You will be responsible for enhancing the charity’s reputation and influence, acting as an advocate for the heritage sector, developing effective partnerships, inspiring greater support including generating income, developing thematic work, running the business and reporting to and working closely with Trustees. 
Closing date: Wednesday 19 October 2022

BEFS News

In this time of great flux, with a new Monarch, a new Prime Minister, and a new UK fiscal statement since the last Bulletin, this is a bumper issue. 
 
The Scottish Government Programme for Government was released in early September. There are stark warnings about inflation, and the expressed limited scope of the Scottish Government for financial flexibility. Balance at a time of volatility appear to be the watchwords. The Scottish Government are also expressing strong support for the commitment to meeting net zero as “part of the solution” (p4) – whilst simultaneously not embracing the opportunity of our existing built environment. The potential and protection of the natural environment is rightly present, the same could be hoped for, but is not made explicit, in relation to our built environment. There is great emphasis placed within the document on the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (March 2022).
 
In relation to planned Bills to be introduced in 2022-23 BEFS will keep a close eye on the Budget, Circular Economy, Housing (2), and Local Visitor Levy. It seems note worthy that NPF4 is not mentioned within the document.
 
In a world of continually stretched budgets and expanding challenges, advocacy and relevance (across portfolios) will be of increasing importance. BEFS Director noted that the pickings for the existing built environment and cultural-heritage were slim in 2021-2022, and in 2022 it feels that finding the expressed value and importance of cultural-heritage within the current Programme for Government is even more challenging. For more thoughts from the Third Sector in relation to the Programme for Government, please see the response from SCVO.
 
Today’s (23^rd September 2022) UK fiscal statement or Growth Plan throws many of the usual cards in the air, and only further reflection will help to understand where they might land. The Emergency Budget Review within Scotland (stated to be within two weeks of the UK fiscal statement) will be eagerly examined in coming weeks.
 
Other reactions to activity within the UK Parliament this week include the deep concern expressed by the Scottish Government to the Retained EU Law Bill  – where the UK Government seeks to revoke over 2,400 pieces of EU legislation by the end of 2023.
 
In related fiscal news:
MGS – have an important update regarding their grants programme which they have decided to pause while reviewing the needs of the sector. They recognise that this creates uncertainty for those of you who were planning applications and encourage you to contact the MGS Grants team with any questions or concerns.
 
Following the UK Government’s announcement that it will be introducing the Energy Bill Relief Scheme to fix wholesale gas and electricity prices for businesses for six months from 1 October 2022, the Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) has launched a snapshot survey to gauge the impact of the scheme for tourism businesses here.

It’s been a very busy few weeks, but BEFS would like to thank the sector for a huge amount of engagement in relation to the ongoing Our Place in Time refresh. BEFS Engagement Report in relation to all sessions run by BEFS can be found, here.

We’re also grateful for the continued engagement from those working in a conservation related role within local and planning authorities. It was a great CPD session in Stirling this week, and BEFS, HES and AHSS look forward to seeing so many from across the sector at next week’s Conservation Areas day.
 
BEFS would like readers to note that BEFS does not have a Communications Manager in post at this time. BEFS will continue to get readers all the information that matters, particularly ensuring parliamentary activity is covered. And, as ever, we’ll endeavour to include Events, Training and related Vacancies. These will be presented in the Bulletin as links (we will not be updating the website Events diary or Vacancy pages) until the team is back at full complement. Next Bulletin dates: 6^thand 20^th of October.
 
And finally, those who are subscribers to the AHSS Magazine, may also have seen BEFS Director writing about her favourite building in the Autumn edition.

Consultations

New Build Heat Standard: consultation – part two
Scottish Government
Closes 20 October 2022

Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation
Scottish Government
Closes 30 October 2022 – date extended

Battlefields: Planning Best Practice 
Historic Environment Scotland
Closes 3 November 2022

Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture. Proposals for a new Agriculture Bill
Scottish Government 
Closes 21 November 2022

Consultation Responses

BEFS response to the call for evidence from the Committee for Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture (19/09/2022)
Culture Counts response can be found here.

Publications

Understanding Scotland (Diffley Partnership August 2022)
Understanding Scotland is a new quarterly survey tool measuring the most important facets of our lives and decision-making in Scotland: our society, economy, and environment. 

HES Funding announcement (HES 01/09/2022)
A total of £98,988 has been awarded to nine heritage projects as part of the Historic Environment Support Fund, administered by HES. The projects will benefit communities in the Highlands, Angus, Falkirk, Edinburgh, East Lothian, the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.

Scottish & UK Government Publications

Programme for Government (Scottish Government 06/09/2022)

The Affordable Homes Programme since 2015 Department for Levelling up, Housing & Communities (UK Govt 08/09/2022)
 
The Role of Local Government and its Cross-Sectoral Partners in Financing and Delivering a Net-Zero Scotland – COSLA Submission (Sept 2022)

SPICe Briefing for Citizen Participation and Public Petitions – on Petition 1959 (Scottish Parliament Sept 2022)

The Town and Country Planning (Pre-Application Consultation) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 (legislation.gov.uk) (The PAC Regulations)

The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 (Commencement No. 9 and Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2022 (legislation.gov.uk) (The Commencement Regulations)

VAT refund scheme for museums and galleries reopens ( UK Govt – Sept 2022)

English Planning Data gets new portal (September 2022)

Scottish Government deep concerned at Retained EU Law Bill (Scottish Government 22/09/2022)

News Releases

Crichton Project Shortlist (RIAS 20/09/2022) 
RIAS Consultancy – the competitions and procurement arm of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland – has revealed the five shortlisted teams for a competition to design The Crichton Project – a £15 million new cultural building in Dumfries and Galloway.

New Stonemasonry Apprentices carve the path to net-zero (HES 22/09/2022)
The organisation has recently significantly increased its capacity for traditional skills training with the opening of a new larger facility in Stirling, building on the successful delivery of Modern Apprenticeships in Stonemasonry for over 10 years in the city, and for over 20 years in Elgin.

SURF releases shortlist for their awards for best practice in community regeneration (SURF 23/09/2022)

Opinion & Comment

Development planned for Calgary’s Stephen Avenue fuels debate about protecting city’s heritage buildings (Globe and Mail 02/09/2022)

Edinburgh could be first UK city to introduce tourist levy (Evening Standard 06/09/2022)

SCVO response to Programme for Government (SCVO 07/09/2022)

Now the facts – an extended rent freeze would savage Net Zero investment (Scottish Housing News 08/09/2022)

Retrofit Radicals: Housing can be energy efficient and beautiful (FT 11/09/2022)

Let’s level the financial playing field, not Scotland’s Built Environment (Holyrood 12/09/2022)

Our crumbling housing stock is helping Vladimir Putin blackmail Britain (The Telegraph 13/09/2022)

Net zero: Copenhagen’s failure to meet its 2025 target casts doubt on other major climate plans
(The Conversation 13/09/2022)

Refurbs are for wimps, what commercial developers really think about retrofirst (AJ 14/09/2022)

Net Zero A Very British Problem: HEAT (BBC RADIO4)

Scottish Landlords threaten to sue over Sturgeons rent freeze (The Times 20/09/2022)
 

Parliamentary Questions and Answers

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-10408: Jackie Baillie, Dumbarton, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 18 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for a Home Energy Scotland Loan were (a) accepted and (b) rejected in (i) 2020-21 and (ii) 2021-22.
Answered 5 September 2022

S6W-10429 Alex Rowley, Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour Date lodged: 18 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much agricultural land has been lost in Scotland to house building developments in the last decade.
Answered 6 September 2022

S6W-10193 Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date lodged: 5 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how the single building assessment is designed to take account of any risk of electric vehicle fires, whether any specific assessment protocols are included in the assessment to respond to any such risks and, if this is the case, whether it will provide the details of any such protocols.
Answered 6 September 2022

S6W-10516: Oliver Mundell, Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and UnionistParty Date Lodged: 24 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what support is in place to cover any financial costs and loss of earnings of community representatives who take part in planning enquiries.
Answered 20 September 2022

S6W-10630: Liam McArthur, Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats Date Lodged: 26 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to improve the energy efficiency of (a) business buildings, (b) local authority buildings (excluding housing), (c) social housing and (d) domestic housing in each year from 2020 to 2022.
Answered 20 September 2022

S6W-10918: Liam Kerr, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 07/09/2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its assessment is of the comparable costs of running an air source heat pump in a non-retrofitted, non-fabric refitted average property, compared with a gas boiler.
Answered 21 September 2022

S6W-10950: Sarah Boyack, Lothian, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 08/09/2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish its proposed Local Visitor Levy Bill.
Answered 22 September 2022

S6W-10951: Sarah Boyack, Lothian, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 08/09/2022
To ask the Scottish Government what it expects the earliest date will be for local authorities to implement a Local Visitor Levy, subject to parliamentary approval of its proposed Local Visitor Levy Bill.
Answered 22 September 2022
 

Events

Scottish Archaeology Month 2022
Date & Time: September to early October 2022
Location: Various across Scotland
Heritage-themed events are being held all across Scotland, as part of the annual celebration of the nation’s past coordinated by Archaeology Scotland.

Doors Open Days 2022
Date & Time: Weekends in September 2022
Location: Various across Scotland
The 2022 Doors Open Days programme is now live!

A&DS Climate Week Designing for a changing climate
Date & Time: 27/9/2022 at 12:30 – 14:00 PM
Location: Online
Scotland’s climate is changing and to adapt to these changes we all need to work together. Across Scotland, initiatives are moving beyond cities to consider what can be done in Scotland’s towns and villages.
This event will tell the story of three projects which have been exploring place-based collaborative approaches to climate action in Scotland, covering over 20 places from Alness in the north to Annan in the south.  

GCHT – What Next for Glasgow’s City Centre?
Date & Time: Wednesday 28 September 2022 7pm
Location: The Merchants House, Glasgow
Panelists will look at the challenges currently affecting the city centre such as the legacy of the Covid 19 pandemic, the high number of vacant buildings and the decline in shopfront retail, as well as how solutions to these challenges can help tackle the climate crisis. It will also open it up for questions and discussion about how to shape a city centre that maintains its historic character and is accessible, safe and functional for Glasgow’s people and visitors.
The event will be chaired by Bailie Christy Mearns, Depute Lord Provost of Glasgow.

RIAS Convention – Value of Architecture
Date & Time: Main event Friday 30^th September from 0900. Fringe events on Thursday and Saturday
Location: Eden Court, Inverness
The RIAS annual convention is the leading architectural event in Scotland. Bringing together every aspect of the built environment to talk, think and collaborate. 
This year’s theme is VALUE. This wide topic will allow us to cover the value of Architecture, the value of collaboration, and perceived value, alongside exploring and debating what value in architecture means.

