The regeneration of Panmure House in Edinburgh required the sensitivity and the approach of architects with a deep knowledge and understanding of dealing with Scotland’s historic buildings. It was an ideal task for Jon Newey and his colleagues at EKJN, a small practice based in the historic town of Linlithgow with its commanding royal palace.
EKJN architects were formed as a practice in 2004 when Newey and Ed Kelly combined their one-man practices to form a partnership. At around that time Ed met Hugh Garrett of Smith & Garret at a function and the two of them stayed in touch.
In 2008 Edinburgh Council decided that Panmure House was surplus to requirements and offered it for sale. There was a real possibility that such a building might be turned into apartments in this historic part of old Edinburgh.
When the late Professor Keith Lumsden at Edinburgh Business School found that the school's bid to buy it was successful, he commissioned Smith and Garrett to project-manage the process of renovating the building. Hugh Garrett remembered meeting Ed Kelly and invited EKJN onto the tender list for the Architectural work.
By that time EKJN architects was a well–established practice with a strong catalogue of work involving renovation of historic buildings all across Scotland. Ed was asked to make a presentation to the EBS board and on the back of that EKJN’s tender was accepted.
“Hugh stepped back from the project in 2011 and Ed retired from practice in 2017 while the project was still under construction, which left me in the driving seat,’’ recalls Newey.
An historic building fit for a modern purpose
The project was complex, partly because of the age, the poor condition and history of the building but also because of Edinburgh Business School’s high aspirations.
“Keith Lumsden was the head of EBS at that time and he wanted Panmure House to be the very best that it could be, involving a faithful renovation of the historic fabric while also incorporating all the facilities and technology that a modern university building needs to have. The biggest problem we had was finding enough space in the building to fit all the things that Keith wanted to include. We produced more than 40 different concepts showing different potential configurations,’’ he says.
One of the earliest challenges was making the building accessible as ground levels around the building had changed significantly throughout its 300-year history.
“Panmure Close no longer gives access to Panmure House, and Lochend Close did not exist when the house was originally built. As a result there were several metres difference in level between inside and outside that we needed to resolve at the building’s entrance. Finally there was quite a challenge for us in obtaining Planning Consent and Listed Building Consent for the proposals.’’
Early conversations with Edinburgh’s planning department and with Historic Scotland established that they would not accept any new construction that might mask part of the historic façade.
The architects began work in 2008 with the first planning applications submitted in July 2009. Planning consent was granted in June 2010. The Listed Building consent was granted after appeal in July 2011.
Jon Newey pictured here with Ed Kelly in the early planning stages of Panmure House regeneration.
Early plans: a change in direction
Newey was undeterred and the mission to build a suitable new home continued, not always at pace.
“Taking all the restrictions and aspirations into account we proposed a design using a frameless glass cube which would be constructed over the south and east elevations. Inside the glass cube would be a glass stair leading up to the main floor level, and an access lift leading down to the lower floor, from where a full-height lift shaft would give access to all floors.’’
It was similar to the approach taken at the Louvre in Paris with a glass pyramid designed by IM Pei. Newey felt there was a good precedent for this type of solution.
“By using a glass cube we could extend the size of the building without masking the facades because the original building would always be visible. We felt this was a valid solution to Historic Scotland’s requirements.’’
While this proposal achieved planning consent, Historic Scotland did not feel able to support it, and Listed Building Consent was initially refused. Edinburgh Business School appealed the decision and after a Public Inquiry consent was granted.
But there were more changes in the pipeline. There were new faces at EBS as Professor Lumsden retired and a new Project Manager, Chris Watkins came on board.
“Chris had been Project Manager for Historic Scotland during their renovation of Stirling Castle and he came to the project with a fresh perspective. He reviewed the design, re-considered some of the previously-rejected concepts and concluded that a redesign was necessary.’’
One of EKJN’s earlier concepts was pulled out of the drawer: a design which involved excavating a full basement below the original building rather than the construction of the glass cube. In 2012 new drawings were prepared and fresh applications were submitted for Planning Consent and Listed Building Consent. Both applications were approved with little difficulty and the project as we now know it started to become a reality in early 2013.
The project is now on its way
The first phase was to make external repairs to the historic stone structure, which was completed by the main contractors Ashwood Scotland in May 2015. Phase two was the new build and the fitting-out of the interior which was completed in November 2018, with Maxi Construction the main contractors.
