Owners group cements buildings’ restoration
A shop-owner battled to ‘arrest chronic water ingress’ before joining a £625,000 repair scheme. For years rainwater plagued businesses, flat owners and tenants of 22 to 30 Main Street and 2 Longrow South, Campbeltown, which was built at least 130 years ago. It was remodelled, as ‘The Grand Building Project,’ by Glasgow architect, Thomas Lennox Watson, in 1909. In 2014 that shop-owner, at 22 to 24 Main Street, George McMillan, joined forces with other tenants and owners to form the Main and Longrow South Property Owners Association, to bid for cash from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and Argyll and Bute Council. In what has become the latest part of the Campbeltown Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS), the association is responsible for 19 units. The Courier’s owner, Wyvex Media Ltd, with three units, is represented in the association by group finance director, George Graham, the association treasurer. Mr McMillan, a former town provost and chair of the town council housing committee, became chairman and the secretary is Eileen McInnes. Mr Graham said: ‘At the Courier Centre corner we have been pretty much spared by the floods in the past but Mr McMillan has spent a fortune trying to repair the deck area that is located directly above the back of his shop.’ ‘I became involved when Wyvex received a letter from Argyll and Bute Council stating there were urgent repairs needed to the building.’ A council spokesperson added: ‘22 to 30 Main Street had been identified as a priority building, for the current CARS project in 2014, when the council was involved in the bidding for a total of £990,000 from Historic Environment Scotland.’ Mr Graham said that it had been a long road to the point where building work is starting. He added: ‘There was an impasse with some of the landlords of these properties and many other hurdles to overcome. ‘Initially one landlord owned eight of the 18 units. The minimum owners’ contribution for each unit was £5,000. After a lengthy period he sold all of his flats. ‘Council officers, due to their breadth of experience
of historic building repair, have gone way beyond their nominal roles to help the association and stop the project falling to pieces.’ HES approved the council’s CARS bid in January 2015. During the next three years, the association came up with £101,000 between them. The association was awarded a CARS grant of £383,000, which included £306,000 from HES and a private sector housing grant £141,000 making a total project value of £625,000. A council spokesperson said: ‘CARS money was ring-fenced for the scheme but had to be committed by March 2018.’ Shortly after the cash was guaranteed, the association appointed a firm of Glasgow conservation architects, ZM Architecture Ltd., to lead a consultation team to scope, survey and cost the scheme. The repair project has three parts: high level repairs including roofing, leadwork and rainwater goods, extensive stone repairs and the replacement of the rear walkways and failing amenity deck. A council spokesperson added: ‘Although the building is not covered by statutory listing it is considered of historical importance and occupies a key location in the town centre.’ After 12 months of development work the works were put out to tender and five quotes were obtained. Glasgow conservation specialists John Fulton (Plumbers) Ltd was appointed. The firm is expected to use a number of Kintyre sub-contractors. An incident in July 2015, when a youngster narrowly escaped death, illustrated the urgent need for repairs. The boy fell, about 20 feet into the shop below through the rotten decking skylight, while taking part in a craze – free running – popularised in films such as Casino Royale. For more on the regeneration of Campbeltown see an Argyll and Bute Council feature on pages 14 and 15.