RTPI Scotland – Annual Conference 2022: Target Net Zero – Planning our Renewables, Buildings and Places
Date & Time: Thursday 6 October 2022 10am-6pm
Location: Park Inn by Radisson, Aberdeen
It is a pivotal time for planning in Scotland. We await the publication of the 4th National Planning Framework which undoubtedly will have a key ambition to tackle climate change and deliver net zero. But how exactly can planners, planning and the planning system help to achieve these aspirations? This ‘must attend’ conference will explore this through assessing the opportunities, challenges and needs of planning for renewable energy, of how we build our homes and buildings and how we design our places. It will be done through a mix of presentations, interactive debate and examination of good practice examples on the ground.

AHSS Dr Alistair Fair – Building a Modern Scotland: The New Towns, 1947–76
Date & Time: Monday 10th October 2022 6.30pm
Location: Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL (wheelchair accessible) Note: Lectures will also be streamed online via Zoom
Between the late 1940s and the early 1970s, six new towns were begun across Scotland, inspired by the ideals of the earlier Garden City Movement. For policymakers, they reflected an ambition to build a new Scotland; for architects and designers, they were an opportunity to create new kinds of urban environments. In this talk, Dr Alistair Fair surveys what was planned, some of the key buildings, and what happened subsequently.

SoAoS October Lecture – Mary of Guelders and the Architecture of Queenship in Fifteenth Century Scotland
Date & Time: Thursday 20^th October 6pm
Location: Hybrid (in-person at Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL) and live streamed online via Zoom
During her widowhood, Mary of Guelders, Queen of Scots, pursued an energetic programme of architectural patronage, including renovations to Falkland Palace in Fife, and the commissioning of Ravenscraig Castle (Fife) and Trinity Collegiate Kirk and hospital outside Edinburgh. Recent dendrochronology at St Giles’ Kirk in Edinburgh also suggests that her patronage was more extensive than previously thought. In this lecture, Dr Rachel Delman will explore how Mary’s building projects articulated messages regarding her gender, piety, power, and status during her son’s minority.

ICON ECRN: Building a salvage network for Scotland
Date & Time: Thursday October 27^th, 9:30-16:00
Location: The Engine Shed, Stirling
Edinburgh Collections Response Network is hosting a day of knowledge and skills sharing open to anyone involved in disaster recovery work from the GLAM sector in Scotland. ECRN is a voluntary group of conservators, curators, archivists and others based in and around Edinburgh who form a disaster recovery coalition that spans many organisations from national to local. The group is keen to foster closer connections with the wider Scottish heritage sector, and share the knowledge and lessons they have learned from collaborating. Event run in partnership with Icon Scotland, SCA and HES.
 
RTPI Scotland – The Point by Dandara site visit
Date & Time: Thursday 3 November 2022 5.30-6.30pm
Location: The Point, Aberdeen
The Point by Dandara development has developed a vacant derelict brownfield site in 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. Join RTPI Scotland for a tour of the development lead by Dandara’s Austin McGuire.

Training

HES/AHSS/BEFS Conservation Areas Seminar
Date & Time: Thursday 29 September 2022 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.
 
Developing Inclusive Archaeology Projects’ mentoring programme. York Archaeological Trust
Deadline for applications is midnight on Sunday the 2^nd of October.
Are you interested in attracting new and more diverse audiences to your archaeology or heritage project/organisation? Have you ever had an idea for an inclusive engagement project but not had the time, ability or confidence to plan it properly? Then this new programme might be for you.
Wessex Archaeology, York Archaeology and MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) have joined forces to offer an 8-part online mentoring scheme starting in October 2022. Our three-month digital programme is for anyone involved in archaeology or heritage who wants to work with new audiences but isn’t sure where to start. 

STBA-SPAB Annual Conference: Sustaining Buildings 2022

Date & Time: 12 October 2022 9.30am-5pm
Location: Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh
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. 
 

PAS SP=EED Community Engagement Skills training 
Date & Time: Thursday 13 October, 10am – 3pm
Location: Online – Zoom
Looking to sharpen your community engagement skills? Join our next live ‘SP=EED’ training, Thursday 13 October 2022. SP=EED is a unique development programme designed to develop your skills and confidence in designing, delivering and evaluating effective community engagement.
 

SPAB – Repair of Old Buildings Course
Date & Time: 17 to 21 October 2022
Location: Online
The Repair of Old Buildings course delivers an extensive programme of lectures and recorded site visits demonstrating building repair projects, accompanied by a series of live online Q&A sessions with speakers and site hosts. Presented by leading building conservation professionals, the Repair Course considers British and international approaches to the conservation of old buildings.  The SPAB philosophy of repair and maintenance – established by William Morris in 1877 – underpins the course programme of case studies, presentations and site visits.
The SPAB has a small fund to allow it to award bursaries to individuals who might not otherwise be able to afford a place on the Repair Course.

Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust – Architectural Conservation CPD 2022 Programme
Date & Time: Saturday 26 October & Wednesday 30 November 2022
Location: Online
The Perth and Kinross annual series of Architectural Conservation CPDs is underway. The programme continues with sessions on conservation techniques for historical sculptures and retrofit of traditional buildings.

CIfA – Practising ethical competence in archaeology

Date & Time: Wednesday 16 November 2022 2-5pm
Location: Online
This CPD workshop is for accredited professionals and those that need to demonstrate ethical abilities as part of their application for accreditation

Vacancies

The Auchindrain Trust Conservation and Maintenance Supervisor/ Urras Achadh an Droighinn
Salary: £27,300
Status: Full time, permanent
Location: Auchindrain Historic Township, Argyll
As a result of the retirement of a long-serving member of staff, the Trust are seeking to recruit a suitably-skilled and experienced person as Conservation & Maintenance Supervisor for the museum at Auchindrain Historic Township in Argyll. The post represents a rare opportunity for someone who would like to develop a career in the care, conservation and management of Scotland’s historic environment, with a strong emphasis on the use of traditional building skills in the modern world. 
Closing date: 12 noon, Friday 7 October 2022 

BEFS News

BEFS Director was delighted to attend a recent celebration to mark the conclusion of the National Lottery Heritage Fund Business Support Programme, ‘Surviving to Thriving’, with Business Support Programme participants and partners. The programme was jointly developed by Museum Galleries Scotland, Greenspace Scotland and BEFS. Following the success of the 2021-22 programme, it has been announced that additional funding has been awarded to support the heritage sector in Scotland through a one-year programme extension during 2023. Watch this space for more details!

In other funding news, Round 3 of Steps to Sustainability, again a National Lottery Heritage Fund programme, recently opened. Delivered by the Social Enterprise Academy, heritage organisations across the UK are encouraged to apply for funding, which will provide a pathway of support and help organisations to be ambitious, forward-thinking and deliver exciting new projects. Sign up for the information session on 6th September to find out more.

BEFS Members, Scotland’s Towns Partnership, have reflected on their recent event in Inverness, highlighting the success of local initiatives including the Castlehill project. This event formed part of an ongoing series looking at how to secure a strong future for Highland town centres.

And again looking to the future, BEFS Members, Glasgow City Heritage Trust ask, “What Next for Glasgow’s City Centre?” It will be an in-person event on 28th September and looks to be a lively and illuminating discussion.

And finally:
Last call (almost!) for The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s second UK Heritage Pulse survey. Sharing your views will help to support and inform policy, recovery and reinvention post-Covid for the heritage sector, and ensure vital coverage for Scotland. The survey questions have been designed in response to what the sector says is currently most important: organisational resilience, environmental sustainability, recruitment and staffing. Do take the chance to complete it before it closes on 9th September.

Consultations

Dialogue Challenge: Energy and Just Transition Plan
Scottish Government
*new* Closes 5 September 2022

Heritage Fund Strategy Refresh
National Lottery Heritage Fund
Closes 5 September 2022

Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation
Scottish Government
Closes 25 September 2022

New Build Heat Standard: consultation – part two
Scottish Government
Closes 20 October 2022

Battlefields: Planning Best Practice 
Historic Environment Scotland
Closes 3 November 2022

Consultation Responses

BEFS response to the review of permitted development rights phase 2
BEFS

BEFS response to the Circular Economy Route Map & Delivering Scotland’s Circular Economy
BEFS

RTPI Scotland’s response to Delivering Scotland’s Circular Economy
RTPI Scotland

Heat in Buildings Strategy: Domestic EPC Reform Consultation: Analysis Summary Report
Scottish Government

Publications

Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland (Scottish Futures Trust August 2022)
Guidance to support the Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan to ensure public sector organisations are familiar with this new common framework and how they might approach its application when undertaking strategic planning of their property assets.

What is a 20 minute neighbourhood? (Architecture Design Scotland August 2022)
Blog exploring what a 20 minute neighbourhood means, highlighting its importance, and sharing examples of this concept through ongoing projects.

Survey of Community Councils Report (Planning Democracy August 2022)
Report of survey, based on responses from 175 community council areas, analysing community councillors’ experiences and knowledge of the planning system in Scotland.

Scottish Government Publications

Heat in Buildings Delivery Report: 2019-2020 (August 2022)
Seventh annual summary report of the HIBs (formerly HEEPS) programme which includes the outcomes achieved from the 2019-2020 programme and an overview of cumulative progress since 2013.

Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland (GERS) 2021-22 (August 2022)
Report estimating the revenue raised in Scotland and the cost of public services provided for Scotland.

Planning performance statistics 2021-2022: annual (August 2022)
Statistics on planning application decision-making timescales for 2021-2022.

Planning enforcement notice appeals: form and guidance (August 2022)
Appeal form and guidance notes for a planning enforcement notice appeal.

News Releases

New strategic plan for Holyrood Park (17/08/22)
HES news highlighting that a long-term Plan for Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park will be ready for consultation towards the end of 2022.

AJ architecture awards shortlist revealed for housing, heritage, refurb and projects under £500k (18/08/22)
The AJ reveal the AJ Architecture Awards 2022 shortlists in the Housing, Heritage and Project under £500,000 categories. The Heritage category includes Glasgow’s Burrell Collection by John McAslan + Partners.

Medieval heart of Scottish Highland town could lose conservation status (19/08/22)
The medieval quarter of Thurso could lose its conservation area status.

Public appointments: Members appointed to the board of National Museums Scotland (19/08/22)
Scottish Government announcement on the appointment of Professor Monojit Chatterji, Stephen Dando, Dr Bridget McConnell and Beth McKillop as Members of the Board of National Museums Scotland.

