The Scotsman Steps

Scheme Description: The Scotsman Steps were built between 1899 and 1902 (architects James Dunn and James Finlay) as part of the construction of the Scotsman buildings. The steps were A-listed in 1974 and sit at the heart of the Old Town Conservation area and World Heritage Site. The Scotsman Steps are an important part of Edinburgh’s cityscape: they link the Old and New Towns and have historically been considered public thoroughfare. After 100 years, the Scotsman Steps had become dilapidated. The sense of damp and decay, combined with poor lighting and security, lead to it being seen as a threatening environment and as it was avoided by the general public, it became a focus for illicit or antisocial behaviour. Edinburgh World Heritage and Edinburgh City Council recognised the problems and put in place a programme of renovation to restore the steps and reclaim them as a safe public thoroughfare that could be enjoyed by all.
Conservation: The approach to carrying out the restoration and conservation project followed ICOMOS guidelines, the guidelines of the Burra Charter and Edinburgh World Heritage Policies. As part of the original Conservation Statement, prior to the design team’s appointment, background information on the materials of the building was assimilated by obtaining reports from British Geological Survey (BGS), Scottish Lime Centre and Charles Darley and Associates. The historical, aesthetic and social significance of the structure was also researched. Some of this research included obtaining material from the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments (RCAHMS).
The specification for the works was in line with best conservation practice. Repairs to the fabric were, in general, limited to the minimum necessary to secure the fabric. Only stone that was either dangerous or life expired was replaced. Any materials that were replaced were done with the same materials or, where these were not available, the best available matching materials. New gates were designed, manufactured and installed by local tradesmen. A new light installation was carried out by City of Edinburgh Council during the conservation works. The conservation works included structural repairs (including stapling cope stones together with stainless steel cramps and repairs to landings), masonry repairs, new leadwork to cornices, repairs and painting of iron grilles, cleaning of glazed bricks, installation of new iron gates and handrail and reglazing of interior windows with an opaque toughened glass.
Artwork: The Fruitmarket Gallery learned of the City’s intention to renovate the Scotsman Steps, and approached Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, who had announced their involvement in the conservation, to discuss the possibility of siting a work of public sculpture by contemporary artist Martin Creed within the steps. Martin Creed, with his smart response to public space, his ability to engage with materials and their surroundings, and his understanding of the creative possibilities embedded in the act of going up and down steps, seemed an obvious choice for the commission. From the beginning, he considered the Steps as a thoroughfare, proposing to resurface them with different and contrasting marbles from all over the world, each step and landing a different colour. The idea turns around a familiar material (though not one normally associated with Edinburgh) used in a familiar way. It acts as a sampler, introducing 104 different marbles, putting the material as well as the visitor through its paces. Creed himself has described the work as a microcosm of the whole world – stepping on the different marble steps is like walking through the world, the new staircase dramatising Edinburgh’s internationalism and contemporary significance while recognising and respecting its historical importance. This is both a typical Creed idea, involving as it does the direct engagement of the public in a work whose simplicity belies its conceptual and architectural complexity, and an appropriate response to the particular situation of the Steps.
Work no. 1059 is an exercise in adding and subtracting by degrees. To make it, Creed started from nothing, and added something. The process of addition, though immensely complicated, involving architects, planners, engineers, stone cutters, builders etc, results in an intervention whose deceptive simplicity seems almost to take the addition away (though extravagantly marble and chromatically beautiful, the steps are still only steps, after all). Work No. 1059, though architecturally a complex piece of stone and engineering that took two years to design and implement, is an artwork that is made and remade every time a viewer walks up and down it.

