Scotland re-ignites industrial past
A partnership between two of Scotland's foremost universities and the country's leading training centre for historic building skills has initiated a move to rekindle the Industrial Revolution and revitalise a once dominant manufacturing process.
At Charlestown in Fife, once the centre of Scotland's lime burning industry, the University of Paisley together with Heriot Watt University and the Scottish Lime Centre Trust have built a replica 18th century kiln for the controlled production of historically correct lime mortars.
The project will involve a comprehensive programme of research into the properties and firing characteristics of a range of limestones which have been used traditionally in the production of mortars and renders.
The first batch of lime from the new kiln will be used to repair the historic Charlestown Kilns as part of the Limeworks Project, a conservation initiative involving similar historic sites in Norway and Austria.
Pat Gibbons, director of the Scottish Lime Centre, said: 'For the first time in living memory, architects, engineers and building conservators will be able to understand how traditional building limes were manufactured and how they perform. Armed with this knowledge they will be able to specify the correct mortars and renders for making appropriate repairs to historic buildings.'