Cost of living causing consumers to think again about retrofitting report finds (22/08/22)
New research from RICS and YouGov has revealed that consumers are now concerned about paying for the cost of living above upgrading their homes.

Federation of Master Builders backs national retrofit plan for homes (23/08/22)
The Federation of Master Builders is calling on UK politicians to introduce long-term plans to improve the energy efficiency of homes.

Calls to improve protections of Aberdeenshire’s historic battlefields as north-east residents asked to weigh in (25/08/22)
Links to HES’ report and current consultation on Battlefield Planning Best Practice.

Glasgow City Council The Place Fund 2022/23 Call For Applications (26/08/22)
SURF news item highlighting that The Place Fund (TPF) is now open for applications for capital projects.

Opinion & Comment

Should tourism be taxed? (14/08/22)

‘Demolition is an act of violence’: the architects reworking buildings instead of tearing them down  (16/08/22)

Sustainable Scotland: How wooden pod kits could help turn old buildings into climate proof workspaces of the future (18/08/22)

Skills development will be key to improving the energy efficiency of our homes (19/08/22)

Doors open day 2022 – top venues to visit across Scotland (19/08/22)

Decarbonising the nation’s housing – the role of lenders (22/08/22)

Glasgow is turning into London – just look and you’ll see (27/08/22)

Councils will face tough decisions in balancing preserving historic buildings with being eco-friendly (30/08/22)

Parliamentary Questions

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-10408: Jackie Baillie, Dumbarton, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 18 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for a Home Energy Scotland Loan were (a) accepted and (b) rejected in (i) 2020-21 and (ii) 2021-22.
Answer expected 15 September 2022

S6W-10516: Oliver Mundell, Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 24 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what support is in place to cover any financial costs and loss of earnings of community representatives who take part in planning enquiries.
Answer expected 22 September 2022

S6W-10630: Liam McArthur, Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date Lodged: 26 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to improve the energy efficiency of (a) business buildings, (b) local authority buildings (excluding housing), (c) social housing and (d) domestic housing in each year from 2020 to 2022.
Answer expected 26 September 2022

Parliamentary Questions and Answers

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-10119: Liam Kerr, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 1 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have benefitted from the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund as of 30 July 2022, and what the average cost per property is. Answered on 25 August 2022

S6W-10165: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 3 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, whether it will prepare a medium-rise inventory, in light of the Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022, which ban combustible cladding on buildings with any storey at a height of more than 11 metres above the ground.
Answered on 19 August 2022

S6W-10798: Bob Doris, Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Scottish National Party Date Lodged: 3 August 2022 (?)
To ask the Scottish Government what actions it will take to ensure that the skills delivery landscape is set up to deliver the ambitions for skills in Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation.
Answered on 31 August 2022

S6W-10199: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 5 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09252 by Shona Robison on 21 July 2022, whether these sums of money are included in the Single Building Assessment programme: spending information, which was released on 12 May 2022, and how much has been spent on contractors (a) prior to July 2021 and (b) in July and August 2022. Answered on 19 August 2022

Events

For the full list of BEFS Members’ upcoming events see our events calendar.

Scottish Archaeology Month 2022
Date & Time: September to early October 2022
Location: Various across Scotland
Heritage-themed events are being held all across Scotland, as part of the annual celebration of the nation’s past coordinated by Archaeology Scotland.

Doors Open Days 2022
Date & Time: Weekends in September 2022
Location: Various across Scotland
The 2022 Doors Open Days programme is now live!

Building Limes Forum – Annual Conference and Gathering
Date & Time: 2-4 September 2022
Location: Queen’s University, Belfast
This event will include the presentation of papers on the use of building limes by a variety of speakers including practitioners, specifiers, academics and historians. Site visits and tours will also be organised. On Friday evening the Great Hall designed by Charles Lanyon will be the location of the Baker Memorial Lecture by Dawson Stelfox MBE, Conservation Architect.

Heritage Trust Network – Growing Your Community; Carluke High Mill
Date & Time: Tuesday 6 September 2022 9.30am-2.30pm
Location: Carluke High Mill, Carluke
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.

Scotland’s Towns Partnership – TCAP2 Roadshows
Date & Time: 7 & 14 September 2022
Location: Various across Scotland
The TCAP2 Roadshow Series continues, illustrating how a place-based holistic approach can help revitalise towns across Scotland. Ambition, collaboration and leadership are key to aligning and delivering on TCAP2.  The series aims to encourage stakeholders to embrace and commit to the place agenda and to understand their roles in the approach to regenerating places. The events share policy context and exemplars based around TCAP2 themes, including planning, town centre first principle, town centre living, digital, enterprising communities and vibrant local economies and climate action.

GCHT – Architecture and Health in Historic Buildings
Date & Time: Thursday 8 September 2022 12.30-1.30pm
Location: Online
Dr Richard Hobday will discuss what historic buildings can teach us about managing airborne infections through a mix of passive ventilation, material characteristics, and quality of internal space. He will also look at how retaining these characteristics is key when refurbishing historic buildings, and demonstrate how past approaches to combatting infection in buildings remain relevant for creating healthy internal environments.

AHSS – Miller, Marbles and MacRae: Walking Tour of Craigentinny and Restalrig
Date & Time: Thursday 8 September 2022 6pm
Location: Craigentinny and Restalrig
On this walk, Steven Robb, Deputy Head of Historic Buildings at Historic Environment Scotland, explores the early history of two of Edinburgh’s north-eastern suburbs, represented by Restalrig Parish Church, Craigentinny House and the Miller family. Along the way he looks at the considerable interventions made by the City Council in the area in the 1930s, including schools, the Craigentinny housing estate, and the use of Craigentinny House as, arguably, Scotland’s first community centre.

Nesta – Future gazing: homes in 2050
Date & Time: Thursday 8 September 2022 12-1pm
Location: Online
Dr Rosenow will share his expert insights on how we can decarbonise homes, drawing from extensive experience in the energy sector, his research at the Environmental Change Institute and his role advising the House of Commons. He’ll be discussing the flexibility of our energy systems and alternative methods for better heating homes; from heat pumps, to retrofitting and hydrogen.

A&BS – The power of creative partnerships in Edinburgh and the Lothians: sharing and networking event
Date & Time: 15 September 2022 6.30-8pm
Location: Edinburgh, Princes Exchange
Arts & Business Scotland are hosting a reception for business/public sector professionals in Edinburgh and the Lothians to share some exciting news, as we present a new service we’re developing: the Culture & Business Marketplace. The Marketplace is the result of research, looking at the changing needs of the business and public sectors. It will be a unique online platform, providing creative solutions to challenges.

RTPI Scotland – Sir Patrick Geddes Commemorative Lecture
Date & Time: Tuesday 20 September 2022 12:30-1:30pm
Location: Online
RTPI Scotland holds an annual lecture to advance Geddesian thinking. This year’s lecture is by Susan Murray, Director of the David Hume Institute who uses her position to discuss how Geddes’ ideas fit current placemaking and planning in Scotland.
As Director of the David Hume Institute, Susan leads on a growth in focus on people and the economy at the Edinburgh based think tank, which specialises in delivering research and thought-provoking events. Recent work includes ‘A Scotland of Better Places’ and ‘Understanding Scotland, an analysis of perceptions of Scotland’s economy’.

RTPI Scotland – Tour of Cowden Japanese Garden
Date & Time: Thursday 22 September 2022 5-7pm
Location: Cowden Japanese Garden, Dollar
A guided tour of the restored Japanese Garden by Sara Stewart, Chairwoman of The Japanese Garden at Cowden & Grant Baxter, Principal Placemaking Officer, Clackmannanshire Council. The tour will cover the origins of the garden and the people who created it, and the project to restore it so far and open it to the public as a visitor attraction. The garden is subject of a bid for City Region Deal Funding for the next stages of development. The tour will also cover some of the planning, heritage and environmental issues around the restoration and creation of a tourist attraction in rural Clackmannanshire.

GCHT – What Next for Glasgow’s City Centre?
Date & Time: Wednesday 28 September 2022 7pm
Location: The Merchants House, Glasgow
Join GCHT for an in-person panel discussion that asks the question, “What Next for Glasgow’s City Centre?”
Panelists will look at the challenges currently affecting the city centre such as the legacy of the Covid 19 pandemic, the high number of vacant buildings and the decline in shopfront retail, as well as how solutions to these challenges can help tackle the climate crisis. It will also open it up for questions and discussion about how to shape a city centre that maintains its historic character and is accessible, safe and functional for Glasgow’s people and visitors.
The event will be chaired by Bailie Christy Mearns, Depute Lord Provost of Glasgow.

RTPI Scotland – Annual Conference 2022: Target Net Zero – Planning our Renewables, Buildings and Places
Date & Time: Thursday 6 October 2022 10am-6pm
Location: Park Inn by Radisson, Aberdeen
It is a pivotal time for planning in Scotland. We await the publication of the 4th National Planning Framework which undoubtedly will have a key ambition to tackle climate change and deliver net zero. But how exactly can planners, planning and the planning system help to achieve these aspirations? This ‘must attend’ conference will explore this through assessing the opportunities, challenges and needs of planning for renewable energy, of how we build our homes and buildings and how we design our places. It will be done through a mix of presentations, interactive debate and examination of good practice examples on the ground.

RTPI Scotland – The Point by Dandara site visit
Date & Time: Thursday 3 November 2022 5.30-6.30pm
Location: The Point, Aberdeen
The Point by Dandara development has developed a vacant derelict brownfield site in 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. Join RTPI Scotland for a tour of the development lead by Dandara’s Austin McGuire.

Training

A&B Scotland – Introduction to Fundraising
Date & Time: Monday 5 & Monday 12 September 2022 10am-1pm
Location: Online
Are you new to fundraising or need a refresher? This course is designed to kickstart your fundraising knowledge & skills whether you are a volunteer, staff or Board Member. The course will consist of case studies, presentations and discussions to cover all aspects of fundraising – from understanding the Scottish Funding Landscape post-covid and what your organisation needs to have in place to three fundraising models, different sources of fundraising and how to develop relationships with your funders and supporters.

RTPI – CPD: Heritage and Conservation
Date & Time: Wednesday 7 September & Thursday 6 October 2022
Location: Online
This Masterclass will be delivered over an eight-week period, with two interactive webinars. Learning objectives include:

• Learn how to apply the central elements of UK legislation and policy governing the historic planned environment
• Gain insight into what designated and undesignated heritage assets are and how they are assessed
• Understand analysis and reporting tools including Heritage Statements and Heritage Impact Assessments

Heritage Trust Network- Dealing with Rising Energy Costs
Date & Time: Wednesday 14 September 2022 10.30-11.30am
Location: Online
Is your historic building or site being affected by rising energy costs? Are you worried about the predicted rises in Winter? Join Paul Clark from Heritage Trust Network partner member Citrus Energy for insight and advice on this worrying topic.

