The Thyme Roof Project

The Thyme Roof Project took place between 2024 and 2025 as part of the Tim Stead Trust’s ongoing care of The Steading and its collection. It began with a practical need. The original thyme roof was planted by Stead in the 1980s but had deteriorated and the archive room, which was housed in the room under the roof, had become vulnerable following periods of water ingress, placing both the building and a number of smaller works at risk.

These works include prototypes, maquettes, fragments and unfinished sculptures that are essential to understanding how Tim Stead worked. They hold traces of process and decision-making that are not always visible in finished pieces. Keeping them on site within the Steading has always been important. This project allowed that to continue.

The work focused first on making the structure sound again. The archive room has now been repaired and improved, creating stable conditions for the care of the collection. Above it, the roof now has a specialist green-roof covering that was replanted with creeping thyme, returning the original living surface to the building and reconnecting this part of the Steading to the landscape around it.

Within the room, a new interior has been made to support the archive. The Trust commissioned from David Lightly a replica door and exterior ladder, and new interior furniture designed in response to the space and its use. These additions sit quietly within the building, allowing the room to function while remaining part of the Steading’s ongoing life.

Alongside the building work, the project included a programme of activity that invited people into the process. This included workshops, archive visits and the growing of thyme, with plants grown from seed before being brought back to be planted on the roof on two volunteer days. In this way, the work extended beyond repair, becoming something that people could take part in directly.

The project delivered the building works, archive improvements and the public programme. It cost around £180,000 and was fully funded, with contributions from the Tim Stead Trust, reflecting a shared interest in securing the building and maintaining access to the collection.

What remains is a space that can be used again with confidence. The archive is held in better conditions, the roof is once more planted, and this part of the Steading continues to be both cared for and actively used.

We gratefully thank the private trust - that wishes to remain anonymous - for its generous support, and to the William Grant Foundation for its welcome contribution to this project.