THE Prince of Wales yesterday launched an ambitious scheme aimed at breathing new life into more than 1,000 redundant buildings scattered across the far north of Scotland.
In the first stage of the project a total of 1,343 buildings in Caithness have been catalogued by Andrew Wright, a former President of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.
The detailed inventory of the disused traditional buildings i
n the area – from empty churches to former farm bothies – will be used to identify their economic potential and the skills and resources required for their restoration.
And Prince Charles, speaking at the launch at the Castle of Mey yesterday, said: "It would be verging on the criminal to allow the built heritage to drift away."
The prince, who has expressed the hope that the groundbreaking scheme could become the model for the regeneration of disused buildings throughout the entire Highland region and beyond, said: "I suspect many of you will express astonishment at the number of these remarkable buildings dotted over this remarkable landscape.
"I happen to believe in the enormous economic and social potential of bringing back to life buildings which have so long lain dormant."
The new initiative to enhance the use of heritage buildings in the area is the third phase of the North Highland Initiative (NHI), launched three years ago by Prince Charles to promote and develop the economies of rural communities in Caithness.
The new regeneration programme is to be spearheaded by the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment and The Prince's Regeneration Trust. The Foundation is an educational charity which seeks to improve the quality of people's lives by teaching "timeless and ecological" ways of planning, designing and building.
And the prince's Regeneration Trust, which specialises in the preservation and regeneration of at-risk buildings of architectural or heritage value, has already been active in Scotland for several years.
Lord MacLennan, the chairman of the NHI, said the survey had shown that Caithness was home to a vast array of "unique" and historic buildings ranging from farm bothies to ice houses, grain stories and churches which deserved to be preserved.
He said: "It is a unique heritage because they are unlike buildings in any other part of Scotland because of the nature of the materials used and the way they were used by local builders who had high levels of skills and craftsmanship.
"Many of these buildings are not listed by Historic Scotland and one of the purposes of the survey and the accompanying report is to draw widespread attention to the value of the built heritage which isn't protected. Many of these buildings are at risk and if we don't move fairly quickly what you would be left with are mounds of stone."
A spokeswoman for the initiative said: "The report identifies those features which are unique to the area.
"The vernacular heritage in Caithness is unique, is a diminishing resource, and is currently at considerable risk."
The report makes 50 recommendations for the potential regeneration of the buildings including the establishment of a programme with objectives, priorities, timescales and budgets.
The full article contains 528 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