Heritage Trust Network – Saving buildings, while saving the climate
Date & Time: Wednesday 14 September 2022 2-3.30pm
Location: Online
Hear from speakers on how to environmentally manage old and listed buildings and learn how to make them more self-sustainable and eco. Also, you will hear new facts and figures on why reusing buildings are more environmentally and sustainability friendly.

PAS – SP=EED Community Engagement Skills training
Date & Time: Thursday 15 September 2022 10am-3pm
Location: Online
Want to brush up on your community engagement skills? Join PAS next live ‘SP=EED’ training. SP=EED is a unique development programme designed to develop your skills and confidence in designing, delivering and evaluating effective community engagement.  
 
HES/AHSS/BEFS – Conservation Areas Seminar
Date & Time: Thursday 29 September 2022 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 2022 9.30am-5pm
Location: Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh
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. 

SPAB – Repair of Old Buildings Course
Date & Time: 17 to 21 October 2022
Location: Online
The Repair of Old Buildings course delivers an extensive programme of lectures and recorded site visits demonstrating building repair projects, accompanied by a series of live online Q&A sessions with speakers and site hosts. Presented by leading building conservation professionals, the Repair Course considers British and international approaches to the conservation of old buildings.  The SPAB philosophy of repair and maintenance – established by William Morris in 1877 – underpins the course programme of case studies, presentations and site visits.
The SPAB has a small fund to allow it to award bursaries to individuals who might not otherwise be able to afford a place on the Repair Course.

Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust – Architectural Conservation CPD 2022 Programme
Date & Time: Saturday 26 October & Wednesday 30 November 2022
Location: Online
The Perth and Kinross annual series of Architectural Conservation CPDs is underway. The programme continues with sessions on conservation techniques for historical sculptures and retrofit of traditional buildings.

CIfA – Practising ethical competence in archaeology
Date & Time: Wednesday 16 November 2022 2-5pm
Location: Online
This CPD workshop is for accredited professionals and those that need to demonstrate ethical abilities as part of their application for accreditation.

Vacancies

NTS Project Director: Hill House Conservation Project
Salary: £43,050-£47,667
Status: Full time, permanent
Location: Flexible within South & West Region
The National Trust for Scotland is now seeking an exceptional individual to lead the Hill House Conservation Project on behalf of the Trust.  The Hill House Conservation Project will embrace all heritage assets contained by the Hill House site in Helensburgh.  You will have a relevant degree and experience of managing similar multi-heritage projects at large scale.  You will be a confident leader with the highest of standards.  A collaborator and a consummate communicator able to take on a wide-ranging challenge and deliver excellence.
The Conservation of the fabric of the House is at the heart of the Project but restoring the garden, conserving the collection and interiors, interpretation, research and providing the best visitor experience are all key to success.  Fundraising will be required and outreach and engagement will be vital pillars of the Project, as will engaging with the many and varied stakeholder groups will be essential to success.
Closing date: Wednesday 7 September 2022

NTS Conservation Maintenance Surveyor
Salary: £36,523-£40,238
Status: Full time, permanent
Location: North East Scotland 
The National Trust for Scotland is looking for strong team players who are committed to conserving and sharing Scotland’s heritage.  Join the NTS Building Surveying Team and you will work with Scotland’s largest and most diverse portfolio of historic buildings and structures. This is a new role and you will be instrumental in shaping the way the Trust manages the conservation maintenance of its buildings, helping to build maintenance plans for each building and dealing with backlog maintenance projects.  
Closing date: 10am, Friday 9 September 2022

SPAB Head of Operations
Salary: £45,000-50,000
Status: Full time, permanent
Location: SPAB HQ, London, E1, with scope for flexible working
The Head of Operations will bring senior-level support for financial management and operational resilience, so as to enable the SPAB to fulfil its charitable purpose effectively. While the role will incorporate oversight of existing financial and related operational work, it is a newly created post and will take on business oversight of new income-generating ventures resulting from recent significant bequests to the charity.  The post holder will be a key member of the Society’s leadership team and will manage a small team of staff.  One of the principal duties will be to review and expand performance targets within the charity – both as business KPIs and for staff and teams – and to establish with the Director and Trustees new processes for monitoring, reporting on and improving outcomes.
Closing date: Sunday 11 September 2022

Arts & Business Scotland Chair
Salary: Non-remunerated
A&B Scotland are seeking a dynamic business leader to be their new Chair to build on legacy, drive forward strategy and lead on strengthening visibility and impact within the business community. ?This is an exciting opportunity for an exceptional individual who has previous experience as a Trustee or Board member and a passion for the culture sector.
Closing date: Wednesday 14 September 2022

CABN – Catalyst for Sustainability & Catalyst for Engagement
Salary: £26,400 (£33,000 at 0.8FTE pro rata)
Status: 12 months contract, freelance
Location: Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders Place Partnership are seeking to recruit two exceptional individuals to act as Catalysts and guide the transition of CABN (Creative Arts Business Network) from its current position in Live Borders to a sustainable, independent sector led model over the course of a 12 month period. The two Catalysts will work collaboratively, with the Catalyst for Sustainability focused on the development of the new model, and the Catalyst for Engagement focused on network engagement and communications. Both will be a point of contact and will provide support and advice for creative individuals and organisations in the Scottish Borders.
CABN are looking for two people with experience and knowledge of working in the creative sector, who may have their own creative business or practice and who understand the dynamics, challenges and opportunities of working in a rural context.  Ideally they will be based in the Scottish Borders or with experience of living and working in the region.
Closing date: 9am, Monday 19 September 2022

Salary: £27,300
Status: Full time, permanent
Location: Auchindrain Historic Township, Argyll
As a result of the retirement of a long-serving member of staff, the Trust are seeking to recruit a suitably-skilled and experienced person as Conservation & Maintenance Supervisor for the museum at Auchindrain Historic Township in Argyll. The post represents a rare opportunity for someone who would like to develop a career in the care, conservation and management of Scotland’s historic environment, with a strong emphasis on the use of traditional building skills in the modern world. Over time, the post-holder could expect to develop into being one of the quite small group of specialists and experts who give a lead to the traditional building skills sector in Scotland.
Closing date: 12 noon, Friday 7 October 2022 

BEFS News

The second Heritage Pulse survey is now open. This is a collaborative data and insight project for the UK’s heritage sector, enabling the sector to inform policy, recovery, and reinvention post-Covid. BEFS, NatureScot and HES are supporting NLHF with this initiative within Scotland, and are keen to raise the levels of engagement from Scottish organisations. Heritage Pulse Wave 2 closes Friday 9 September. 
 
The National Lottery Heritage Fund are also seeking views on their own strategy. They want feedback on issues including: place-based investment, approaches to funding, partnerships, and their approach to environmental sustainability. Survey closes 5 September. 
 
BEFS are pleased to see Members PAS release news of their new Chief Executive, and we look forward to working Johanna Boyd in due course.

Tenements are never far from BEFS minds, and we note that there is a webinar series from the Scottish Law Commission in September 2022 as part of their project relating to Tenement law: compulsory owners’ associations. Sign up to hear about the law relating to flat maintenance and management in different countries, from experts in the field and ask: what can we learn from this? (It’s also encouraging to read more about the potential Comprehensive Tenement Improvement Scheme in Paisley.) 
 
Continuing from the articles and news brought to you in the last BEFS Bulletin around the Properties in Care: here Andrew Burnet from HES’ Interpretation Team takes a behind-the-scenes look at their work adding interpretation to the sites affected by the high-level masonry inspections.
 
HES has also published Planning for the future – their response to the next National Planning Framework. HES’ Planning, Consents and Advice Service (PCAS) led on co-ordinating HES’ response, talking with colleagues from across the organisation to inform the response, as well as engaging with external bodies including the heritage sector, planning authorities and other Key Agencies.

Last year BEFS Director was invited to Chair a session in relation to a review of a specific battlefield site. A completed report on battlefield planning best practice undertaken by Lichfields UK has now been published.
There is also an open consultation seeking comments on the recommendations made in the report. The consultation is open for comment until 3 November 2022.
 
August is an exceptionally busy time for the BEFS team this year due to our series of sector wide Our Place in Time (OPiT) engagement events. We hope that those from across many parts of the sector have had the opportunity to be involved and we look forward to representing what we’ve heard during the refreshed OPiT drafting process, as well as highlighting the full public consultation in the Autumn when it is released. We’re sure more workshops (and stickynotes!) will follow. Thanks to all those currently sharing their views and expertise. 
 
And finally, BEFS Director was pleased to attend the launch of the Green Home Festival, hosted by RICS, where the emphasis was on the need to re-use and maintain existing building stock to support reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. Patrick Harvie’s opening address didn’t shy away from the scale of the task! 

Consultations 

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 2022

Delivering Scotland’s circular economy: a consultation on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill
Scottish Government
Closes 22 August 2022

Delivering Scotland’s circular economy: A Route Map to 2025 and beyond
Scottish Government
Closes 22 August 2022

TEG Survey on Scottish Apprenticeships: Design & Contracting in Construction
Skills Development Scotland
*new* Closes 2 September 2022

Heritage Fund Strategy Refresh
National Lottery Heritage Fund
*new* Closes 5 September 2022

Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation
Scottish Government
Closes 25 September 2022

New Build Heat Standard: consultation – part two
Scottish Government
Closes 20 October 2022

Battlefields: Planning Best Practice 
Historic Environment Scotland
*new* Closes 3 November 2022

Publications

Main report for the Participation Survey (Department for Media, Culture and Sport, UK Government July 2022)
Estimates on participation in the digital, culture, media, and sport sectors (DCMS) reported during the period of October 2021 to March 2022. The Participation Survey is a nationally representative annual survey of adults (16+) in England that aims to track the latest trends in engagement in DCMS sectors.

Green Building Passports: a review for Scotland (Climate Exchange July 2022)
This report aims to provide policy makers with an understanding of the purpose, structure and use of Green Building Passports, along with the main barriers and opportunities when considering their possible introduction in Scotland.

Skills needs in selected occupations over the next 5 to 10 years (Department for Education, UK Government August 2022)
Report on the changing skills needs within a select group of occupations over the next 5 to 10 years.

Responsible Natural Capital and Carbon Management (Scottish Land Commission August 2022)
Protocol setting out practical expectations to ensure that approaches to natural capital and carbon management recognise responsibilities, as well as rights, in relation to land.

A Look Back at 2021-22 (Museums Galleries Scotland August 2022)
Museums Galleries Scotland’s Year in Review.

