Roz Artis: 30 Years at the Scottish Lime Centre! (SLCT)

This year, the Scottish Lime Centre Trust celebrates a significant milestone: 30 years of service from our Director, Roz Artis. Her leadership and technical knowledge have been central to the Trust’s growth, influence and continued commitment to doing right by Scotland’s historic buildings.

With great vigour and ‘vim’, Roz entered the world of building conservation after an epiphany moment on her MSc course at Dundee University under the guidance and inspiration of Neil Grieve and Ralph Skea.

Roz started her journey with the SLCT as the first employee (her payroll number is still 001!) working from a borrowed office and ‘phone in Leith with her brilliant mentors Pat Gibbons (Architect) and Douglas Johnston (all ‘round building ‘aficionado’). Roz began her career as a building surveyor and, later building construction expert working on all manner of historic buildings from cottages and castles, tenements to canals and everything in between!

Early highlights of Roz’s career included the reinstatement of both internal and external lime finishes at The Great Hall, Stirling Castle and the re-purposed Queensberry House in Edinburgh (part of the new Scottish Parliament). These were amongst a whole myriad of advisory projects for many clients including Historic Environment Scotland, National Trust for Scotland, and the good and the great wanting to do right by their buildings.

Building on from the success of the SLCT Roz expanded the SLCT services to become a ‘one stop shop’ to include not only mortar analysis, but other masonry elements like stone and slate. This enabled the SLCT to conduct a number of ‘stone and slate’ surveys for Cupar Townscape Heritage Initiative, Inverkeithing, Mauchline and Maybole – transversing very different topographies and geology.

None of this would have been achievable without the brilliant technical and support base at the SLCT. So much so, many of the technical team have landed great jobs at HES and NTS, some even setting up their own conservation companies – so to this end, the SLCT have provided a great ‘hot house’ for aspiring surveyors, architects, engineers and environmental scientists. All of this is a very real lasting legacy for the SLCT and Roz has been extremely proud to work for the SLCT for 30 years.

Here are a few words from our Associate Director, Stacey Sneddon:

‘I have worked with Roz (with a brief hiatus in commercial surveying) for almost 10 years, first landing my ‘dream job’ in 2014. Over the first months and years, I learnt so very much in such a short space of time and continue to learn even now. Roz and I have had many adventures travelling the width and breadth of the UK, some better than others (we will say nothing of the Isle of May!). I want to thank Roz for the many years of her service to the SLCT, but more so for the many years of support and encouragement to me personally.’

A few words from our Chairman, Lord Charles Bruce:

'When the idea for a Lime Centre was first conceived in 1994 Scotland was facing a future of great peril for the correct maintenance of traditionally constructed buildings; craft-based skills of masonry and plastering were fast disappearing alongside the critical technical knowledge necessary for specifying materials and inspecting building works.

We had almost reached a point where the application of lime harling - Scotland’s prevalent surface treatment for stone buildings, from Stranraer to Stornaway - was a dying skill.

There is no doubt that Roz’s continuous presence at the Lime Centre over a period of 30 years has made a profoundly important contribution to the revival of traditional craft skills, the recognition of the need for making correct repairs, and most importantly, the recovery of the necessary technical knowledge which had almost vanished from the building professions and technical training courses.

Scotland owes a great deal to Roz - and also her predecessor, Pat Gibbons - as King Charles acknowledged when he visited the Lime Centre in 2017 as Prince of Wales. We have much to thank her for, and we wish her well”

It’s no easy task to sum up the last three decades with our Director, Roz Artis, as she marks her 30th anniversary with the Trust. We invite you to share some memorable moments with Roz, and join us in congratulating her on this momentous occasion.'