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Heritage Roofing
Heritage roofing - maintaining our iconic buildings
The UK is home to some of the most iconic buildings in the world, from stunning churches and cathedrals to historic stately homes. Each and every one of these remarkable feats of architecture requires regular maintenance to ensure they remain in the very best condition, allowing them to be enjoyed for generations.
Cathedral Care
Restoration and upkeep of cathedrals
There are some 42 Anglican cathedrals in the UK, not to mention 20 or so Catholic cathedrals. Cathedrals form the most important collection of historic buildings in England. The largest and most ancient are internationally famous, the smallest are usually among the most significant buildings in their region and even the most recent are architectural masterpieces.
Master Craftsmen
Championing our heritage with modern craftsmanship
Twenty years ago, English Heritage (now Historic England) published its first-ever Register of Buildings at Risk across England, which featured nearly 2,000 buildings and monuments that were ‘neglected, broken and unloved’. Recently Historic England was delighted to announce that over two-thirds of those buildings were now safe, in both urban and rural areas right across the country.
Traditional Lime
Lime: it’s better for buildings – and for the environment
It is now fairly well known that cement is not good for old buildings and that lime mortar should be used. But why? What are the advantages and what are the disadvantages? In order to begin to answer those questions it is necessary to understand the nature of traditional building, the process by which buildings used to be built, and how it differs from modern construction, the process by which we build today.
Audio Visual
Audio visual equipment in church buildings
This guidance is issued by the Church Buildings Council under section 55(1)(d) of the Dioceses, Mission and Pastoral Measure 2007. As it is statutory guidance, it must be considered with great care. The standards of good practice set out in the guidance should not be departed from unless the departure is justified by reasons that are spelled out clearly, logically and convincingly.
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CRE Events
After the Midlands, onward to Milton Keynes
"CRE Midlands reminded me of the giddy days when it first began – the venue was packed with exhibitors and visitors and there was a busy atmosphere. The whole thing looked great."
Insurance
You need to ensure that reasonable precautions are in place at your church to keep it safe for those who use it. To do this, you need to think about what might cause harm to people.
You will then need to decide if the precautions already in place are adequate. If they are not, you may need to identify further action to prevent any danger. When done formally, this is known as a risk assessment.
Church Maintenance
Church maintenance and repair: Calendar of Care
Just as prevention is always better than cure, maintenance is preferable to major repairs. But, such repairs may not always be avoidable. Church Care offers a monthly guide in our coming issues Starting in Spring
We can help you understand the common problems and areas that need your special attention, and give you tips for regular maintenance schemes.
Pest Control
Michael Palin warns of pest threat to churches
Michael Palin is supporting the future of the UK’s historic churches and chapels with a voiceover for a new animated film. The 80 second animation, produced for the National Churches Trust, highlights why churches are some of the nation’s best loved buildings.
Town Halls
The history of the great Victorian Town Halls of Northern England
From industrial squalor to civic pride, the story behind some of the most impressive buildings of the North involve a unique mix of economics, grand designs and noble sentiments within communities.
Lead Roofing
Lead is one of the oldest materials in the roofing industry and is still commonly used throughout the world today.
Lead roofing is a traditional roofing method which has been used in the industry for hundreds of years, and is therefore proven to be extremely reliable. Lead roofing, and sand-cast lead, in particular is ideal for old buildings such as churches or historical renovations, whereas milled lead roofing is a mass-produced alternative, used for precision and accuracy in homes and commercial buildings alike.
Lightning Protection
When lightning strikes are you protected against this act of God?
The issue of lightning protection in churches is one that has exercised this publication for many years. In this four-part series of spotlights on the issue we will be revisiting various aspects of the subject, beginning with an overview of current thinking.
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London’s Heritage
Historic England has published its annual Heritage at Risk Register for 2022. The Register is the yearly health-check of England’s most valued historic places and those most at risk of being lost forever as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development.
To find out more click here
London is one of the world’s most famous cities. It’s a centre for everything from fashion to finance, politics to pop music, and monarchy to the media – and it’s been at the heart of English history for thousands of years.
Our next issue sees a focus on some of the current restoration projects taking place in the capital.
We will be looking at the restoration work taking place in our UK Parliament and spotlight work carried out under the guidance and supervision of the Heritage of London Trust. There will also be a focus on projects listed by Historic England as being at risk.
The Palace of Westminster, or the Houses of Parliament as it is also known, has changed dramatically over the course of nearly a thousand years of history. Transformed from royal residence to the home of a modern democracy, the architecture and cultural collections of the Palace and the wider Parliamentary Estate have continually evolved, sometimes by design, sometimes through accident or attack.
We will be looking at some of the restoration projects and here are just a couple of examples.
