Listed building owners in Inverness served with safety order
THE owners of a listed building in Inverness city centre have been served with a dangerous building notice after concerns were raised about its stability, it has emerged.
The property at 53 Castle Street, owned by kiltmakers Duncan Chisholm and Sons, is currently empty.
Highland Council confirmed a notice was served requiring work to be carried out but when it was not done within the timescales, the local authority took steps to make it safe including the installation of supporting scaffolding.
The council is now in talks with the owners to recoup the costs and for further work to be carried out.
The company chairman, Duncan Chisholm, is a member of the board of Inverness Business Improvement District (Bid) which has previously raised concerns about the state of other city centre buildings.
No one was available from the company yesterday to comment about the state of its building, previously occupied by Dress 2 Impress, which has relocated to Academy Street.
A council spokeswoman said it sought the advice of a structural engineer who considered the building to be in such a condition that without any work it was likely to become a danger.
"Unfortunately, the owners of the property, Duncan Chisholm and Sons, were unable to complete making safe works within suitable timescales so Highland Council has instructed works to remove the immediate danger posed by the building to persons in or around the property," she said. "We are continuing to liaise with the property owners in arranging for further works required to this listed building.
"The costs incurred by the Highland Council are recoverable from the building owners and they are aware of this fact."
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP David Stewart has written to the council asking if legislation, brought in as a result of his member’s bill, Buildings (Recovery of Expenses) (Scotland), has been used across the region.
"Although I don’t know about this particular case, the idea of introducing my bill in 2013 was in the wake of several incidents across Scotland where falling masonry had caused concern – Inverness had recorded a few instances of debris falling from buildings," Mr Stewart said.
"The whole idea was to make the region, and indeed, Scotland a safer place, giving local authorities the power to step in and repair buildings they deemed dangerous if the owners were unable to do the work themselves and then to recoup any costs from the owners after work had been done."
Pat Hayden, chairman of Crown and City Centre Community Council, was surprised that the owners had not carried out the work themselves.
"I am really disappointed," she said. "On the other hand, Highland Council is taking the initiative if a building is unsafe. That is the most important part of it.
"You cannot have unsafe buildings whereby someone walks by and could get hit by something. Hopefully, they will take action a bit more – some of the buildings in Inverness look terrible and I am not sure whether they are safe or unsafe."
Inverness Central councillor Bet McAllister was unaware that a dangerous building notice had been served but had previously reported concerns about the state of the top floor windows after noticing birds flying in and out.
"I didn’t realise it was in a dangerous state," she said. "It is quite astonishing. It is a shame because it is a lovely building."
