Aberdeen City Heritage Trust is pleased to present Aberdeen Heritage Lectures in association with the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Robert Gordon University.

This lecture will consider approaches to the repair of historic buildings and how conservation practice has sometimes by-passed analysis and fact in favour of approaches that respond to a romanticised view of Scottish built heritage. Has there been an undue focus on pointing when surface finishes were the traditional means to protect fabric in the past? These surface finishes have increased relevance with the onset of climate change.

Tim Meek pioneered the sensible use of lime in building repair and in particular, the surface finish of buildings in Scotland. Major projects include the Great Hall at Stirling Castle, Wormistoune House in Fife and his work at Brodie Castle in the early 1990s, which remains the highlight of his professional career.

Tim’s work has taken him across the globe, including New England, Trinidad, Calcutta, and Puerto Rico. Closer to home he recently acted as an advisor at Lindisfarne Castle in Northumberland. He is co-author of the Historic Environment Scotland Technical Paper 31 “Historic External Lime Finishes In Scotland.”

He is based on the Black Isle and at Stirling where he is a PhD researcher examining the cultural and physical factors of surface finish in Scotland.