Stockbridge
Pipes and heating in the Stockbridge Colonies
Stockbridge colony houses are Category B listed upper and lower flats begun in 1861, with their own conservation area, so outside changes, and inside work that affects their character, need the council's say.
By the Pipes Up the Stair site team · how pages are checked · Updated
Stockbridge has two kinds of old home, and the council treats them separately. The village streets around Raeburn Place and the Raeburn Estate fall inside the New Town conservation area, which describes Stockbridge as a less formal old milling village with Georgian and Victorian terraces of tenements or three-storey houses. Across Glenogle Road sit the Colonies, which have a conservation area of their own.
Are the Stockbridge Colonies a conservation area?
Yes. The council lists a Stockbridge colonies conservation area in its directory, covered by a shared Colonies character appraisal. The Colonies conservation areas were designated on 15 March 2013, and the Stockbridge rows are also listed at Category B.
How is a colony house laid out?
As two homes in one terrace. The appraisal explains that the Edinburgh Co-operative Building Company laid the first foundation stone on 23 October 1861, with most rows finished by 1875. Lower houses open from a small garden on one side; upper houses are reached by an outside stone stair on the other. Shared foundations and roofs kept costs down, and the walls are sandstone under slate.
What plumbing did the first houses have?
More than most workers' homes of the time. According to the appraisal, each had an indoor toilet, a kitchen range for cooking and heating water, and a water tank in the roof. Houses finished in the 1900s had full bathrooms, because building rules by then required them. Scottish Water notes that some older properties may still have a lead-lined storage tank, so if an old tank survives in your loft, read lead pipes in Edinburgh before trusting the water from it.
Who looks after the roof and shared pipes?
Upper and lower owners, as the deeds set out. Because one roof covers both flats, a leak or a blocked rhone usually affects both, and a pipe that serves both flats can be common property under section 3(4) of the Tenements Act, so check what your title says. Our pages on who owns which pipe and a leak into the flat below explain the steps between neighbours.
What needs consent before work starts?
More than many owners expect. The appraisal says designation removed the permitted development right for altering the outside of a flatted dwelling. Because the rows are listed, the council's guidance says consent is needed for any work that affects their character, inside or out. A new flue, extractor or boiler position is one to raise early; see listed buildings and conservation areas and boilers in tenement flats.
Do small rooms make damp worse?
They can, if moisture has nowhere to go. Historic Environment Scotland advises cutting the moisture load: drying clothes outside or in an aired room and running extract fans after cooking and bathing. More in condensation and damp.
Where this comes from
- Colonies conservation area character appraisal — City of Edinburgh Council: dates, layout, original fittings, consent
- Stockbridge colonies conservation area — City of Edinburgh Council directory entry
- New Town conservation area character appraisal — City of Edinburgh Council: Stockbridge village
- Lead explained, factsheet 7 — Scottish Water (archived copy of its page): lead-lined tanks
- Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004, section 3 — shared pipes
- Listed buildings and conservation areas guidance — City of Edinburgh Council: listed building consent
- INFORM guide: condensation — Historic Environment Scotland