High level surveys are important and need to be carried out on a regular basis, particularly if you have a city centre property.

Applying modern computing techniques to historic buildings is full of challenges. This is unsurprising as the industry has been developed to address the needs of modern methods of construction. Eventually new buildings will become old buildings and the issues that our current historic environment has to deal with, will have to be confronted.

There is no substitute for getting up close and personal with your building, to get an understanding of its materials and its current condition.

Anxiety makes homeowners vulnerable to bad advice and a damp problem is one of the biggest causes of distress to owners of traditional stone-built properties.

This week we have been examining the building fabric at St Andrews Cathedral and we have gone “old-school”, doing it the old -fashioned way, with pencil, paper and the tape measure.

There are many unusual and evocative spaces that people rarely get an opportunity to experience. Hidden towers, labyrinths and dusty libraries. It is like some out of the Name of the Rose or the Da Vinci Code.