Save Britain's Heritage has added a record 42 Scottish historic buildings to its Buildings at Risk register, nearly doubling the number of Scottish entries. The charity warns that neglect and decay are threatening Scotland's architectural heritage, and calls for 'fierce protection'.
Record Increase in Scottish Entries
The charity, which has campaigned for historic buildings since 1975, now has around 1,500 properties on its UK-wide risk list. The new Scottish additions bring the total to nearly double the previous number, highlighting both public pride in heritage and the extent of neglect.
Among the new entries are Aberdeen's Woolmanhill Hospital, the early 20th-century Metering House at Lower Glendevon Dam in Perth and Kinross, and East Dunbartonshire's A-listed Lennox Castle Hospital, birthplace of singer Lulu.
Glasgow's Union Corner Fire Sparks Concern
Save argues that a turning point may have come after the fire and demolition of Glasgow's Victorian-era Union Corner, which 'graphically illustrated' a wider crisis. Conservation officer Lydia Franklin told the BBC: 'Yet threats to Scotland's built environment persist – from emergency works that risk flattening more than necessary, to the slower but just as deadly issues of neglect and decay.'
Franklin added that Scotland's heritage deserves 'fierce protection', noting the country's famous architects such as Robert Adam and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Former Odeon Cinema and Charles Oakley Building
The former Odeon Cinema on Clerk Street in Edinburgh, opened in 1930 and once described as 'the best surviving cinema of this period in the whole of Scotland', closed in 2003 and has been empty since 2024 despite restoration plans. The Charles Oakley Building in Glasgow, built in the 1960s as part of the city's educational rehabilitation, closed in 2010 after a college merger; a proposed relocation by the Glasgow School of Art after a devastating fire was later scrapped.
Hope for Creative Rejuvenation
Heritage engagement manager Amy Popham expressed hope that people would come forward with creative ideas to rejuvenate the properties. She said: 'As the record number of nominations we've received this year demonstrates, these buildings are held in huge affection by the people whose lives they enhance. They believe these buildings are worth fighting for and so do we.'
Save highlighted successful restorations, such as Glasgow's The Briggait, a former fish market now home to creative events and businesses.
