Author: Neale Elder

Thursday 19 March 2026, 7.00 pm

Talk by Kenneth Baxter (joint event with Friends of Dundee Heritage Trust)

Dundee has an unenviable reputation for demolishing much of its historic built environment.  Between the 1870s and the 1970s many iconic buildings, streets and landmarks were lost as central Dundee underwent various redevelopments that greatly altered the character of the city.  While this has come to be seen as civic vandalism on an epic scale, hindsight has clouded the fact that many Dundonians welcomed these changes when they happened and that the reasons behind them were often complex.

Starting with the massive alterations to the town centre that followed in the wake of the Dundee Improvement Act of 1871, this talk by Dr Kenneth Baxter, a well-known local historian based in Dundee University Archive Services, will explore how and why the core of Dundee’s centre was reshaped over a century, noting the economic, social and political factors that shaped these changes. It will also explore how Dundonians’ view of the city’s built heritage and its importance evolved over this time.

This talk will take place in the Dundee Art Society Roseangle Gallery, starting at 7.00 pm.  Guests are always welcome and there will be the opportunity to chat over a glass of wine afterwards.

Friday 6 March 2026, 6.00 pm

Joint event with Dundee Institute of Architects, to be held at V&A Dundee

This event sold out quickly, but we hope those fortunate to have secured a place will enjoy the evening.

The Dundee Institute of Architects, in partnership with Dundee Civic Trust, is pleased to announce a public lecture by internationally recognised Norwegian architects Helen & Hard, taking place at 6pm on Friday 6 March 2026 at V&A Dundee.

The event brings one of Europe’s most thoughtful and socially engaged architecture practices to the city, continuing the partners’ shared commitment to promoting high‑quality design and civic dialogue in Dundee. Presented under the working theme “Can We Live Together Differently?”, the lecture reflects current discussions around new forms of living, community participation and sustainable design.

Helen & Hard, founded by Siv Helene Stangeland and Reinhard Kropf, explore how architecture can support collaboration, community and ecological responsibility. Their work combines research, experimentation and craft, with a particular focus on innovative timber construction and resource‑conscious design. Through participatory processes and close engagement with users, they develop projects that strengthen social relationships and respond creatively to environmental challenges. Their portfolio spans cultural buildings, public projects, housing and co‑living developments, and has earned international recognition for its social insight and environmental ambition.

The lecture will introduce audiences to the practice’s design ethos and explore how architecture can support more connected, resilient and sustainable ways of living. The event forms part of V&A Dundee’s wider programme surrounding the opening of the new Maggie’s Dundee and is supported by the Norwegian Consulate.

Thursday 19 February 2026, 7.00 pm

Talk by Professor Fionn Stevenson

Dundee has a good record of re-using its heritage buildings, when it isn’t pulling them down. Jute mills have been repurposed into housing and churches converted for business.  Most recently, Hillcrest Housing successfully transferred beautiful pitch pine timber beams from an old mill for re-use in the repair of RRS Discovery. Old buildings are also relatively easy to take apart for the re-use of materials. But what about our new buildings? How easy is it to take these apart? Which components can be re-used, which can’t, and why do it anyway?

Best practice in conservation ensures that any modern intervention in a heritage building is fully reversible, in order to preserve the original building features. There are lessons to be learned here to help ensure that modern buildings can also be easily deconstructed, such that their components can be re-used rather than recycled. This saves precious energy and resources.

Professor Fionn Stevenson, current Convenor of Dundee Civic Trust Planning Group, will share her passion for the re-use of fine building materials as well her work on promoting design for re-assembly through guidance cited by the Scottish Government.

This talk will take place in the Dundee Art Society Roseangle Gallery, starting at 7.00 pm.  Guests are always welcome and there will be the opportunity to chat over a glass of wine afterwards.

Thursday 15 January 2026, 7.00 pm

Talk by Professor Rob Duck

The opening of the Dundee and Perth Railway in 1847 brought great economic benefits. However, in the west end of Dundee it initiated unprecedented environmental devastation, severing the connection between the land and the Tay. The coastal ‘paradise’ known as Will’s Braes between Invergowrie and Magdalen Green, much treasured by the town’s inhabitants, was almost completely destroyed with loss of botanical, geological and recreational amenity, together with the creation of pollutant-filled lagoons. This talk explores the changes that have taken place along this once natural ‘Riverside’ to the present day.

Rob Duck is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Geoscience at the University of Dundee and Chair of the Tay Estuary Forum.

This talk will take place in the Dundee Art Society Roseangle Gallery, starting at 7.00 pm.  Guests are always welcome and there will be the opportunity to chat over a glass of wine afterwards.

Thursday 20 November 2025, 7.00 pm

Talk by Iain Flett

Dundee citizens had two layers of government between 1975 and 1996: a top tier of Tayside Regional Council, which dealt with police, fire, roads and civil engineering; and the City of Dundee District Council, which was left with burials, licensing, museums and libraries. For a longer period from 1824 until 1894 (when Dundee became a unitary County of a City), it was much the same: Dundee Police Commissioners dealt with fire, police and civil engineering; and Dundee Town Council dealt with licensing, burials and eventually libraries.

‘Police’ in Scotland did not just mean bobbies on the beat; it meant good management of police, fire, public safety and sanitation. So the Police Improvement Act of 1871 dealt with lands for public markets and for public parks (i.e. Balgay); to make new streets (Commercial Street) and widen existing streets (Seagate); and, most importantly for post-cholera Dundee, to make an outfall sewer. The Police Commissioners were also meticulous in proudly recording their astounding achievements in a photograph album appropriately called Dundee Old and New.

Popular Dundee historian and archivist Iain Flett will take you through this—and you can weep at the déjà vu of mediaeval buildings being swept aside in the name of progress.

This talk will be a joint event with Dundee Historic Environment Trust and will take place in the Dundee Art Society Roseangle Gallery, starting at 7.00 pm.  Guests are always welcome and there will be the opportunity to chat over a glass of wine afterwards.