Wednesday, 5 February 2025
14.00-15.00 BST – Zoom Webinar (Register via Eventbrite here)
Are the precepts ‘conserve as found’ and ‘honest repair’ climate resilient? A Scottish Perspective (with English , European and American highlights)
Dr Tim Meek
Climate change, the overlapping emergencies of the war in Ukraine and ensuing energy crisis are driving the heritage industry to reconsider conservation strategies based on the nineteenth century values of morality,truth, and honesty. In this paper I challenge the top-down conservation paradigms, conserve as found and honest repair, and demonstrate that a bare stone and brick approach leaves historic fabric vulnerable to decay, water penetration and a view of the past without nuance.
Using novel methodologies, I illustrate that pre-industrial vernacular building was once completely lime coated and that through time more stone was exposed until the dominant expression of architecture was pointed masonry. However, within the cannon of pointing, many different styles exist. Moreover, there has been a systematic programme of the removal of finishes throughout Europe to expose the underlying purity of base but worthwhile materials.
Contrary to expectation the only style not found within the archaeological record is the now universally adopted method of slightly recessing the joint and exposing the aggregates, what has been called the heritage joint. In equal measure, the application of the heritage joint lacks skill, finesse and fails to apply long lasting compression in the mortar.
Recent experimental work at the University of Stirling demonstrates that the heritage joint is the least effective method of moderating water penetration in storm conditions, conditions that create external/internal pressure differences. The restoration of complete lime coats has a profoundly positive effect on the volume of water entering historic structures during adverse weather events.
Finally, I argue that there is a duality of purpose in lime coats: presentational and functional and that the two are inseparable making the restoration of finishes not a polemic but simply common sense.
Dr Tim Meek
Tim is an apprentice trained, award winning bricklayer, who in his early twenties attended night school, then undertook a degree in archaeology at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, followed by a Masters at the University of York. Throughout his career he continued to work practically, pioneering the reintroduction of lime finishes to Scotland and crucially, this practical work was predicated on archaeological evidence rather than assumed values. Training the next generation of young builders has been a core value of his working life and this continues through the management of the Lime Finishes Group. Major projects include The Great Hall at Stirling Castle & Kilcoe Castle in S.W Cork. He retired in 2018 to undertake his PhD at the University of Stirling, The Cultural and physical factors in the history and development traditional external wall coatings in Scotland, gaining his doctorate early in 2023. Tim is co-author of Historic Scotland’s Technical Papers 31 & 33. He is now a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Stirling.
