Fairburn Tower

by Simpson and Brown

Client The Landmark Trust

Award RIAS Award, RIAS Project Architect Award 2025, and RIBA National Award 2025

The award winner tells us, “Fairburn Tower is a rare example of a surviving tower house from the Scottish Renaissance. It is situated in the beautiful Highland landscape, north-west of Inverness. The tower sat as a ruin for over a hundred years and was on the Buildings at Risk register, until it was identified by the Landmark Trust as a potential project to add to their portfolio of unique holiday homes.

In January 2020 work began to scaffold Fairburn to prevent any further movement and allow close inspection for both detailed planning for masonry repairs and archaeological recording. Masonry work included repairing cracks and carrying out essential rebuilding work using hot lime mortar. The building was further stabilised by the insertion of a complex new concrete turnpike staircase cast in situ within the stair tower.”

Extract from the RIAS Awards Jury citation, “Enormous care has been taken in dealing with converting the tower for holiday letting while retaining the atmosphere and charm of the building, particularly on the interior.

This has been achieved by being faithful to original details, based on surviving evidence. The project demonstrates outstanding traditional craftsmanship throughout, with the architects, client and contractor championing specialist skills. The results are very evident to see in the completed building.”

Read the full citation from the RIAS Awards Jury on RIBA Journal

Contractor Laing Traditional Masonry Group

Structural engineer Narro Associates

Archeologist Simpson and Brown

M&E engineer Irons Foulner Consulting Engineers

Quantity surveyor Ralph Ogg and Partners

Gross internal area 120m²