Keeping with tradition
The CARS project is not the first time that Inveraray has undergone a major refurbishment. The town had a major refurbishment in the late 1950s and early 1960s under the supervision of architect Ian G Lyndsay, when works were carried out in accordance with the best practice of the time. However, in recent decades we have learned that hard, impervious cement-based renders are not well suited to traditionally-built, solid wall buildings. In many cases, these renders have cracked, allowing rainwater to enter the building fabric but preventing it from escaping again. Render tests carried out by Inveraray CARS in April 2015 showed significant levels of trapped moisture. At the gable of Relief Land, water poured out of the joints between the masonry when a section of render was removed. At Arkland and Relief Land, cementbased renders were removed entirely and replaced with vapour-permeable lime renders. This breathable material allows the fabric of these buildings to begin to dry out ultimately, leading to drier, warmer properties. In addition to the technical benefits, the chosen traditional materials are also more historically and architecturally appropriate. In other cases, where the condition of existing renders was better, selective patch repairs were carried out instead. The other most common issues encountered were failed or inadequate leadwork, cracked chimney stacks, slipped slates and broken or choked rainwater goods. Works at Arkland and Relief Land were carried out by specialist contractors Laing Traditional Masonry. Works at Chamberlain’s House, the Temperance Hotel and the Town House were carried out by Dunoon firm John Brown (Strone) ltd.