Traditional Skills Mentoring

Published 20th October 2022

Training and engagement are one of the four key areas of the Inverkeithing Heritage Regeneration project, Fife Council’s 5 year project running 2019 – 2024, delivered in partnership by Fife Historic Buildings Trust. The project is generously funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and Historic Environment Scotland too.

The engaging account that follows is from Keith Macleod of KAM Stonemasonry, based like Fife Hisotirc Buildings Trust in Kinghorn. Keith is currently being mentored by the Director of the Scottish Lime Centre Trust, Roz Artis. Traditional skills mentoring delivered through the project helps counter the acknowledged skills shortage in the specialist sector of building conservation, and will help protect Fife’s outstanding legacy of historic and traditional buildings and conservation areas.

Keith’s report

I had a great day of learning about products and processes and much much more at the recent SLCT ‘A place for all mortars event’. There were indeed some accomplished speakers and demonstrations which provided much food for thought and practical ideas.

I enjoyed a chance to network, after a fascinating presentation by Callum Graham of HES on the petrographic analysis of ‘harl as you go’ mortars. As I will be undertaking my own harling project next spring, this was of particular significance and offered some fascinating insights into the various mortars used historically.

Of particular interest was the presentation by Kinlay Laidlaw about a recent project using injected lime grouts at the Burns monument in Alloway. I will be employing some of the methods he described in the near future restoring the pointing on a 200 year old building in Fife. The subject of injected lime grouts was also discussed on a recent site visit from Jason Boag of the SLCT. I have benefited greatly from both Jason and Kinlay’s knowledge and experience on this issue and am looking forward to putting their ideas into practice.

All of the other speakers at the event offered well-structured and interesting insights into their particular fields of research/practice and I did my best to listen intently to gain as much as possible from this great opportunity. Notably Tim Meeks delivery on ‘technical publication No 33 for HES’ was fascinating and very informative. As was Becky Little and Tom Morton’s presentation on Earth mortars. I have little experience in this field and their ideas and enthusiasm sparked my interest and inspired me to research this subject further.

My recent site visit with Jason Boag was no less informative. We discussed some of the issues around historical mortars and which methods and specifications would be best suited for a number of different processes. Of particular interest to me on this visit were Jason’s suggestions and knowledge around the mortars and methods used in grouting. Some of which I have already put into practice, others I will be employing in the near future. We also discussed a number of other relevant projects such as my plans to restore part of an historic farm building. Jason provided me with sound advice and observations which will aid me greatly in preserving this structure into the future.

All in all an extremely useful and worthwhile experience for me so far in my journey with the SLCT. I have found everyone to be very supportive and always ready to help in whatever way they can. I look forward to continuing to learn new processes and hope to benefit from the mentoring program and SLCT courses and seminars for as long as I am able. I fully intend to remain in close touch with the team at Charlestown going forward into the future and hope to benefit from their expert knowledge and professionalism for many years to come in the pursuit of conserving and restoring our historic built heritage using environmentally sustainable practices.

I thoroughly recommend this great opportunity for myself and others to be able to benefit from your mentoring program and access much needed professional resources which are otherwise hard to come by.