This museum in Orkney has a number of glass cases containing mostly archaeological objects. Each case has a temperature and relative humidity sensor in it. These need to be checked on occasion to make sure they are working and accurate, as well as being sure environmental conditions are right.

This Neolithic monument was “vandalised” by Vikings in the 11th century. We are monitoring temperature and humidity to conserve both Neolithic and Viking age elements

This  conservation project has been going on for a few years now. We are comparing the environment inside one of the 5000 year old houses with the environment outside. This allows consideration of the long term survival of the stone. Probably the biggest challenge is getting the monitoring equipment to survive in the Orkney climate.

This is one of the few remaining highland cottages and is in Pitlochry. It has a bit of a woodworm problem so is being dehumidified whilst a use for the building is found. The dehumidifiers dry the air in the expectation that this will disrupt the life cycle of the woodworm. It is too

early to say but humidity loggers show that what we are doing is working. Counting beetles on the window cills will give some idea of whether we are winning the fight.

This 17th Century ceiling is in a very plain and small chapel in highland Perthshire. There is a simple humidistat controlling the electric heating. This is designed to keep rot and woodworm under control but needs regular checking as the monument is unmanned.

The Tomb of the Eagles in Orkney is getting some structural support to ensure its long term survival. That and I met up to check all is ok before we had to Orkney to install them.

The stained glass windows in the Rosslyn Chapel are vulnerable to condensation so condensation has to be prevented. The job in hand is to measure whether or not condensation is occurring to sensors and data loggers are going to be installed.

This ex-

military building is being used to store a range of paintings and sculptures. It’s got a simple electric heating system controlled by a humidistat. A data logger at each end of the building is enough to record whether the correct environment for storage is being achieved.

This remote castle has no central heating system and isn’t likely to get one soon. It still needs to be heated though in order to keep relative humidity under control and to prevent frost damage. I have been working with an electrician to put in humidistat controlled electric heating. It works very well in controlling the environment in the castle.

The University of the West of Scotland are investigating this question. They have been interviewing me on the subject and asking how we decide what to conserve and what not to. Very interesting subjects but coming up with answers is quite elusive.

This great piece of industrial heritage is one of the last remaining coal gas works. It’s got some pretty big preventive conservation issues as its in one of the coldest towns in Scotland. The buildings and machinery were never designed to be kept as museum objects but were meant to be running hot nearly all the time.

These display cases were designed with built in miniature air conditioning units, imported from Miniclima of Austria. They need regular checking and servicing to make sure they are running properly and protecting the 16th century wood carvings from extremes of relative humidity.