The National Federation of Roofing Contractors is sponsoring this month’s Edinburgh Traditional Building Festival. This is part of the famous Fringe event and celebrates the city’s traditional buildings and the skills and materials necessary to keep them in good order.
The aim of the festival is to increase people’s awareness of the importance of maintaining their homes.
According to statistics, 90% of Scotland’s traditional buildings (those built pre-1919) have elements of disrepair. A staggering 60% have disrepair to critical elements of the property, which includes the roof.
With these problems comes the need for traditional skills and materials. Which is where the festival organisers, Edinburgh Traditional Building Forum, hopes to inform those who attend during the four day event.
John McKinney, the NFRC’s Forum Chairman and Scotland Regional Secretary, says: “There’s a genuine interest in the subject of built heritage and the skills and materials required for maintenance. If the property you live in is pre-1919 it’s a traditional building, it requires traditional building skills and materials and that is critically important.”
“If your’s is one of these properties there will most probably be elements of disrepair and if they are not urgently attended too they will get worse! And once you’ve acknowledged the condition of the building then you’ve got two important elements to consider – skills and materials.”
It’s a very important event and to make it free and accessible to everyone the festival has been sponsored by Historic Scotland, National Federation of Roofing Contractors, Stone Federation Great Britain and Construction Skills Scotland.
Full details of the speakers and free tickets are available at the Festival Fringe website, see below.
More information: http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/spoken-word/edinburgh-traditional-building-festival.