St Fitticks Church, Aberdeen
Protecting a Scheduled Monument
St Fitticks Church is today on the corner of St Fitticks Park, next to the Torry and Tullos areas of Aberdeen. With parts of the church remaining from the medieval period, it now overlooks the new Nigg bay harbour, recently created to support the growing large scale off-shore wind industry. This juxtaposition neatly tells the story of a local community buffeted by extreme change over recent decades.
ETZ Ltd are an economic development agency funded by both the Scottish and the UK government with the aim of supporting the transition of Aberdeen’s oil and gas sector to large scale renewables. Eala have worked with them on previous aligned projects. Part of ETZ’s work in developing this part of Aberdeen included improving St Fitticks Park, and along with it, the church.
Eala were employed as conservation architect and contract administrator to design and specify the repairs to the church, to gain the relevant statutory consents, and to oversee the works on site.
The church had a cement harl to all elevations, cement pointing to the stones behind this, and a heavy concrete cope on the wall heads. The gable had significant ivy growth with a deep root matt. This had led to significant loss of fine aggregates behind the hard cement harl, as well as erosion to memorial stones and dressed stones. On the removal of the cement harl the rich history of the building became evident and a vast range of different stone bonding patterns, tiny details, and evidence of alteration upon alteration over the years was laid bare. We specified repairs, including deep re-pointing in lime mortar using local aggregates, a new lime harl, and a lime wash. The wall-heads received a soft turf and clay capping, and the bell-tower was repaired.
It was a joy to be involved in playing a part in securing this structure for the current and future generations to enjoy.
Structural engineer Narro.
Works carried out by LTM.