Understanding the Sustainable Development Goals and targets (Curating Tomorrow August 2022)
A guide on the UN Sustainable Development Goals for galleries, libraries, archives and museums.

Law project promotes climate-aligned contracts (RICS Construction Journal August 2022)
Article describing a legal initiative which is drafting open-access clauses to make progress towards net-zero carbon at the contractual level.

Levelling the playing field, not Scotland’s built environment: A case for retrofit over demolition? (CIOB August 2022)
This report considers the question of VAT on retrofit, making a case for the positive impact a demolition levy could have in reprioritising retrofit projects, which proffer wide benefits such as local job creation, reduced construction and development waste, and lowered carbon emissions.

Scottish Retail Sales Monitor July 2022 (Scottish Retail Consortium August 2022)
Scottish Retail Consortium reveals footfall fell by 16.5 per cent in July compared with the same period in 2019, before the pandemic.

Scottish Government Publications

Energy Efficient Scotland Transition Programme Survey Evaluation (08/08/22)
This report presents the social evaluation of the Energy Efficient Scotland Transition Programme, which aimed to support local authorities’ engagement with households and businesses expected to self-fund energy efficiency improvements.

Building Standards National Annual Verification Performance Report 2021-22 (08/08/22)
This report provides aggregated information on the national level of performance of verifiers on the Key Performance Outcomes of the Building Standards Performance Framework for Verifiers Publication 2021

Delivering a Greener, Fairer, Independent Scotland – One Year On (17/08/22)
Delivering a Greener, Fairer, Independent Scotland – One Year On provides an update on the progress made since the Bute House Agreement was reached between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party.

News Releases

Scottish Government urged to protect built environment from unnecessary and ‘cheap’ demolition 
Summary of the CIOB report ‘Levelling the playing field, not Scotland’s built environment: A case for retrofit over demolition?’

Scotland facing ‘monumental task’ on eco housing, Patrick Harvie tells Green Home Festival
Overview of speech at the launch of the Green Home Festival 2022.

Glasgow continues trend in reduction of vacant and derelict land
A Glasgow City Council committee has learned about the continued fall in the amount of Vacant and Derelict Land in the city and approved the acceptance of the 2022/23 Vacant and Derelict Land Fund award to the city from the Scottish Government.

Future of closed historic castle to be discussed
A public meeting is to be held on the future of Barra’s Kisimul Castle.

Glasgow trails ‘People First Zone’ to put city on the front foot
Glasgow City Council, supported by Sustrans, has launched plans to re-engineer the city centre from the Clyde to Cowcaddens to favour pedestrians.

Major step forward for regeneration of Paisley town centre tenements
A multi-million-pound project to transform a row of historic Paisley town centre tenements into new modern energy-efficient homes for social rent is set to move forward.

Opinion & Comment

Key historic buildings remain closed with safety checks to take a ‘couple of years’ (The Scotsman 07/08/22)

Don’t rebuild, retrofit to meet net zero goals (The Scotsman 08/08/22)

Historic 200-year-old Scots kirk faces closure over ‘falling number of ministers’ (Daily Record 09/08/22)

More than 30 historic church buildings could be closed under plans (STV 09/08/22)

Heritage Fund moots investment in ‘places of need’ (Arts Professional 10/08/22)

Highlands and Moray churches at risk of closure (BBC 10/08/22)

Top six modern archaeological sites and discoveries in Scotland (DigIt Scotland 11/08/22)

Scottish Government urged to protect built environment from unnecessary and ‘cheap’ demolition (Scottish Housing News 11/08/22)

Déjà brew: Review of planning decision highlights gulf between policy and ambition (Brodies 12/08/22)

Katie Graham: Helping our elected members to support our communities (RTPI 12/08/22)

Mace CEO demands national retrofit strategy (Construction News 12/08/22)

RICS calls for industry and government to futureproof UK construction (RICS 15/08/22)

Parliamentary Questions

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-10119: Liam Kerr, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 1 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have benefitted from the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund as of 30 July 2022, and what the average cost per property is. Answer expected 29 August 2022

S6W-10165:  Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 3 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, whether it will prepare a medium-rise inventory, in light of the Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022, which ban combustible cladding on buildings with any storey at a height of more than 11 metres above the ground.
Answer expected 31 August 2022

Parliamentary Questions and Answers

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-09620: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 5 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many times and (b) on what dates it has met with stakeholders that are concerned with cladding remediation, including (i) insurers, (ii) mortgage lenders, (iii) the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and (iv) homeowners, regarding the cladding remediation programme, since the Single Building Assessment pilot began.
Answered on 4 August 2022

S6W-09959: Monica Lennon, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 25 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to support the introduction of planning apprenticeship schemes in order to encourage people into town planning careers.
Answered on 11 August 2022

S6W-09932: Donald Cameron, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 25 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many projects have (a) applied for and (b) received funding from the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme since it was created, broken down by (i) local authority area and (ii) the value of each project award.
Answered on 22 August 2022

S6W-10001: Liam Kerr, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 26 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what skills strategy it has in place to ensure that Scotland has sufficient professionals to advise homeowners on their transition to clean energy and carry out installation and maintenance.
Answered on 2 August 2022

S6W-10164: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 4 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the draft Bill regarding tenement maintenance will not be introduced until 2026, and whether it will ask the Scottish Law Commission to review its timetable.
Answered on 16 August 2022  

Events

For the full list of BEFS Members’ upcoming events see our events calendar.
 
STBF – Festival of Traditional Buildings
Date & Time: Monday 22 to Friday 26 August 2022
Location: Edinburgh
Immerse yourself in the beauty and romance of Scotland’s old buildings as we celebrate the Festival of Traditional Buildings! To mark our landmark 10th year, we’re bringing you a week long series of immersive, hands on, and interesting events for building enthusiasts of all backgrounds and ages. Located at the Education Centre at Holyrood Park, there is something for everyone including hands-on activities, talks, workshops, and historic building inspired mini golf and a family day as well! All events are free, but ticketing is required.

Scotland’s Community Heritage Conversations – Youth Action
Date & Time: Wednesday 24 August 2022 5.30-7.30pm
Location: Online
This event will explore how we might develop our youth audience and participation further and discuss the visible and invisible barriers that block participation and engagement for young people in the Culture, Heritage and the Arts. We will invite our younger audience to lead in the development of our presentations and overall themes for the event. Community Heritage Conversations are being delivered through a partnership of Archaeology Scotland, The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists, Historic Environment Scotland, Northlight Heritage, the Scottish Community Heritage Alliance and the Scottish Council on Archives.

Scotland’s Towns Partnership – TCAP2 Roadshows
Date & Time: 24 August to 17 September 2022
Location: Various across Scotland
The TCAP2 Roadshow Series will illustrate how a place-based holistic approach can help revitalise towns across Scotland. Ambition, collaboration and leadership are key to aligning and delivering on TCAP2.  The series aims to encourage stakeholders to embrace and commit to the place agenda and to understand their roles in the approach to regenerating places. The events share policy context and exemplars based around TCAP2 themes, including planning, town centre first principle, town centre living, digital, enterprising communities and vibrant local economies and climate action.

SURF – From Slogans to Sound Strategy? The 2022 SURF Annual Conference
Date & Time: Thursday 25 August 2022 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.

Archaeology Scotland – Camas nan Geall Archaeological Excavation
Date & Time: 26 August to 7 September 2022 10am-4pm
Location: Camas nan Geall, Ardnamurchan
Archaeology Scotland and the Ardnamurchan History and Heritage Association are about to commence another season of archaeological investigations at Camas nan Geall, as part of the European Regional Development Fund and Historic Environment supported Adopt-a-Monument programme on Ardnamurchan. Over the course of two weeks, from the 26th of August until the 7th of September, volunteers and members of the local community will investigate some of the prehistoric remains of this beautiful bay.

Doors Open Days 2022
Date & Time: Weekends in September 2022
Location: Various across Scotland
Doors Open Days, the popular festival that sees hundreds of sites across Scotland offer free access to buildings and events, will return in September! The full programme of events will be released in mid-August, but in the meantime be sure to head to the Doors Open Days website to mark your diary for the 2022 weekends, and subscribe to the Doors Open Days e-newsletter to be notified when the programme goes live!

Heritage Trust Network – Growing Your Community – Carluke High Mill
Date & Time: Tuesday 6 September 2022 9.30am-2.30pm
Location: Carluke High Mill, Carluke
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.

GCHT – Architecture and Health in Historic Buildings
Date & Time: Thursday 8 September 2022 12.30-1.30pm
Location: Online
Dr Richard Hobday will discuss what historic buildings can teach us about managing airborne infections through a mix of passive ventilation, material characteristics, and quality of internal space. He will also look at how retaining these characteristics is key when refurbishing historic buildings, and demonstrate how past approaches to combatting infection in buildings remain relevant for creating healthy internal environments.

AHSS – Miller, Marbles and MacRae: Walking Tour of Craigentinny and Restalrig
Date & Time: Thursday 8 September 2022 6pm
Location: Craigentinny and Restalrig
On this walk, Steven Robb, Deputy Head of Historic Buildings at Historic Environment Scotland, explores the early history of two of Edinburgh’s north-eastern suburbs, represented by Restalrig Parish Church, Craigentinny House and the Miller family. Along the way he looks at the considerable interventions made by the City Council in the area in the 1930s, including schools, the Craigentinny housing estate, and the use of Craigentinny House as, arguably, Scotland’s first community centre.

Nesta – Future gazing: homes in 2050
Date & Time: Thursday 8 September 2022 12-1pm
Location: Online
Dr Rosenow will share his expert insights on how we can decarbonise homes, drawing from extensive experience in the energy sector, his research at the Environmental Change Institute and his role advising the House of Commons. We’ll be discussing the flexibility of our energy systems and alternative methods for better heating homes; from heat pumps, to retrofitting and hydrogen.

A&BS – The power of creative partnerships in Edinburgh and the Lothians: sharing and networking event
Date & Time: 15 September 2022 6.30-8pm
Location: Edinburgh, Princes Exchange
Arts & Business Scotland are hosting a reception for business/public sector professionals in Edinburgh and the Lothians to share some exciting news, as we present a new service we’re developing: the Culture & Business Marketplace. The Marketplace is the result of research, looking at the changing needs of the business and public sectors. It will be a unique online platform, providing creative solutions to challenges. This event is ideal if you’re looking for opportunities relating to:

• Staff retention, wellbeing & productivity
• creative development
• community engagement
• meeting ESG targets

We’ll share exciting local examples of businesses who have worked with the culture sector to address the above needs.

