A LEADING architect who has spent his career saving buildings in Scotland fears more will be lost unless the VAT on repairs is abolished.

As well as helping to rejuvenate towns and city centres across the country, Nicholas Groves-Raines points out that saving buildings would also help Scotland move towards net zero.

He told the Sunday National that preserving and reusing existing buildings was “vital” for the climate.

“In terms of the climate, it has become absolutely imperative to make it easier for people to look after their old buildings – not just listed ones but all of them,” he said. “To add on that extra 20% VAT deters people from doing anything. Recently, we had a project where the cost of doing up a building was so overwhelming that our client opted to replace it.

“However, if you are going to replace old buildings with new ones, you need new timber, steel and concrete, which is bad for the environment, while most insulation comes from oil which is, of course, a fossil fuel. I believe in using ‘embedded energy’ which means using the materials that are already there.”

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Groves-Raines (above), who has just been awarded an MBE for his services to architecture, heritage and conservation, has rescued and restored buildings in some of the most deprived areas of Edinburgh and Glasgow, often risking his own money on the projects.

Along with his wife, Icelandic architect Kristin Hannesdottir, he has restored some of Scotland’s finest historic buildings and their practice has delivered significant architectural projects across the UK and Ireland, nurturing some of the country’s most highly regarded contemporary architects in the process.

Buildings they have saved include the 1848 David Bryce Tollcross Mansion in Glasgow which they acquired for £1.

“It was being used as a drug den and had been firebombed so everything was against it, but we managed to save it,” said Groves-Raines. “Some we have lost, like the listed Rockvilla school in Possil at the end of Speirs Wharf. Speirs Wharf was the biggest group of buildings we ever took on – and what a mad idea it was – but it is still there and is now an important part of the cityscape.”

Groves-Raines was initially driven to save buildings because of his horror of “wanton destruction” and he soon came to realise that their preservation was also better for the planet than replacements.

The National: Lamb’s House, EdinburghLamb’s House, Edinburgh

“I’ve been harping on about embedded energy for God knows how long,” he said. “It is vital that people understand why we should be preserving buildings and not just tearing them down.”

He and his wife have certainly practised what they preach. Their successes include Peffermill House in Edinburgh’s Craigmillar, which they bought when it was derelict for £5000, despite legal advisers warning the purchase was madness.

In 1997, the burnt-out Liberton House in Edinburgh was acquired and restored followed by the sadly neglected Lamb’s House in Leith. In 1985, they restored Edinample Castle, a 16th-century fortified house on Loch Erne, said to be cursed.

Further derelict buildings, including Robertson’s Close and the Craigwell Brewery in Edinburgh, were converted to housing during the 1980s.

Important commissions have included the Stirling Castle Landmark building, the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, St Andrews in the Square in Glasgow (below), Strathleven House in Dunbartonshire, Sumburgh Head Lighthouse as well as numerous castles and fortified houses.

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Belmont House on Unst, in Shetland, the northernmost classical house in Britain, was like many of these projects, multiple award-winning, as was Edinburgh’s Eric Liddell Centre.

Other projects have included Shetland Lerwick Town Hall and Hays Dock, part of the Shetland Museum. In Ireland, there was Castle Hume and Goblusk House, a new Palladian villa, and in Glasgow the Cottier Theatre and Lansdowne church (now Websters Theatre). Even a modest garden composting shed in Edinburgh achieved recognition against huge international competition of a gold medal from the American Institute of Architects.

Over the past few years, Groves-Raines has given his free time to various voluntary organisations, particularly in Leith, advising on conservation matters. In 2017, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, being described by the then president Stewart Henderson as “a saviour of historic buildings”.

He continues to work as a director of Groves-Raines Architects Studios and is currently involved with a number of refurbishment projects in Sutherland, Shetland and other parts of Scotland.

He said a lot had changed since he had started working as an architect.

“There was little appreciation within the profession for old buildings and the fabric of whole townscapes was destroyed in the ‘slum’ clearances of the 1960s and 1970s,” said Groves-Raines.

“As a young architect, I wanted to push back against this. I was fired up to record a number of significant buildings that have since been lost.

“In an effort to counter this wanton waste I determined to take on some development projects of my own at a time when architects weren’t allowed to take on developments. I resolved to acquire a number of threatened historic buildings, as it seemed the only way to save them.”

Although there is now greater appreciation for historic buildings, Groves-Raines said there was still much that could be done to protect and restore the built environment.

“Sustainability in architecture has to start with the restoration of existing buildings,” he said.