Highlight Talk - Kinlay Laidlaw and Janice Foster on Burns Monument

Join us for a talk on the Conservation of Burns Monument: innovative repairs to a fascinating building.

Burns Monument in Alloway was built in the 1820s to immortalise the memory of Robert Burns, and has been a visited and enjoyed for over 200 years, now attracting around 100,000 visitors each year. People come to appreciate its design and craftsmanship and enjoy the scenic views of Burns Country from its viewing platform.

By the new millennium, the monument was showing signs of chronic water penetration issues, causing permanent damage and disfigurement. To address these concerns, a comprehensive programme of investigation and research was launched, leading to conservation repairs between 2018 and 2019 to transform its condition and ensure its continued survival.

We invite you to attend a talk that will share the story behind this important project. You’ll learn about the initial surveys and investigation, the development of a repair strategy, and the innovative injection grouting method used to protect the monument. For the first time, a new chapter of the story will include details about the moisture monitoring techniques undertaken within the wall depths, providing insight into what is happening inside the structure.

We hope you can join us to learn about the significant efforts being made to preserve the Burns Monument for future visitors.

Speakers at this event are:

Kinlay Laidlaw BSc.(Hons), DipBldgCons (RICS) MRICS

Kinlay is a chartered building surveyor and RICS-accredited historic building professional with over 35 years of experience working in historic building conservation. More than 20 of these years were spent with the National Trust for Scotland (NTS). He led the investigation and development of the repair strategy of Burns Monument and acted as technical and management support to the NTS stonemasonry team, providing clerk of works services throughout the repairs. Kinlay is also director of Laidlaw Associates Building Surveying Ltd, a chartered building surveying practice engaged in conservation of buildings, research and training, predominantly in Western Scotland.

Janice Foster BEng (Hons), MSc Arch, CEng, MCIBSE

Janice is a chartered building services engineer and researcher at the Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit (MEARU) at the Glasgow School of Art. With over twelve years of research experience in building performance evaluation (BPE), she assesses indoor environmental quality and energy consumption in new and existing buildings. She also uses her research experience to utilise BPE as a design and diagnostic tool in existing buildings to evaluate their condition to feed into refurbishment designs. At the Burns Monument Janice was involved in undertaking moisture monitoring to inform the technical team about the moisture content within the structure and how it changed over time. This work was an essential component for understanding the performance of the preservation and restoration efforts for this historic site and potentially other similar heritage sites.

Booking for Highlight Talks at Robert Burns Birthplace Museum is recommended to guarantee entry. Due to limited capacity in the venue, any available seats will be allocated to attendees who have not booked on a first come, first served basis, meaning that entry cannot be guaranteed without booking.