Four weeks ago he narrowly escaped death after a stone the size of a laptop computer fell from The Old Royal Guest House building in Union Street and hit him on the arm.

“Does someone have to die for regular checks to happen?” he asked. “A lot of these buildings are quite old so the council should be making regular checks — it should be enforced.”

In fact, an employee of the council-backed Inverness City Centre Management (ICCM) had checked the Union Street building and written to the owner informing them of the potential danger.

It is a job the organisation carries out, through its city centre officer, on a part-time basis and takes photographs of buildings appearing to be in need of attention. They then send them to property owners asking them to act “as necessary”.

“Inverness City Centre Management has an image on file showing plants growing out of the masonry on the Old Royal Hotel at 10 Union Street Inverness,” said Hugh Nicol, owner of the Riverside Gallery and chairman of ICCM.

“The image is dated August 2005 and our records suggest that a letter was sent to the property owner.”

However, he stressed it was possible the owners did not receive the letter and anyway ICCM works through encouragement, not enforcement, and has to operate on limited funds .

“As a ‘persuader’ rather than an ‘enforcer’, ICCM does not keep copies of the letters it sends to property owners when it spots a building which looks in need of attention,” Mr Nicol added.

But, is a warning letter is enough?

Highland councillor Alistair Milne (Ballifeary) last week sparked a debate on the issue at Inverness Town House when he suggested the council should do more.

He cited the example of Edinburgh City Council which had carried out repair work in the city centre and then billed the owners, after 14 incidents of falling masonry in Scotland’s capital since 1999, including one death and eight injuries.

Several councillors rejected the plea on the grounds that to start such work would leave the authority liable for any problem with the property in the future and tax-payers money should not be used for work the landlord should carry out.

While most agreed the responsibility does sit with the building owner, the question is what role the council should play in the public safety issue and how frequently should it use its powers?

Also, is there enough money and staff currently earmarked for paying for such work?

“In the longer term, the public and the local authority need to decide if this is a sufficient priority to fully resource and insure a council task force to address this issue,” said ICCM’s Mr Nicol.

“We as a community need to decide if this is a priority. Do we pay to sort out property owners' problems, or do we act to remind them of their responsibilities?”

Simon Cole-Hamilton, Inverness Chamber of Commerce chief executive, thought the council’s existing efforts to improve the atmosphere in the city centre could force property owners to act.

“The safety of buildings is the responsibility of the owner and we would encourage all proprietors to look after their property and make sure they’re safe,” he said. “I’m hopeful that when the Streetscape project is finished and the public environment has so much improved, it might spur on the private sector to look to their own properties with a view to taking them up to standard.”

The building owners also acknowledge repairs are their responsibility.

“If you own a building and a bit falls off then it’s your responsibility. How can it be anyone else’s?” said Charles Leakey, owner of Leakey’s second hand bookshop.

Crumbling masonry on a Union Street building. Northern Exposures

“We want to see all buildings adequately maintained. It is quite difficult though, I have quite a big building and I have to keep an eye on these things.”

Assistance is at hand for those that need it however.

Inverness City Heritage Trust offer grants, ranging from £100 to £200,000, to help owners of historic buildings pay for repairs.

The Scottish Executive backed trust has spent around £600,000 in the last three years on projects in Inverness, including £165,000 for roof repairs to the clothes shop MacKays in Academy Street and work currently going on above Lauders bar on Church Street.

Alison Tanner, project officer with the trust, said different groups needed to work together to ensure no-one was hurt.

“There’s a certain element the council could do here but it’s a manpower issue. There should be a more focused and joined up approach,” she said. “What we don’t want to see is the passing of blame. All public agencies have a duty of care but the bottom line is the owners have the responsibility.

“There’s this whole nanny-state thing — people have to take responsibility.

“If I crashed my car and didn’t have an MOT I wouldn’t say it’s the DVLA’s fault for not telling me.”

She also spoke about two other issues which exacerbate the problem, including the top floors of many Inverness buildings being unoccupied, leading to under use of the property and ultimately disrepair.

The other problem was that traditional skills and trades were dying out, resulting in modern repairs often not being up to the required standard.

In agreement was Richard Biggs, Construction Industry Council operations director, based in London.

“I think a lot of know-how probably isn’t being passed on as it was in the past. I think it’s specialised work,” he said.

Glenn Campbell, Highland Council’s buildings standards coordinator, also backed the idea of a scheme to train people in traditional construction methods.

“There’s a bit of a lack of understanding with some people within the industry. Yes, I’m all for the right tradesmen doing the right job. I would support something like that,” he said.

Peter Cameron is an Inverness-based consultant with Historic Scotland, working to find a solution to the problem.

He is formulating a qualification for working on historic buildings that could become compulsory across the country.

“There certainly is a high level of masonry needing work in Inverness — it is definitely a problem. There’s so many unqualified people working with materials they don’t understand,” he said. “I’ve spoken to various councils and it may form part of the criteria for people who work on pre-1900 buildings. There’s nothing out there like that just now.”

calum.ross@inverness-courier.co.uk

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