Strathaven and Glassford Community council has been working with South Lanarkshire Council for a few years now on plans to carry out repair work to the structure to make it safe for reinstating access to the castle grounds.

There have been delays caused by the pandemic and also by the need to retender for the initial phase of work due to invalid submissions. However a contractor is now in place and work is progressing.

The boundary wall repointing is now complete and the timber walkway repairs are ongoing. The walkway surface has been reinstated and we await the delivery of the handrail sections from the timber merchant to complete these works. These timbers are currently being milled to match the existing handrail profile and will thereafter get treated before delivery to site. We have been told this should hopefully be for next week and works should take 2-3 days to complete thereafter.

Fencing panels have arrived at the contractor’s yard and we are currently still on programme to commence the fencing works on 13^th November.

The specialist survey of the castle has been completed and the conservation structural engineer is finalising the specification of the necessary remedial stabilisation works based on this information. They are planning to have this issued to us before the end of November to allow tender documentation and budget costs to be prepared.

We are working with the SLC architect to agree the preferred locations for the signage foundations. This will mean we can introduce two new information boards.

We do need to remind the local community that the castle environs are currently classed as a construction site and will not be safe for public access until all works are complete and handed over. There has been evidence of unauthorised access being made and for Health & Safety reasons (eg. no handrail on walkway over river),  this should be actively discouraged.