SoAoS – Summer Excursion: Dunfermline Abbey & Palace and Broomhall House
Date & Time: Saturday 17 September 2022 8:30am-6pm
Location: Dunfermline, Fife
Join SocAntScot for an exciting day excursion in and around Dunfermline, Fife, visiting two important sites of interest. In the morning we will visit Dunfermline Abbey and Palace with a private tour by expert guides. Dunfermline Abbey is one of the oldest in Scotland and the history of the Abbey is entwined with that of Scotland itself. We will then visit Broomhall House after lunch, complete with a private group tour in the company of Lord Bruce. Broomhall House, built over 300 years ago, is recognised for its unique place at the heart of Scotland’s history as the home of the Family of Bruce.

Training

Scottish Lime Centre Trust: The Structural Repair of Historic Buildings
Date & Time: Friday 26 August 2022
Location: Charlestown Workshops, Charlestown, Fife
This masterclass led by Ian Hume, aims to provide professionals with a sound understanding of the philosophy of conservation.
Participants will gain a better understanding of the relationship between structural engineering and conservation, of safety issues and of the aesthetics of conservation based structural repairs.

Heritage Trust Network: Dealing with Rising Energy Costs
Date & Time: Wednesday 14 September 2022 10.30-11.30am
Location: Online
Is your historic building or site being affected by rising energy costs? Are you worried about the predicted rises in Winter? Join Paul Clark from Heritage Trust Network partner member Citrus Energy for insight and advice on this worrying topic.

Heritage Trust Network: Saving buildings, while saving the climate
Date & Time: Wednesday 14 September 2022 2-3.30pm
Location: Online
Hear from speakers on how to environmentally manage old and listed buildings and learn how to make them more self-sustainable and eco. Also, you will hear new facts and figures on why reusing buildings are more environmentally and sustainability friendly.

PAS: SP=EED Community Engagement Skills training
Date & Time: Thursday 15 September 2022 10am-3pm
Location: Online
Want to brush up on your community engagement skills? Join PAS next live ‘SP=EED’ training. SP=EED is a unique development programme designed to develop your skills and confidence in designing, delivering and evaluating effective community engagement.  
 
HES/AHSS/BEFS: Conservation Areas Seminar
Date & Time: Thursday 29 September 2022 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 2022 9.30am-5pm
Location: Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh
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. 

SPAB: Repair of Old Buildings Course
Date & Time: 17 to 21 October 2022
Location: Online
The Repair of Old Buildings course delivers an extensive programme of lectures and recorded site visits demonstrating building repair projects, accompanied by a series of live online Q&A sessions with speakers and site hosts. Presented by leading building conservation professionals, the Repair Course considers British and international approaches to the conservation of old buildings.  The SPAB philosophy of repair and maintenance – established by William Morris in 1877 – underpins the course programme of case studies, presentations and site visits.
The SPAB has a small fund to allow it to award bursaries to individuals who might not otherwise be able to afford a place on the Repair Course.

Vacancies

 NTS Project Director: Hill House Conservation Project
Salary: £43,050-£47,667
Status: Full time, permanent
Location: Flexible within South & West Region
The National Trust for Scotland is now seeking an exceptional individual to lead the Hill House Conservation Project on behalf of the Trust.  The Hill House Conservation Project will embrace all heritage assets contained by the Hill House site in Helensburgh.  You will have a relevant degree and experience of managing similar multi-heritage projects at large scale.  You will be a confident leader with the highest of standards.  A collaborator and a consummate communicator able to take on a wide-ranging challenge and deliver excellence.
The Conservation of the fabric of the House is at the heart of the Project but restoring the garden, conserving the collection and interiors, interpretation, research and providing the best visitor experience are all key to success.  Fundraising will be required and outreach and engagement will be vital pillars of the Project, as will engaging with the many and varied stakeholder groups will be essential to success.
Closing date: Wednesday 7 September 2022

NTS Conservation Maintenance Surveyor
Salary: £36,523-£40,238
Status: Full time, permanent
Location: North East Scotland 
The National Trust for Scotland is looking for strong team players who are committed to conserving and sharing Scotland’s heritage.  Join the NTS Building Surveying Team and you will work with Scotland’s largest and most diverse portfolio of historic buildings and structures. This is a new role and you will be instrumental in shaping the way the Trust manages the conservation maintenance of its buildings, helping to build maintenance plans for each building and dealing with backlog maintenance projects.  
Closing date: 10am, Friday 9 September 2022

The Auchindrain Trust Conservation and Maintenance Supervisor/ Urras Achadh an Droighinn
Salary: £27,300
Status: Full time, permanent
Location: Auchindrain Historic Township, Argyll
As a result of the retirement of a long-serving member of staff, we are seeking to recruit a suitably-skilled and experienced person as Conservation & Maintenance Supervisor for the museum at Auchindrain Historic Township in Argyll. The post represents a rare opportunity for someone who would like to develop a career in the care, conservation and management of Scotland’s historic environment, with a strong emphasis on the use of traditional building skills in the modern world. Over time, the post-holder could expect to develop into being one of the quite small group of specialists and experts who give a lead to the traditional building skills sector in Scotland.
Closing date: 12 noon, Friday 7 October 2022
 

BEFS News

The high-level masonry assessments and work ongoing across many HES sites is a topic that’s received a lot of attention from the sector and general public. BEFS were pleased to see both a detailed blog piece from HES Director of Operations, Craig Mearns; and a short film addressing the actions being taken, and the challenges faced in this process. (Craig has also welcomed the invitation to BEFS Members’ Historic Environment Working Group (HEWG) meeting at the end of August.)

BEFS, along Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) are really looking forward to hosting a seminar day in September, 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. We would love to see you there!
Thinking of Conservation, Edinburgh World Heritage are looking for a Conservation Programmes Officer. Do have a look at the Vacancies section below for more information.

RIAS have announced their shortlist for the prestigious Andrew Doolan Prize for Best Scottish Building. We’d never pick favourites, but we are pleased to see a restoration project included – High Sunderland – a 1957 Category A-listed modernist icon whose future was uncertain following a fire in 2017.

Six organisations, including a number of BEFS members, have recently signed up to a three year, 45 point action plan to jointly improve Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) across the sector. These actions could have a positive impact on over 350,000 members across the sector organisations in question. BEFS look forward to seeing the outcomes of this plan.

BEFS would also like to congratulate Scotland’s new Chief Reporter, Scott Ferrie, whose appointment was confirmed last Thursday.

Next month (September) will bring us Doors Open Day, the popular festival that sees hundreds of sites across Scotland offer free access to buildings and events. The full programme of events will be released in mid-August, but in the meantime be sure to head to the Doors Open Days website to mark your diary for the 2022 weekends, and subscribe to the Doors Open Days newsletter to be notified when the programme goes live.

And finally:
BEFS, working closely with HES and the Scottish Government, will be holding a series of engagement events (online and in person) across August in relation to refreshing Our Place in Time, the national strategy for the historic environment. Invitations were sent out last week, and places are limited, so do please book via the related Eventbrite links should you wish to attend. As soon as the report from the Scottish Historic Environment Forum (SHEF) event is available we’ll be sharing the links via the Bulletin and our twitter feed.

Thinking of future OPiT – whilst the KPIs may change, the good work being done across the sector always needs to be captured. Due to Covid we haven’t been actively seeking new case studies for a wee while, but it’s essential we can illustrate a refreshed OPiT with excellent examples. The current case studies can all be found here – and you can submit new ones via this online form.  We look forward to seeing the fantastic activity taking place over the last few years.

Consultations 

Buildings at Risk Register (BARR)
Historic Environment Scotland
Closes 5 August 2022

Views on the impact of budgetary decisions including the Resource Spending Review on the culture sector in Scotland
Scottish Parliament Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Closes 19 August 2022

Delivering Scotland’s circular economy: a consultation on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill
Scottish Government
Closes 22 August 2022

Delivering Scotland’s circular economy: A Route Map to 2025 and beyond
Scottish Government
Closes 22 August 2022

Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation
Scottish Government
Closes 25 September 2022

New Build Heat Standard: consultation – part two
Scottish Government
**new** Closes 20 October 2022

Consultation Responses

Onshore wind policy statement refresh – draft: consultation analysis
Scottish Government

Local development planning – regulations and guidance: consultation responses
Scottish Government

Publications

A Wellbeing and Heritage Strategy for Historic England (Historic England May 2022)
Strategy document showing how HE aims to improve delivery, enhance the social impact of programmes, highlight inequities that heritage can challenge, and communicate the value of heritage. 

National Lottery Heritage Fund Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22
The 2021-22 Annual Report and Accounts for the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Toolkit for recording archaeological materials (CIfA July 2022)
Toolkit intended for use by anyone engaged in organising, managing or monitoring the records created during initial processing of archaeological materials recovered during an archaeological project.

Levelling Up and Sustainable Place Making (RICS July 2022)
RICS 10-point plan, ‘Levelling Up and Sustainable Placemaking’ sets out the overarching policy recommendations for the UK Government.

RIBA Construction Contacts and Law Report (RIBA July 2022)
The RIBA Construction Contracts and Law Report 2022 report details the findings of a survey of 950+ construction professionals on their experience of legal and contractual practice over the past twelve months, complemented by a series of articles from cross-sector experts.

Making a house a home: Why policy must focus on the ownership and distribution of housing (JRF July 2022)
Briefing setting out the argument underpinning a new area of work at JRF, around ownership and distribution of homes in the English housing market. It suggests proposals for reform, and highlights areas JRF want to explore.

A population-based retrospective study of the modifying effect of urban blue space on the impact of socioeconomic deprivation on mental health (Nature July 2022)
Findings from a study using population primary care health data in the North of Glasgow exploring whether living near blue space modifies the negative effect of socio-economic deprivation on mental health during the regeneration of an urban blue space (canal) from complete dereliction and closure.

Scottish Government Publications

Letter to Convener, Local Government, Housing & Planning Committee (11/07/22)
Correspondence from Tom Arthur, Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, to Ariane Burgess on the estimated timescale for the final version of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) being laid before the Parliament, and for the Committee’s scrutiny.

Controlling short-term lets (01/08/2022)
Statement outlining how Edinburgh will become Scotland’s first designated Short-Term Let Control Area after the Scottish Government approved the City of Edinburgh Council’s proposed change to planning requirements.

New Releases

Celebrating a growing relationship with the Council for British Archaeology
Elia McQueen celebrates a strengthening relationship between Archaeology Scotland and the Council for British Archaeology.
 
New Bill proposed to prevent local planning decisions being overruled
Conservative MSP Miles Briggs is to bring forward new legislation that will ensure no planning decisions made locally would be overturned after highlighting new figures local authorities were overruled on almost half of all planning appeals in the last year.

