The wraps are coming off one of Inverness’s most historic buildings after almost a year under cover.
But the Town House remains shrouded in scaffolding and will be back under full covers soon as work to restore the building moves on to its second phase.
The distinctive £20,000 “banner wrap” has been covering the Town House for almost exactly a year as specialist stonemasons work on external refurbishment of the listed building.
It was removed yesterday afternoon as workers prepare to move on to the next phase of work.
This will involve altering the existing scaffolding, with a new scaffolding to be erected on Castle Street.
Work on this will begin on Sunday, with a single lane road closure to allow initial works to take place.
The erection of the scaffolding is due to take between two and three weeks.
The wrap is likely to be be put up at some point in early July and is weather dependent.
Provost and leader of Inverness, Councillor Helen Carmichael said: “I am very pleased that work is progressing smoothly on to the next phase of restoring the Town House and I am particularly pleased that apprentices working on the project are gaining invaluable training and skills that can be used for future employment in this specialist industry.”
The work on the stonework is being carried out by Laing Traditional Masonry on behalf of the council.
In the first phase of work they have replaced 1,482 stones on the facade of the building, each one individually sized and carved – equating to 162 tonnes of new stone with 70 tonnes of backing mortar and infill.
The roofs have been overhauled, new rainwater goods installed, lead work replaced and stained glass windows refurbished.
There has been on average two stonemason apprentices, two slating apprentices, and three building conservation technician apprentices with two of the apprentices completing their vocational qualification in construction management during their time on site.
The project received a £361,000 funding boost earlier this week when it was announced it had been awarded a grant by Historic Environment Scotland.
The renovation is expected to cost £4.2million in total.