Edinburgh’s World Heritage site is full of historic buildings but there are few still standing that are as old as Panmure House.
“It was very gratifying to be given the opportunity to delve so deeply into the history of the building and into the construction methods and materials that were in use at different periods. We even studied the history of colour pigments to make sure that colour palette we were using was appropriate for the project,’’ he says.
“The main surprises were found during archaeological excavations on the site prior to the main phase of construction getting underway. The archaeologists found a well and several kilns that predated the construction of the house, giving them a greater understanding of how this part of Edinburgh was being used in the Middle Ages,’’ explains Jon.
The archaeologist also investigated the timber roof structure. The original rafters are all numbered and some of the numbers are missing, which suggested to him that the building once had another wing which has since been lost. Old maps seem to back up this theory, showing the building as T-shaped on some maps where it is now L-shaped.
The use of local materials for the regeneration
Newey said before they began external repairs to the stonework samples of the stone and the lime mortar were taken for analysis. The original stone was quarried locally and some may even have been reclaimed from the demolition of even older buildings. Stone from several modern Scottish quarries was identified as being a suitable to match the original construction. The original mortar had been made with lime mixed with sand from Port Seton beach in East Lothian. Again, suitable modern alternatives were identified to give a close match.
The roof slates were also analysed. While it is impossible to determine their age it seems unlikely that they were the original slates from 1690.
Nonetheless, they were natural Scottish slates, which presented a challenge because there are no slate quarries still operating in Scotland.
“Fortunately there was a good resource of second-hand Scottish slate available, sufficient for the work required, so we didn’t have to import slates from Spain, as is often the case.’’ he says.
Sadly, all the details of the historic interiors from Adam Smith’s time had been lost, with no records of what they might have been like.
“The approach we adopted, similar to the approach adopted at Stirling Castle, was that the new interiors should be designed, constructed and finished using materials and work-practices that might have been typical in the 18th Century so that over time they will age with the building in an appropriate manner,’’ he says.
Tulipwood was used for timber wall panels, Clashach stone from Hopeman, near Elgin, for the hand-carved stone stair and traditional limewash and distemper paints were used where they were appropriate. The new windows were glazed in slim-profile double-glazed units which use crown glass in the outer pane so that the traditional rippling of light through seen through historic glazing is still apparent.
The staircase was a unique design challenge
What was the most pleasing aspect for an architect’s standpoint?
“Designing the new ‘pen-check’ stair was an interesting challenge. This type of stair is designed in such a way that the stone treads interlock with each other and the stair needs no supporting structure in the middle of the stairwell. This type of stair used to be common-place – there’s one in our office in Linlithgow - but these days it is very rare to get an opportunity to design one from the ground up,’’ he explains.
Each stone step had to be blasted out of the Clashach quarry, transported to Glasgow, hand-shaped to fit its particular place in the jigsaw and lifted into place inside the building using ropes and pulleys.
“Even with modern-day 3D computer modelling it was quite a challenge to make it all fit together and the stonemasons did a tremendous job,’’ add Jon.
“I like to think that Panmure House is now in better condition than it has ever been at any point in its long history. When it was last overhauled and renovated in the 1950s the fashion was to modernise old buildings by removing historic features, removing old fireplaces, removing chimneys and replacing weathered stone with concrete. I think we are a little more enlightened these days.’’
"A unique design challenge"; the stairwell was painstakingly fit in the main hall.
A thrill for an architect to see the completion
Newey is proud of his work in the regeneration of Panmure House – and rightly so.
“I’m an architect, not an economist so my knowledge of Adam Smith’s contribution to the world was sketchy to say the least before this project started. But after years of working with EBS on this project it has become clear what a phenomenal impact his thinking has had on the way the world works, and how highly he is regarded right across the globe.’’
Today Panmure House in Edinburgh is a glorious setting in which to celebrate the work of Adam Smith with modern thinkers and practitioners able to sense the spirit of Smith as they put his work into a modern global context.
“We’ve repaired and restored the original structure, undoing some of the damaged done by previous alterations and by the weather, but at the same time we’ve modernised the building to make it fit for the next 100 years.’’
Newey is not only an accredited conservation architect, but also an accredited sustainable building designer looking as much to the future as to the past.
“I’m pleased to say that we’ve managed to incorporate some state of the art low-carbon technologies into the project too, most of which isn’t apparent to the casual visitor. In the end I think that may be the aspect of the project that gives me the most pleasure,’’ says Jon.
