Maintaining Scottish Churches – Galashiels

This event is now fully booked.

Maintaining Scottish Churches – Galashiels

Are you involved in caring for and maintaining a place of worship in Scotland?

Caring for a historic building can feel like a never-ending task, but thankfully there are some simple steps you can take to keep your building in good condition and reduce the likelihood of large repair projects further down the line.

In this introductory one-day course, we’ll explore how your historic faith building works and the practical steps you can take to look after it.

You’ll be able to put your new knowledge into action right away, with a practical exercise looking at the host building inside and out to identify maintenance issues and areas of vulnerability. There will also be the opportunity to discuss your building with the course tutors and others attending.

Armed with a new understanding of how traditional buildings were constructed, how they work, and how they decay, you’ll leave with the skills and confidence you need to spot and tackle common problems that put your old building at risk.

Who is this course for?

This course is aimed at those directly involved in the maintenance of church buildings in a voluntary capacity such as clergy and members of vestries, presbytery members, Fabric Officers or members of Fabric Committees. Community group representatives and private owners of church buildings are also welcome.

You will learn

By the end of this course, you will understand

why buildings decay and how to spot common problems
building maintenance basics and why they are important
how to plan the routine maintenance of historic places of worship
professional inspections and reports and their role in building maintenance
how to stay safe while maintaining your place of worship

Programme

9:30am – Registration and refreshments
10:00am – Maintenance – James Innerdale
This session will explore what maintenance is and why it’s important, including how buildings decay and how to spot and tackle common problems.
10:50am – Current Challenges for Churches – speaker TBC.
11:20am – Questions
11:30am – Refreshments
11:45am – Managing Maintenance and Staying Safe – James Innerdale
This session will cover how to plan routine care of historic places of worship.
This includes understanding the role of professional inspections and reports, and managing relationships with contractors and specialists. We’ll also look at risk assessment, working at height and fire safety
12:45pm – Questions
12:50pm – Lunch
1:35pm – Observation Exercise – James Innerdale and Lucy Stewart
A practical activity looking at the building element by element, inside and outside, to identify vulnerable areas of the fabric of the building and maintenance issues.
2:45pm – Refreshments
3:00pm – Q&A Session – James Innerdale, Lucy Stewart
An opportunity to ask further questions about the care and repair of places of worship.
3:45pm – Close

You will need

Please wear warm, comfortable layers and sturdy and closed shoes. We recommend bringing a raincoat or umbrella for the practical exercise as part of it will be outdoors.
Please bring your own packed lunch. We will supply tea, coffee, biscuits, and afternoon cake & fruit.

Tutors

James Innerdale is a conservation architect, historic buildings consultant and SPAB technical adviser.

Lucy Stewart is Scotland Officer for SPAB, conservation accredited architect, and 2009 SPAB Scholar.