Heritage Scotland

Safeguarding Musselburgh Road

Musselburgh Road

A project to transform an 18th century historic building into a luxury housing development is now complete. The scheme was identified as a priority project as part of the Dalkeith THI/CARS grant scheme and has received a grant to repair and restore the building.

1 – 3 Musselburgh Road is a two-storey building that is located adjacent to Dalkeith House and Park conservation area in Midlothian. The project began in August 2011, with Cruden Homes as the main contractor, Aitken Turnbull as the architect and Wren and Bell as the structural engineer. Mark Nolan from Cruden Homes was the project manager.

Musselburgh Road

The £429,000 project was completed in May 2012 and the transformation of the building included the installation of ground floor partitions to provide bedroom spaces, the restoration of a staircase and the repair of the end gable. In addition, all of the windows on the building were also restored.

External work included lime rendering on the front and side elevation and the repair of a 2-metre high main boundary wall. Extensive repairs were also completed on the existing stone walls.

Musselburgh Road

Prior to work taking place at the site, the building was on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. The Register provides information on buildings of historic significance considered to be a structural risk and is maintained by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland on behalf of Historic Scotland.

The Dalkeith THI/CARS Project Manager, Rod Lugg, said:

“1 – 3 Musselburgh Road is a key building for the town centre as it is located at the top of the high street in the Dalkeith Conservation Area.

“The building was listed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland because it had been left derelict and vacant and the condition of the structure was slowly getting worse. The register encourages local authorities to do something about this and was vital for getting this project completed.

Musselburgh Road

“As 1 – 3 Musselburgh Road is a listed building, we had to ensure that the structure was sensitively restored whilst we undertook the transformation. We used stone and lime mortar to match the original materials on the external facade of the building and we also matched the original materials on the roof.

“It was extremely important to be involved with this project because it has such historic significance. The building was in a bad shape – more so than we originally thought – but everyone worked together to come up with solutions and the project came in on time and within budget.”

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