Historic St Stephen’s Hall ceiling shines again as Parliament concludes major repair and cleaning work
A major piece of work to clean and repair the ceiling of the historic St Stephen’s Hall, right in the heart of Parliament, has now come to an end.
The intricate and specialist work involved is part of a wider programme of works that focuses on the repair and replacement of stonework, as well as mechanical and electrical systems in the Palace of Westminster.
Click here for further information.
Conservation of Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben
Affectionately known around the world as Big Ben and shrouded in scaffolding since 2017, the Elizabeth Tower is being repaired from the gilt cross and orb at its tip, to the bottom of its 334-step staircase.
This is the largest and most complex conservation project in the Tower’s history.
Click here for further information.
Heritage of London Trust is London’s independent heritage charity, set up in 1980 by the Greater London Council to rescue historic buildings and monuments. They work in every London borough, supporting local communities who most need their help.
The Trust identifies projects, commissions condition surveys, gives grants and guides the restoration of each site from beginning to end, focusing on heritage at risk. They encourage local authorities to get behind them and work with specialist conservators to bring every building back to life. All the projects involve young people through their Proud Places programme.
London’s lost histories inspire and delight. The Trust research the amazing stories behind every project and use them to brighten our surroundings and our lives.
As a charity Heritage of London Trust is 100% independently funded – if you can help support them, please do at www.heritageoflondon.org/donate-today
They share interesting restoration stories with schools and young people as part of the Proud Places programme. Over the last four decades the Trust has restored over 700 historic sites, helping keep the city’s heritage safe and accessible to all. For more information visit www.heritageoflondon.org
Here are a couple of projects showing what they do.
Restoration of the portico steps at Caroline Gardens Chapel
The chapel of the Licensed Victuallers’ Asylum, now known as Caroline Gardens Chapel, was built as part of a large set of almshouses for the support of publicans ‘advanced in age and suffering from infirmity... and no longer capable of supporting themselves’. Construction began in 1827 on a large plot of land in Camberwell, and continued until 1850 when the chapel was built in the centre of the almshouse crescent.
Click here for further information.
We will be looking for further projects of interest to be included so feel free to contact Richard at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mammon ousts God in Liverpool event contest
The organisers of Christian Resources Exhibition have been forced to scrap plans for next year’s event in Liverpool, after it was decided that Eurovision 2023 would take place there next May.
Steve Goddard, co-owner and managing director of CRE said the BBC’s Host City Selection Committee and the European Broadcasting Union showed no concern about the devastating effect the bidding process would have on his business, after months of hesitation from the event’s organisers.
CRE North was originally scheduled from 3-4 May at ACC Liverpool – the same month as Eurovision 2023 – but Goddard is now in talks for compensation.
“They wanted us to reschedule it close to the original date, but that is not satisfactory for us, so we’re having to completely abandon plans to run the exhibition in 2023. We’re going to have to postpone it to 2024,” he commented.
Churches extend a warm welcome to their communities
As more and more churches undertake projects to extend their facilities to the wider communities and to parishioners with disabilities, so the need to upgrade and extend their heating systems becomes apparent.
One such church is St Margaret’s in Wrenbury, Cheshire. The church, a Grade Two*-listed 15th century sandstone building with unique box pews, is benefitting from an extension to allow it to better serve the local community.
Ark Stained Glass complete Titanic memorial window and Queens Jubilee Tower
In April last year, members of the British Titanic Society and visitors to their 30th annual convention were the first to view the design for a memorial window, to be installed in St Mary’s Church in Southampton.
Designed by stained glass artist Louise Hemmings of Hereford-based Ark Stained Glass Ltd, the design was originally part of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers’ Stevens Competition for 2016. The brief was to design a window for St Mary’s to commemorate the crew of The Titanic, most of who came from Southampton.
The church was the venue for a memorial service for those who died in the disaster, held shortly after the sinking. Louise Hemmings’s design was chosen by the church for the window. The installation has been funded by a special fundraising campaign led by John Creamer of the British Titanic Society.
Niche clerical shirt company for sale - the way to independence
Due to retirement, Alan Buckwell is looking to sell his online clerical shirt and collar business and describes the opportunity available to potential buyers.
B&H Shirts and Collars was established in 1999 and has gained over the years a very good reputation, it is a niche business selling clergy shirts and collars globally. B&H Shirts and Collars is expandable. It sells on it’s own online platform, on Amazon and eBay. It is an online company that would start earning money from day one.
Giving old books a new lease of life
York Bookbinding owner Philip Winskill has been binding books from the day he started his apprenticeship 44 years ago.
He started at York University on 2nd September 1975 and bound, mostly periodicals, for the next 25 years. In January 2000 he was made redundant from the university but had already had his own bindery built by the side of his house in York.
