Project Description

Enigma Industrial Services are proud to supply the Access Solution for the Dean Castle restoration project.

The £5 million restoration project being carried out on the 600-year-old historic building located in Kilmarnock is being conducted by CBC Stone. The 14th century castle originally the ancestral home of the Boyd family, lords of Kilmarnock is being given a new lease of life. The restoration work mainly incorporates the removal of cement pointing from the stone walls and replacing it with lime mortar. This will enable the building to breathe by letting moisture in and out of the walls. The previously applied cement caused moisture to become trapped within the walls leading to mould, whilst causing sections of mortar to flake off. This essential stonework restoration work will ensure the castle heritage site can be enjoyed by many future generations.

In 1974 the 9th Lord Howard De Walden gifted the castle and surrounding estate to the local council who have successfully operated the visitor attraction ever since. However, in recent years water ingress has caused more frequent closures to the historic building significantly reducing visitor access. Unfortunately, with water penetration reaching saturation levels and safety of visitors and collections at risk, this led to the closure of the building 2 years ago.

Due to this reason, East Ayrshire Council commissioned a full comprehensive stonework and lime mortar survey of the buildings to identify the cause of the problem and find a solution. CBC Stone located in Glasgow has completed the building restoration work with the project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic Environment Scotland Enigma Industrial Services Ltd provided full scaffold support throughout the restoration project utilising our innovative K2 scaffold system and traditional tube and fitting scaffolding.