The scheme involves architects offering free, hour-long consultations to the public, in return for a small donation of £45 for the ABS.

The ABS cares for architects, assistants, technologists and landscape architects and their dependants providing practical and financial help to people of all ages who have experienced redundancy, illness, accident or bereavement.

Bela Howden, a fourteen-year-old who lost both her parents due to an accident, wrote to the Architect Benevolent Society to thank the charity for helping to look after the family.

Bela wrote: “My father was an architect, and he had his own business called Simon Howden Architect. This was the business that he had started by himself. I live with my younger brother, Olen and granny, Babi. We have lived together since 2008, when me and my family were involved in a car accident. This killed both my parents (31 and 43 years.) And my younger sister Amalka, (23 months).

“After we had come home from the hospital, our house was still a mess, because we had only just moved in. The Architect Benevolent Society helped Babi fix up our house (she didn’t really understand English). They helped us buy carpets, windows, and decorate our house. They even helped replace a washing machine!

“We lived there for six years, and we planted three trees in our garden, in memory of our parents and Amalka, and to remember how much the Architect Benevolent Society have helped us since 2008. Now, we live together in a new house. We still have furniture and pictures, from when our parents were around, so we can still have them with us. Now I can fit into my mum’s jeans, and love her high heels!

“The Architect Benevolent Society sends us a card each Christmas asking us how we are. We thank the Architect Benevolent Society immensely, and hope they can carry on helping other families in the same way they have helped us.”

Anyone who is considering making changes to their property is encouraged to sign-up. Members of the public can download a registration form from www.hoose.scot.