Experts urge council to halt 'hasty' demolition of fire-ravaged Princes Street landmark

Ed Morton, managing director at the Morton Partnership, is a conservation-accredited engineer and co-chair of the CARE panel. He said that authorities must have an understanding of the possibilities for buildings.

Mr Morton said: “It's about having the understanding and also a little bit of a can-do attitude about it. Unfortunately, a lot of the time I see ‘let's look for the problems rather than let's look for the answers’. You really need to go into these situations with positivity but, occasionally, you do get to the point where you think you just can't do anything in this situation, but it's very rare, I have to say. Normally, by understanding the issues and understanding the significance, you can find a way to retain and reinstate buildings such as on Princes Street.”

It comes after a leading heritage body echoed calls from the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland and others for a specialist CARE-accredited conservation engineer to carry out a rapid assessment to determine how much of the buildings can be retained.

In a statement, SAVE Britain’s Heritage said: “We strongly support the call by the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland and others for a specialist CARE-accredited conservation engineer to carry out a rapid assessment to determine how much of the buildings can be retained before any hasty and irreversible decisions are made.

“The city's media have asked: ‘The pressing question is whether the blackened shell ... will be deemed sturdy enough to be salvaged, or if it will meet the same tragic fate as the historic building on Glasgow’s Union Street, which was destroyed by fire earlier this year.’

“The only way we can answer that question is through the swift engagement of a conservation-accredited engineer, something that did not take place before Union Corner’s demolition. We understand the urgency of making the site safe, but seeking the right advice will ensure this can happen while retaining as much as possible of this important landmark.”

The B-listed building on Princes Street was devastated in a fire last week and is understood to have suffered extensive damage – sparking fears that the building could be demolished completely.

Mr Morton points to a Conservation Accreditation Register for Engineers (CARE) issued guidance note. It is intended to “provide clear guidance” for engineers being requested to inspect and report on heritage assets which may on cursory inspection appear in poor condition.

The aim is to ensure that proper inspections are carried out by qualified engineers before buildings are demolished.

Mr Morton added that steering developers away from a blank slate can be a hard sell for conservation experts, but that doing so can pay “huge dividends” later.

He said: “A cleared site with no impediments reduces the amount of risk they have if you like, but it doesn't necessarily bring the maximum potential out, but particularly with the case, like from Princes Street, which has very high historic significance. That must play into the discussion, and often you're making sure that they have the right advice at the beginning about how and what to retain which can pay huge dividends down the line.”

He urged developers to consider whether tearing the building down really is in their economic interests.

Mr Morton said: “I did one in Jersey a few years ago and the developer wanted to demolish the building, but the local authorities and government bodies didn't really want it demolished. I did a report, the building was saved, and the developer repaired it. Afterwards he said to me: ‘Do you realise it was actually more economic to save it and repair it than to start again?’”