Traditional & heritage roofing, done properly.

Traditional roofing means re-roofing and repairing period buildings with the materials and methods they were originally built with — natural slate, hand-formed lead, clay tile, lime mortar and traditional timber — rather than modern substitutes. On Edinburgh's Victorian and Georgian buildings that's the only way to keep a roof both watertight and authentic, and it's usually what conservation areas and listed-building consent require.

Yes — it's one of our core specialisms. Much of Edinburgh and the Lothians is within conservation areas or involves listed buildings, and we work to conservation standard as a matter of course: matched natural slate, traditional lead detailing, lime mortar, and sympathetic repair rather than wholesale replacement. We're NFRC UK Roofing Award winners and a family firm that's been doing this since 1996.

Often, yes. Re-roofing or material changes on a listed building usually need listed-building consent, and conservation areas can carry restrictions even on like-for-like work. We'll flag what's likely needed at survey stage and can advise on or liaise about the relevant consents — using materials and detailing that satisfy the council's conservation requirements.

Reclaimed and matched natural slate (Scottish, Welsh, Spanish), code-appropriate milled lead for valleys, flashings and soakers, clay and natural tiles where original, lime mortar and lime harling for stonework, and copper or zinc for heritage sheet-metal detailing. We avoid fibre-cement and synthetic 'slate' on traditional roofs — it doesn't last or look right.

Traditional materials cost more than modern equivalents, the work is more skilled and slower (hand-cut slate, hand-formed lead, lime work), and conservation detailing takes longer to get right. But done properly a natural slate roof lasts 80–150 years, so over the building's life it's the economical choice — and the only one that protects a period property's character and value. We always give honest, itemised quotes.

Yes — matching is the heart of doing traditional roofing well. We source and sort reclaimed and new natural slate by size, thickness and colour so repairs and re-slates blend into the existing roof, and we replicate the original lead and ridge detailing rather than simplifying it.

All of Edinburgh — the New Town, Old Town, Stockbridge, Marchmont, Morningside and the wider conservation stock — plus the Lothians, from our yard in Leith. Free surveys and a 24-hour emergency line across the lot.