ISCVE announces revised dates for ISCVEx 2021
Having considered the impact of Covid-19 on businesses in the UK and particularly exhibitions and events, the Institute of Sound, Communications and Visual Engineers has announced it is to reschedule dates for its annual seminar and exhibition event ISCVEx in 2021, now scheduled to take place on 28-29th September 2021 rather than 9-10th March 2021.
Fire door safety questions - answered by Acuity Compliance
So we thought it might be helpful to run through some fire door safety questions. These are the most common questions that we get asked. If you are unsure about fire door safety compliance please contact us and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
These Aces help combat theft and vandalism at churches
Churches sit at the centre of many communities and theft of lead from the roof or vandalism to the fabric of the building or churchyard causes more than physical damage. The intrusion into the community – and the cost of remedying the resulting harm – can be costly. The cost of making repairs to a church roof can be high and may well have an adverse effect on the general maintenance budget, as well as increasing insurance premiums.
Memorial gun restored as tribute to VC’s valour
In the centre of Chepstow in Monmouthshire, sited next to the town’s War Memorial, is a second memorial that commemorates the bravery of local seaman William Charles Williams at the Battle of Gallipoli during World War One. The memorial is a captured gun from the German U-boat UB91 and was donated to the town by King George V in Williams’s memory.
William Charles Williams VC was born in September 1880 in Shropshire and raised in Chepstow. He became an Able Seaman in 1901 and was commended for bravery during the Second Boer War whilst serving on board HMS Terrible off the coast of South Africa, and later during the Boxer Uprising in China.
Residential conversion is a Roofing Award contender
One of the shortlisted projects in the Lead Roofing category of the 2020 Roofing Awards was a listed residential property at 53 Barton Mill Road in the historic centre of Canterbury.
The Barton Mill complex was the only surviving medieval mill in the city of Canterbury, but it was damaged by fire early this century. 53 Barton Mill Road is a mid-terrace property: timber framed with later 18th-century red brick and stone elevations under a Kent peg tile roof. The building was used as offices for the mill complex and converted to a dwelling in 2005.
Desert memorial merits its place on shortlist
It is unusual for the shortlist of the Roofing Awards to contain an overseas project, but the inclusion of the El Alamein War Cemetery in the Reinforced Bitumen Membranes category of the 2020 Awards was an honourable exception. The reroofing project was carried out by The Complete Roofing Company (TCRC) and will be carried over to the combined 2020/21 awards with the other shortlisted entries.
The El Alamein War Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemetery in Egypt. Unveiled in 1954 by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the cemetery contains more than 7,200 Commonwealth burials from World War Two, of which more than 800 are unidentified.
Families praise poignant memorial sculpture by Derbyshire craftsmen
All Steel Fabrications, a Derbyshire company that builds steel sculptures, has been praised for a ‘deeply moving’ memorial built to mark the centenary of one of Britain’s worst wartime civilian disasters.
The explosion in July 1918, at the National Shell Filling Factory in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire claimed 134 lives. The remains of the victims rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s in Attenborough and the church wanted to pay tribute to the courage of those who worked at the factory by commissioning a new memorial.
Have an extra 5% off all cast aluminium ranges this October
Rainclear Systems, the UK’s leading stockist and online retailer of metal rainwater systems are offering an extra 5% off all their Cast Aluminium rainwater Ranges in October 2020.
Traditional cast aluminium is manufactured in the UK and sits at the upper end of the price range for metal guttering - More expensive than our extruded aluminium and galvanised steel ranges and more or less equal, depending on the project, to the cost of pre-painted cast iron - It is strong and long lasting and best suited to quality, traditional style projects.
Get the skills and certification you need to build your career...
Working with roofing federations, roofing training groups, manufacturers and employers from across the industry NCTS can offer a variety of comprehensive training courses designed to fit with your needs, no matter your level of skill.
All Things are now Bright and Beautiful for church
A North Tyneside church is looking forward to safely welcoming back its parishoners after COVID-19 restrictions meant that all acts of worship had to be done remotely or online.
To facilitate the return, St John's Church in Killingworth Village has undergone a top to bottom deep clean and bizarrely, the business who won the work has a number of connections with the church - not least the fact that their name is incorporated in one of the world's most well known hymns.
Non-standard products from Hargreaves Foundry and Rainclear
Rainclear Systems, the UK’s leading stockist and online retailer of metal rainwater will work with Hargreaves, a working foundry with its own pattern making shop and dedicated design team, on your behalf to produce non-standard cast iron rainwater components to replicate existing perished components to replace like-for-like but brand new to last another 100 years +.
Heritage properties often contain atypical building shapes and designs. If your building has non-standard specifications, we can help source and supply guttering with non-standard angles or special configurations.
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