The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, Alison Johnstone MSP has visited Liberton Golf Club in Edinburgh to see traditional roofing skills being utilised as part of the refurbishment of the more than 200-year-old Kingston Grange building, the home of the golf club for a century.
The extensive re-roofing of the Listed building, originally built in 1785, is being undertaken by Compass Roofing, a Member of National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC). During the visit to the site Ms Johnstone was able to join the Compass Roofing team on the roof to see the work first-hand and was given an opportunity to try her hand at preparing the slates. To preserve as much of the traditional Scottish slate as possible, Compass Roofing is reconditioning and reusing the existing slates. Ms Johnstone was shown the technique of dressing the slate, adding a chamfer to the edge of the slate, and then invited to carry out the process herself.
Ms Johnstone, a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Lothian since 2011 and Presiding Officer since 2021, has been involved in highlighting the importance of traditional construction industry skills in Scotland for many years. This includes participating at construction skills demonstrations which have included roof slating by the NFRC on several occasions and opening the Edinburgh Traditional Building Festival (part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe) event in 2021.
Scott Miller, Managing Director of Compass Roofing and Chairman of NFRC Scotland said: "We were delighted to welcome the Presiding Officer to our site at Liberton Golf Club to discuss the scope of works and so she could see the work our team was completing.
“Ms Johnstone has been a long-term supporter of the skills demonstrations that NFRC has been involved with for over twelve years, so it was nice she could see the skills on site. Given Ms Johnstone's support for traditional skills, we were pleased she could dress and sign a slate, which will be put back on the roof and should last another one hundred years."
NFRC Scotland is committed to raising the profile of the roofing industry and works across Scotland to promote traditional skills to the next generation. NFRC delivered a four-day roof slating demonstration at this year’s Royal Highland Show and will also be presenting both the roof slating and leadwork demonstrations at the 12th Edinburgh Traditional Building Festival, which takes place between 20 and 23 August.