Implementation and Funding: The conservation works and the artworks were closely coupled and were carried out in tandem. The project started on site in September 2010 was completed in June 2011. Martin Creed’s Work No. 1059 was commissioned by The Fruitmarket Gallery supported by the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund for the Edinburgh Art Festival, Bloomberg, The Hope Scott Trust a number of generous individuals and The Fruitmarket Gallery’s Board of Directors. The cost of the public art work was in the region of £200,000. The conservation works were funded by City of Edinburgh Council with part-funding from Edinburgh World Heritage. This cost approximately £300,000.
Scheme Materials: The main materials used in the project are marble, sandstone and iron. Internally a mixture of sandstone and glazed tiles form the elevations with wrought iron metalwork to the apertures. The Steps themselves are made from Carmyllie Sandstone which, due to wear, had been re-levelled during the 1980’s with a screed finish covering 50% of the stone surface. In addition to the uneven wear evident on the steps, much of the screed had deteriorated and cracked and was in urgent need of repair.
Whilst each ‘step’ was to be different, the horizontal surface and vertical surface of each step (tread and riser) is the same type of marble. In total the project installed 104 different marbles, over 104 risers, 88 treads, and 16 large surface slabs to the corners. On the advice of the marble supplier in Italy, who regularly specify marble as a flooring material both internally and externally, a thickness of 30mm for the marble was selected. This provides a durable wearing thickness, resistant to cracking, and allows a greater range of commercially available marbles to choose from. Marble types were then selected that are of sufficient strength to cope with the required loading and were tested in order to satisfy requirements for their use as paving, including flexural strength, slip resistance and salt crystallisation tests, permeability and durability tests. Particular attention was paid to aspects of water penetration and the use of de-icing salts in winter. The careful selection of marble types ensured the highest possible slip resistance values, which were honed with a rough finish and given a nosing enhancement to ensure that the steps did not become slippery when wet.
Sustainability Details: The Scotsman Steps, being an external thoroughfare has a very low carbon footprint. The new works aim to further reduce this by replacing lighting with low energy lamps and restricting its energy use. The project extends the life of the existing building, through its conservation and repair, maximising the use of the energy resources that went into its initial creation. The specification of materials for the artwork builds on this, by specifying natural, very hardwearing materials, which with proper maintenance will last for 100’s of years. The paving works are laid on a lime based levelling screed that is designed to work with the existing stone steps, but to be reversible and to allow for easy repair or maintenance. The project preserves a listed building and enhances the use and enjoyment of the public realm. These are vital ingredients to creating successful and sustainable urban environments.
Community Impact and Engagement: The arts installation has turned one of the worst public spaces in the city centre into one of the more interesting passageways in the World Heritage Site. The source of inspiration for using the arts to enhance a local sense of ownership and self-policing of public spaces is the work of Sir Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) in the Edinburgh Old Town. The steps were at one stage used to host arts exhibitions. Built into the fabric of Edinburgh, this new work by Martin Creed engages audiences outside the Gallery, becoming part of their everyday experience of navigating the city, challenging their expectations of performing the simple action of walking up or down a set of steps, and highlighting the Scotsman Steps’ existence and purpose.
The scheme has impacted very positively on the local community, rehabilitating this historic artery between the old and new towns, which had become dilapidated and a focus for anti-social behaviour. The renovation and the installation of a beautiful artwork will attract more people to visit the steps and to love and care for this unique structure. The Fruitmarket Gallery has produced a range of materials to promote, signpost and interpret this new piece of public sculpture including posters, leaflets and short films including working with the local Edinburgh Art Festival to reach new audiences and stand-up comedian Josie Long made a film on the steps. The positive outcome is that it increases access to art, to this historic thoroughfare, which provides a useful shortcut between the main railway station and the old town. A by-product of this is the increased use will hopefully reduce anti-social behaviour and enable people to move safely around the city. The Scotsman Step’s has re-opened to popular and critical acclaim, receiving coverage in local, national and international media and the overall response has been very positive. The project has been selected as a visual art highlight of 2011 in the Guardian, Independent on Sunday, Scotland on Sunday and on the BBC2’s Review Show.

Original Architect: James Dunn and James Findlay. Owner: City of Edinburgh Council. Client - artwork: Fruitmarket Gallery. Clients – conservation works: City of Edinburgh Council + Edinburgh World Heritage.
Project Team - artwork: Artist: Martin Creed. Architect: Haworth Tompkins. Structural Engineer: Price & Myers. Site Architect/Clerk of Works: McGregor Bowes
Main Contractor: A.B.Mearns. Project Team – Conservation Works: Architect: McGregor Bowes. Quantity Surveyor: Thomson Bethune. Structural Engineer: Will Rudd Davidson (Edinburgh) Ltd.
CDM Co-ordinator: City of Edinburgh Council. Main Contractor: Forth Stone