Page 3 | AIBU to think the buildings in Edinburgh are never cleaned?

Priaa · 2023-04-06T06:57:59+00:00

Recently went to Edinburgh and was struck by how much of the architecture is literally blackened with grime. I thought the same last time I was there too. Why don't the govt prioritise maintaining the buildings and why has it been this way for so long?

emmathedilemma · 06/04/2023 13:45

Mrsjayy · 06/04/2023 13:07

I think there is a cafe up Ben Nevis 🤔

Show quote history

You're thinking of Snowdon

Amortentia · 06/04/2023 13:56

If you think the buildings in Edinburgh are dark you should Google Glasgow in the 70s/80s. All the tenements were black, I remember watching them being sandblasting in the early 90s. I was gobsmacked by the difference.

liveforsummer · 06/04/2023 19:36

emmathedilemma · 06/04/2023 11:48

I've never even noticed!! Too busy watching I don't break my neck in a pothole to look at the buildings!

I've forgotten about the potholes - don't notice them crawling slowly along in queues at all the temporary traffic lights!

Vieve1325 · 06/04/2023 19:47

Don’t like it, don’t bloody come to visit.

its an amazing city and those buildings have seen an age of historical events and happenings. It’s all character.

CabbageKale · 06/04/2023 19:51

Thanks for your feedback. Don't bother coming back.

Go to Disneyland next time.

Jivens · 06/04/2023 20:05

Edinburgh resident here. We live in a conservation zone and are banned from cleaning the exterior.

Original poster

Priaa · 06/04/2023 20:50

I'll give Disney a miss thanks!

I was wondering why everything was so blackened. I do take the point about the sandstone. But surely there must be many other mainly sandstone cities? Nowhere else has this black patina.

I'm not sure what the stone is in Cambridge, but there are many buildings dating back to the 1400s. They manage to clean those, as in most places. I live in a Grade 2 listed house in London and very occasionally, the brickwork is restored back to the original gold / beige brick. I'm not sure why they painted Downing Street black because loads of houses are in that style and the brickwork is cleaned easily enough if it's not stucco or painted. But I guess if the Edinburgh type of sandstone would be damaged, then that's that. Thanks for explaining.

OP posts:

FurAndFeathers · 06/04/2023 23:16

Priaa · 06/04/2023 20:50

I'll give Disney a miss thanks!

I was wondering why everything was so blackened. I do take the point about the sandstone. But surely there must be many other mainly sandstone cities? Nowhere else has this black patina.

I'm not sure what the stone is in Cambridge, but there are many buildings dating back to the 1400s. They manage to clean those, as in most places. I live in a Grade 2 listed house in London and very occasionally, the brickwork is restored back to the original gold / beige brick. I'm not sure why they painted Downing Street black because loads of houses are in that style and the brickwork is cleaned easily enough if it's not stucco or painted. But I guess if the Edinburgh type of sandstone would be damaged, then that's that. Thanks for explaining.

Cambridge is built mostly in limestone, which is self-cleaning.

honestly you could easily Google this stuff!
but I guess it’s easier to criticise in an absence of information 🤷‍♀️

Wibbleswombat · 10/08/2023 14:58

I worked for the Council many, many moons ago and they were forever having to sell stuff off just to pay for wages. Badly run, understaffed, residents poorly looked after and too much chasing of vanity projects and tourism. There was no maintenance budget at all, any work done was in response to an emergency.

Plus there was total dodgy goings on when work was specified as part of communal repairs, tho that was found after I'd left both the Council and as a resident...

Belindabelle · 10/08/2023 15:33

Edinburgh Council is Labour run I believe not SNP.

Aberdeen is built of granite
Edinburgh blonde sandstone
Glasgow red sandstone
London portland stone
Bath oolitic limestone

All the stones are different colours and have different levels of hardness so will weather differently.

Harrythehappypig · 10/08/2023 15:49

The Scott Monument was covered in scaffold for ages and ages as they tried to work it how to clean it. Gave up in the end as it was going to be too damaging to the stonework.

Dumfries has a lot of lovely red sandstone and much cleaner but also much less built up, soot intensity will have been much less.

highlandcoo · 10/08/2023 15:57

Interesting. I've never really noticed! And I like Edinburgh as it is.

Dabralor · 10/08/2023 16:05

I remember them sandblasting buildings when I was a child there - then it was discovered all the buildings were being washed away too, so they stopped.

Loads of places have manky buildings - west Yorkshire is pretty grotty. Loads of London ones are too. Have never noticed Edinburgh being particularly bad in comparison, really.

MorrisZapp · 10/08/2023 16:08

For the same reason I never had my leather jacket cleaned in twenty years of jamming it under chairs in smoky pubs.

budgiegirl · 10/08/2023 16:09

Much of the soot on the buildings in Edinburgh accumulated there in the times of coal fires, steam trains and factory chimneys. It's part of its heritage and history, and I think it's great. It gives a unique character to the city. I visited often as a child as my grandparents lived there in the 70s and 80s, and it was only a year or two ago that it occurred to me that Scott Monument wasn't supposed to be black!

HerwiPotah · 10/08/2023 19:47

Varren · 06/04/2023 08:06

i like in edinburgh and I would rather my council tax went on essential services rather than making buildings pretty for tourists. Also much of the old town would crumble if hit with a power washer!

Yes, and the new town isn’t exactly new either.

Edinburgh is beautiful (wish there were not so many crap shops though).

And I know this is an old thread.

Vettrianofan · 10/08/2023 19:51

Priaa · 06/04/2023 08:09

It's a shame because soot will obviously build up on buildings, but why is it so noticeable in Edinburgh? You would never see major buildings in London, or architecture in say, Bath or Cambridge etc, left like that for decades.

Edinburgh is clean compared to Glasgow. It's a very dirty city😂