Celebrating excellence in retrofit and reuse in the built environment
The 2023 AJ Retrofit Awards, brought to you by The Architects’ Journal, are looking for entrants. The awards recognise and celebrate the design expertise behind the vital renewal and repurposing of existing buildings, setting a precedent for ways to slash the industry’s carbon footprint in the process. 
 
New partnership to help tackle empty homes in Scotland’s rural and island communities
Tighean Innse Gall (TIG) and the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP) have launched a joint project to tackle the issue of empty homes in Outer Hebrides.

Creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive built environment sector – Action plan
Six built environment bodies jointly commit to a three-year action plan to improve equity, diversity and inclusion. 

A subterranean secret
Forestry and Land Scotland blog on surveying the remote Iron Age souterrain (or cellar) of Cracknie in Borgie Forest in Sutherland using laser scanning techniques.  

Funding for 57 New Projects Across England That Will Tell the Untold Stories of Our Nation’s Working-Class Heritage
These new projects will reveal and celebrate untold stories from across England: from the distinct history of the Dunston Staiths – a coal drop for ships in Gateshead, to the stories of the colliers, iron workers, and traveller communities that used tin chapels in the Forest of Dean. 

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside! Funding awarded to revitalise historic Scottish harbour buildings
The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) is delighted to have awarded two new grants to projects aiming to revitalise historic harbour buildings in both Portsoy and Annan.

Opinion & Comment

Scots Gov is accused of ignoring experts after overturning almost half of all appealed planning decisions (The Herald 24/07/22)
 
Reducing embodied carbon in building products for a sustainable future (PBC today 26/07/22)

Homes for Scotland questions quality of local planning decisions (Scottish Housing News 27/07/22)

Architects and designers must embrace the circular economy (Project Scotland 27/07/22)

Climate change: Huge public demand for eco-friendly homes means council planning departments need proper funding (Edinburgh Evening News 28/07/22)

Why urban design needs to integrate nature (RICS Built Environment Journal 28/07/22)

Why the mysterious Scottish broch is making a return (BBC 28/07/2022)
 
Dereliction threat to Scotland’s canals from financial restrictions hampering regeneration (The Scotsman 31/07/22)

Behind the scenes: a monumental challenge (HES Blog 01/08/2022)

Catherine Cartmell: Scotland’s built heritage highlights why it’s so important to invest in skills (Press & Journal 02/08/2022)

Parliamentary Questions 

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-09932: Donald Cameron, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 25 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many projects have (a) applied for and (b) received funding from the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme since it was created, broken down by (i) local authority area and (ii) the value of each project award. Answer expected on 22 August 2022

S6W-10002: Liam Kerr, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 26 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its strategy is to deliver public advice and messaging regarding a transition to renewable heat sources in order to ensure that homeowners can access comprehensive advice in relation to the decarbonisation of homes. Answer expected on 23 August 2022

S6W-10119: Liam Kerr, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 1 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have benefitted from the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund as of 30 July 2022, and what the average cost per property is. Answer expected on 29 August 2022

Parliamentary Questions and Answers

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-09251: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the average day rate is of the contractors in its Cladding Remediation Unit.
Answered on 21 July 2022

S6W-09252: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many contractors have worked and (b) what the expenditure has been on contractors, in its Cladding Remediation Unit in each of the last 12 months.
Answered on 21 July 2022

S6W-09628: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 5 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many community-run retrofit organisations does it fund.
Answered on 27 July 2022

S6W-10001: Liam Kerr, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 26 July 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what skills strategy it has in place to ensure that Scotland has sufficient professionals to advise homeowners on their transition to clean energy and carry out installation and maintenance.
Answered on 2 August 2022

Events

For the full list of BEFS Members’ upcoming events see our events calendar.
 
Green Home Festival 2022
Date & Time: 8-12 August 2022
Location: Online and in person 
Running from 8-12 August, the Green Home Festival will feature 12 shows, which are all free to attend. Some will be in-person and hosted at the offices of RICS in Edinburgh, others will be delivered online via webinar or on-site at other locations around the city. The climate emergency, net zero and soaring energy prices are the driving factors behind the Green Home Festival. Explore events such as, Retrofitting a Traditional Tenement or Transforming a Listed Museum.
 
Whose Town Is It Anyway? (Part of Festival of Politics)
Date & Time: Thursday 11 August 2022 12.30-1.30pm
Location: Online 
Who holds the power in town centres – is it the developer, the chain stores, or the investors? Do they really have the town centre interest at heart or does the profit margin supersede community? How can the community and independent retailers take control and does free parking at out-of- town centres trump local community any day? Join the debate on how we build in climate, social inclusion and health and well-being to every town centre in Scotland.
Supported by the Cross-Party Group on Towns and Town Centres.
 
Understanding Ghost Signs: Ghost Signs of Glasgow Tour and Sign Writing Workshop with Women’s Type Foundry
Date & Time:  Saturday 20 August 2022 10.30am-5pm
Location: George Square, Glasgow and GCHT office, Bell Street
Ghost Signs of Glasgow is a project which unearths the stories behind old signs and shopfronts of the city by researching and documenting them. These ghost signs, the fading remains of old painted signs on buildings, provide an invaluable insight into Glasgow’s architectural, social and cultural history. Many ghost signs hide in plain sight in the urban landscape around them, leaving a tangible part of Glasgow’s heritage vulnerable to being lost forever. In the afternoon you’ll get to participate in a sign painting workshop with Women’s Type Foundry, a female-led design, research and typography studio based in Glasgow.
 
Live podcast recording: “Preserving historic hospitals: the Royal Infirmary”- Friends of Glasgow Royal Infirmary in conversation with Niall Murphy
Date & Time: Wednesday 24th August 2022 7-8.30pm
Join us for an exclusive live recording event of a new episode of GCHT’s very own podcast. ‘If Glasgow’s Walls Could Talk’ explores the relationships between the city’s historic buildings and places and its communities. Each episode focuses on a specific area or type of building, not only from a historical and architectural point of view, but also from the perspective of the community. Here you will have the chance to listen to GCHT Deputy Director Niall Murphy interviewing Dr Hilary Wilson and Dr Kate Stevens, both Trustees of Friends of Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
 
STBF – Festival of Traditional Buildings
Date & Time: Monday 22 – Friday 26 August 2022
Location: Edinburgh and online (hybrid)
This will be the 10th 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.
 
From Slogans to Sound Strategy? The 2022 SURF Annual Conference
Date & Time: Thursday 25 August 2022 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.
 
Broomhall House, Charlestown and the Lime Kilns
Date & Time: Saturday 27 August 2022 9am-6pm
Join AHSS on a tour of Broomhall House, the home of the Bruce family for more than 300 years. It continues to be lived in, and cared for, by the descendants of King Robert the Bruce. This will be followed by a visit to the historic “planned” village of Charlestown, which pre-dates New Lanark, and sits on the Broomhall Estate. The tour of Broomhall will end with a visit to the Charlestown Lime Kilns, which are regarded as one of the most important Industrial Revolution remains in the UK.
 
Doors Open Days
Date & Time: Weekends in September
Location: Various across Scotland
Doors Open Days, the popular festival that sees hundreds of sites across Scotland offer free access to buildings and events, will return in September! The full programme of events will be released in mid-August, but in the meantime be sure to head to the Doors Open Days website to mark your diary for the 2022 weekends, and subscribe to the Doors Open Days e-newsletter to be notified when the programme goes live!
 
Scottish Archaeology Fair 2022
Date & Time: Sunday 4 September 2022
Location: Castle Douglas Town Hall and the Carlingwark Park and Activity Centre
Archaeology Scotland and Galloway Glens are bringing the Scottish Archaeology Fair back this year after a two-year pause following Covid restrictions. The event will officially launch this year’s Scottish Archaeology Month and the celebration of the conclusion of the outstanding Can You Dig It? community archaeology project.  Archaeology Scotland and Galloway Glens aim to raise the profile of Scottish Archaeology and provide a space for everyone to connect with, learn from and enjoy their local heritage and archaeology.  

Training

Practising ethical competence in archaeology
Date & Time: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Location: Online
Ethical behaviour is not innate: it is learned and practiced in the real world – or in a safe environment like this workshop. Using case studies developed from real-life experiences in archaeological practice, scenarios in this workshop allow participants to explore what happens when different roles in commercial fieldwork have conflicting motivations and the ethical dimensions of going beyond the contract when that happens.
 
The Structural Repair of Historic Buildings
Date & Time: Friday 26 August 2022
Location: Charlestown Workshops, Charlestown, Fife
This masterclass led by Ian Hume, aims to provide professionals with a sound understanding of the philosophy of conservation.
Participants will gain a better understanding of the relationship between structural engineering and conservation, of safety issues and of the aesthetics of conservation based structural repairs.
 
PAS, SP=EED Community Engagement Skills training
Date & Time: Thursday 15 September 2022 10am-3pm
Location: Online
Want to brush up on your community engagement skills? Join PAS next live ‘SP=EED’ training. SP=EED is a unique development programme designed to develop your skills and confidence in designing, delivering and evaluating effective community engagement.  
 
Conservation Areas Seminar
Date & Time: Thursday 29 September 2022 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 20222
Date & Time: 12 October 2022 9.30am-5pm
Location: Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh
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

Development Officer
Salary: £29,500 pro rata
Status: 0.8FTE (with potential for full-time if preferred)
Location: Glasgow or home-based
This is an exciting opportunity to join a small but busy team – supporting aspiring and post-purchase community landowners, building networks and raising awareness of community landownership. The postholder will provide support to communities in South, Central and Eastern Scotland.
Closing date: 5pm, Monday 8 August 2022

Edinburgh World Heritage – Conservation Programmes Officer
Salary: £28,840-£30,900
Status: Full time, permanent 
Location: Edinburgh
EWH are looking for a Conservation Programmes Officer to support the conservation and enhancement of the built heritage and public spaces across the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site, working with stakeholders and communities to deliver meaningful projects. Experienced in the delivery of best practice conservation repair and maintenance projects and bringing exceptional organisational and planning skills, you will help to conserve the city through the investment of approximately £1.75m per year from Historic Environment Scotland.
Closing date: 10am, Monday 15 August 2022
 
NTS Conservation Maintenance Surveyor
Salary: £36,523-£40,238
Status: Full time, permanent
Location: North East Scotland 
The National Trust for Scotland is looking for strong team players who are committed to conserving and sharing Scotland’s heritage.  Join the NTS Building Surveying Team and you will work with Scotland’s largest and most diverse portfolio of historic buildings and structures. This is a new role and you will be instrumental in shaping the way the Trust manages the conservation maintenance of its buildings, helping to build maintenance plans for each building and dealing with backlog maintenance projects.  
Closing date: 10am, Friday 9 September 2022 

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 10^th 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 12^th 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 4^th 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 6^th 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 

BEFS News

Professor Douglas Robertson, and BEFS Director briefly gave comment within Why Buildings Collapse highlighting the importance of building maintenance, and robust building data. Further information on activity within Scotland on this topic can be found here.

