The owner of a former Highland abbey has been forced to apply for planning permission to repair an area damaged by fire.
A sauna within the former the former St Benedict’s Abbey in Fort Augustus was damaged by a fire in October last year.
The building is now used as luxury accommodation, complete with upmarket leisure facilities.
An area known as the Chapel Pool Complex was damaged in the fire.
The building’s owners Highland Club Management has had to apply for permission to reinstate the damaged area because of the building’s A-grade listed status.
Specifically it involves the cleaning of exposed stonework in the complex and the replacement of several single-glazed glass panels.
Fine soot has marked the exposed sandstone, prompting trials with various types of washing equipment to test to clean up the stonework without damaging it.
The building was assessed by Laing Traditional Masonry – the same specialist company currently renovating Inverness Town House.
Ina report with the planning application the company said: “Due to the degree of soiling by fine particulate soot and the nature of the sandstone fabric of the building it was decided early on to dismiss any cleaning processes that involved washing the soiling from the stone surface using water or liquid cleaners to avoid washing the soot into the porous structure.”
Instead tests were carried out using alkaline cleaners which were effective at removing surface staining – though further tests are required to assess how to remove deeper ingrained soot.
Meanwhile 24 separate sections an arched window need to be replaced after cracking in the heat of the fire.
Firefighters spent almost five hours working at the abbey after the fire was reported to have broken out at the sauna on October 10.
The abbey was formerly used as a monastery and school by Benedictine monks.
It was built on the site of a former fort which was erected to aid of the suppression of the Jacobite cause.
It operated as a school until 1993 and the monks left in 1998 after an attempt to use parts of the abbey as a tourist attraction failed to generate sufficient income.
The abbey was initially sold to a consortium involving TV personality and naturalist Terry Nutkins.
They in turn sold the buildings to The Santon Group, which carried out a £30million conversion to create high-end holiday apartments and private residences.