BEFS Director was also asked to contribute to a panel session on shaping the future direction of Scotland’s heritage sector, at the recent Scottish Historic Environment Forum (SHEF) conference. BEFS will be working with HES on engagement across the sector to inform the updated Our Place in Time national strategy, helping ensure it is fit for the future.

Looking to the future, Scottish Civic Trust have just released their findings from a survey of local civic and heritage groups. They recently discussed the initial findings, and highlighted a range of inclusive resources on their website.

In strategic news, leading heritage organisations have partnered to create a UK-wide Climate Hazards Group. And, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Scotland has announced £2million funding to help the heritage sector build back after the pandemic.

In awards news, Europa Nostra have announced the 2022 winners of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards, funded by the EU Creative Europe programme. The winners of the inaugural RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence have been announced. And, two buildings, selected from the Scotland regional heat, have been shortlisted for the national RIBA awards.

Congratulations to Chris Stewart who has been elected RIAS president. And a warm welcome to: Samantha McCabe and Dr Georgiana Varna who have been appointed to the board of Architecture and Design Scotland (AD&S).

BEFS are pleased to welcome Under One Roof as our latest member. They undertake vital work providing impartial advice on repairs and maintenance for flat owners across Scotland.

And finally: BEFS Member SPAB have the following offer this month – 20% off membership throughout July. From cottages to castles and from churches to cathedrals, SPAB help buildings and the people who care for them. For a limited time only get 20% off your first year of membership using discount code JULY20.

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

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
*new* 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
*new* Closes 25 Sep 2022

Consultation Responses

The Architects Registration Board: Report on Consultation regarding Draft Guidance for Professional Indemnity Insurance.
RIAS

Analysis of responses to 2021 public consultation on a review of building standards relating to energy standards and associated topics, including ventilation, overheating and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Scottish Government

Publications

Rural Planning in the 2020s (RTPI July 2022)
A report detailing the changing face of rural areas across the UK and Ireland.

How to combine action on housing retrofit with tackling health inequalities and other injustices (CaCHE June 2022)
A briefing paper on the interconnected policy priorities that retrofitting homes can contribute to, whilst taking a Whole Systems Approach to retrofitting as a public health issue

Heritage Sector Resilience Plan 2022-24 (Historic Environment Forum June 2022)
Plan to provide a clear roadmap to a robust and resilient heritage sector, via a collaborative approach in which everyone with an interest plays their part.

Historic Environment Overview (HE, June 2022)
The Historic Environment Overview forms part of Heritage Counts, the annual audit of England’s heritage since 2002.

Culture Budget Tracker – Comparing 10 Years of Scottish Government Budgets (Culture Counts June 2022)
An interactive data visualisation to explore past Scottish Government culture budgets

Rethinking Heritage for Sustainable Development (Sophia Labadi June 2022)
A substantial and original assessment of whether and how heritage has contributed to three key dimensions of sustainable development

Scottish Government Publications

Stakeholders Update (01/07/22)
Planning Minister Tom Arthur and Chief Planner Fiona Simpson’s letter to update stakeholders on aspects of the work programme, heading into the summer recess period.

Building Standards Workforce Data Analysis Report 2021 (24/06/22)
Report providing a national-level view of the challenges facing the building standards profession in relation to resourcing, development of competencies and levels of turnover.

Planning Circular (30/06/22)
Providing guidance on the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2022

Wellbeing Economy Monitor (24/06/22)
Monitor of a range of indicators providing a baseline for assessing progress towards the development of a wellbeing economy in Scotland.

Resource Spending Review and Pre-Budget Scrutiny (22/06/22)
Summary analysis of some of the key issues arising from the recent Scottish Government Resource Spending Review (RSR)

NPF4 (22/06/22)
Response to Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on an update on final version of NPF4

Building a Net Zero Future (15/06/22)
New regulations to cut emissions of all new-build homes by nearly a third.

News Releases

Launch of the first National Survey for Scotland’s museums and galleries in 20 years.
The survey will help to capture where the strengths are in the sector, and the areas where Scotland’s museums and galleries most need support.

Hands on Experience of Traditional Building Skills for young people in Paisley
Pupils in Renfrewshire get to grips with traditional building skills at a career-building event

Glencoe turf house keeps heritage building skills alive
The recreation 17th-century turf house was created using traditional materials, tools and techniques.

Successful Heritage Regeneration Programme Has Revived Historic Towns Across England
From Weston-super-Mare to Sunderland, 10 Historic England-funded Heritage Action Zones have been a powerful catalyst for regeneration.

Designing Buildings celebrates 10 years offering a free, open access wiki site for the construction industry
Practitioners share knowledge about things they know and find knowledge about things they don’t.

Spotlight on Britain’s rich heritage of traditional crafts
A new series from Sky Arts, The Prince’s Master Crafters: The Next Generation, will be airing later this year.

Opinion & Comment

Eiffel Tower riddled with rust and in need of repair (Guardian 04/02/22)

Over 100,000 homes in Scotland have nobody living in them – with some lying empty for decades (Daily Record 03/07/22)

Staffing crisis hits top Scottish tourist attractions (The Herald 01/07/22)

Who’s betting on Lottery funding? (Arts Professional 30/06/22)

Data provides opportunity for tourism and environment (The Scotsman 30/06/22)

Call to re-open Fife’s historic buildings as soon as possible after inspections (Fife Today 30/06/22)

Challenges on every front, but tourism will deliver for Scotland this summer (The Herald 28/06/22)

Andy Wightman: In modern Scotland, power is becoming more centralised (Holyrood Magazine 23/06/22)

The Greenest Building is the One Already Built (IHBC 19/06/22)

Departing Stores and Place Vandalism (Leigh Sparks 15/06/22)

Emma Dickson: Why the construction industry needs to investigate alternative paths to entry to address ongoing pain of skills shortages (Scottish Construction Now 14/06/22)

Parliamentary Questions

Questions marked with a triangle (?) are initiated by the Scottish Government in order 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-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.
Answer expected on 21 July 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.
Answer expected on 21 July 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.
Answer expected on 21 July 2022

S6W-09251: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the average day rate is of the contractors in its Cladding Remediation Unit.
Answer expected on 21 July 2022

S6W-09252: Mark Griffin, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 23 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many contractors have worked and (b) what the expenditure has been on contractors, in its Cladding Remediation Unit in each of the last 12 months.
Answer expected on 21 July 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
Answer expected on 21 July 2022

Parliamentary Questions & Answers

Questions marked with a triangle (?) are initiated by the Government in order to facilitate the provision of information to the Parliament.

S6O-01231: Annabelle Ewing, Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party Date Lodged: 8 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Historic Environment Scotland about the reopening of assets in the Cowdenbeath constituency.
Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022.

S6O-01292: Pauline McNeill, Glasgow, Scottish Labour Date Lodged: 22 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what range of heating systems it anticipates will replace gas boilers in the near future.
Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2022

S6O-01295: Edward Mountain, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Date Lodged: 22 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what level of grant per property will be made available to assist homeowners to achieve an EPC rating of band C or better by 2025.
Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2022

S6W-08961: Fulton MacGregor, Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party Date lodged: 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to (a) review legislation that allows property factor companies to own 50% or more of residential buildings and (b) introduce legislation to ensure that residents retain decision-making rights for their homes rather than property factor companies.
Answered on 21 June 2022

S6W-08983: Dean Lockhart, Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 9 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government by which date in Autumn 2022 it will publish its previously delayed, updated Energy Strategy.
Answered on 23 June 2022

S6W-09092: Kaukab Stewart, Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish National Party Date lodged: 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to respond to the Zero Emissions Social Housing Taskforce report, Achieving net zero in social housing, in order to provide registered social landlords with as much certainty as possible as they plan to retrofit their stock of tenement accommodation to meet its climate targets, including in the Glasgow Kelvin constituency where the stock is reportedly extensive.
Answered on 21 June 2022

Events

For the latest information about BEFS Members’ events see our events calendar.

Discovering Dumfries – Walking tour of Dumfries
Date & Time: Thursday 21 July 5-7pm
Location: Armstrong Watson, Dumfries
An on-foot, after-work blend of learning, competition and refreshment with the opportunity to seek out nationally and locally important places and people, facts and features with colleagues and friends in the planning world. Members from other Scottish chapters, and wider, would be welcome.
Dumfries is on the train line between Newcastle and Glasgow, via Kilmarnock.
 
Scottish Young Planners’ Network Summer Social
Date & Time: Thursday 28 July, 5:30-10pm
Location: 3 Waverley Bridge, Edinburgh
Come and join the RTPI for the Scottish Young Planners’ Network summer social. Back in Edinburgh and soaking up the city atmosphere.

STBF – Festival of Traditional Buildings
Date & Time: Monday 22 – Friday 26 August
Location: Edinburgh and online (hybrid)
This will be the 10th 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. Those attending will also have the opportunity to share their local experiences, and question leading practitioners, policy-makers and academics in interactive panel sessions.

Training

Online CPD: Upgrading a Traditional Tenement Building
Date & Time: Thursday 14 July 12:30-1:30pm
Location: Online
In this CPD, Chris Morgan of John Gilbert Architects will be discussing the current works being done to upgrade a traditional Glaswegian tenement building on Niddrie Road to meet the EnerPHit standard. The project, commissioned by Southside Housing Association, aims to demonstrate an approach that rigorously tackles energy efficiency and fuel poverty whilst also addressing issues related to health and well-being as well as heritage, building maintenance and management.
Attendees will get to learn about the works being undertaken, explore the innovative monitoring and 3D scans the team has been doing, and hear what the project means for helping Scotland’s historic housing stock tackle the climate crisis.

Vacancies

Historic Environment Scotland: Grants Managers
Salary: £26,341-£32,669
Status: Full time; one permanent role and one fixed term to 31 March 2023
Location: Edinburgh and the Lothians
Successful candidates will provide advice to potential grant applicants, assess grant applications and make recommendations to decision makers. They will also manage a caseload of grants in delivery, processing grant payment requests in a timely manner and effectively monitoring any risks to HES investment. They will have knowledge of grants management, experience of managing multiple projects and excellent communication skills.
Closing date: 12 noon, Monday 11 July 2022