Horizon recently removed an old and inadequate lightning conductor system from a church and replaced it with a new and up to standard system in line with BS EN 62305;2011

The old single bare copper down conductor had oxidised over the years and was not pleasing to look at, this was not helped by the unsightly installation of the tape by the original installer that had it running down the middle of the clock face of the church tower. Horizon removed the old tape by installation steeplejack ladders to the summit of the church spire and then using rope access techniques abseiled down the spire to remove the old tape and fixings.

Aura Conservation Ltd have teamed up with RICS and the International Masonry Society (IMS) to present a one-day seminar entitled ‘Through The Keyhole – The Victoria Quarter Conservation Project’. The seminar is being held on Thursday 15th June 2017 at the Rose Bowl Leeds Beckett University Lecture Theatre.

What makes this seminar different to other Heritage seminars is the 'case study' approach which they have undertaken to present this large complex project in detail; the seminar will be taking you ‘through the keyhole’ to all aspects of the ‘Victoria Quarter’ Conservation Project.

In addition to ecclesiastical projects, Agrell Architectural Carving are often requested to provide hand carving in the Gothic style for private residences around the world. Whether it’s for a kitchen, a bathroom, some furniture or a whole manor, the Gothic style continues to be as popular now as ever before. Kate Agrell takes up the story: 

"One of our recent projects was to provide a joinery company with 37 hand-carved Gothic tracery panels. These are to be placed in the furniture for a kitchen, bathroom and library at a private residence. As you can see from the photographs, the designs are marked out and all the Gothic tracery panels are carved by hand – no CNC’s – to ensure beautiful, clean and crisp lines providing the highest quality product for the client. Due to our large team of carvers we were able to provide a high quality product, consistency in carving and delivery of the 37 hand carved panels in just over a month.

Traditional windows can often be simply and economically repaired, usually at a cost significantly less than replacement. For timber windows this is largely due to the high quality and durability of the timber that was used in the past (generally pre-1919) to make windows. Properly maintained, old timber windows can enjoy extremely long lives. It is rare to find that all windows in an old building require new sections. Many historic components continue to give service after 150, 200 or even 250 years. Traditional metal windows can also usually be economically repaired and their thermal performance improved, avoiding the need for total replacement.

In December 2014 Arroll and Snell, architects for Shrewsbury Roman Catholic Cathedral, asked TOPP & Co. for ideas regarding guard railings and gates to a new entrance and external staircases to the cathedral, as part of a major redevelopment of access and circulation within the building. The cathedral was opened in 1856 and is in what is now known as Victorian gothic style. The interior was designed by Edward Pugin, son of his famous father Augustus Pugin, well known as a champion of the gothic revival, whose most famous works include the interior of the palace of Westminster.

Nicole Wall, of Southampton based picture framers We Frame It, was recently approached to undertake an unusual project to frame a rare painting created during the second world war. Nicole takes up the story:

"I do have some challenging items brought in by customers from time to time and none more so then this large piece of War Art dating from 1938. It was a cartoon of my customer’s father leaving his horse regiment in Palestine to join the newly formed tank regiment in Europe.

"The picture was unusual as it had been painted on paper used to line ammunition boxes and as such had a central core of tar impregnated coconut fibres. It was extremely brittle and had been stored rolled up in various attics over the years. Still, the artwork remained very clear and the customer now wanted it framed and displayed on the wall.

The heritage roofing specialists at Sheffield-based Martin-Brooks have added sparkle to a trio of the region’s ecclesiastical gems.

The firm has completed extensive roof repairs on three churches in Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster that benefited from government grants for listed places of worship.

Martin-Brooks was successful in securing contracts by competitive tender to renovate the roofs of St Thomas’ in Kimberworth, Rotherham, Holy Trinity and St Oswald’s in Finningley, Doncaster and Christ Church in Pitsmoor, Sheffield.

Completed in 1970 the building is bold statement of modern architecture. However, while the interior of the main worship hall is visually impressive, the environment for speech intelligibility is acoustically very challenging.

Previous attempts to improve communication of the service by the installation of a sound reinforcement system provided only very limited improvement. In fact, it could be fair to say that, these measures had just aggravated the acoustic situation.

Daniel Charles Solander (1736-1782) was a renowned Swedish botanist who came to England on the advice of his tutor Linnaeus to become Assistant Librarian, and afterwards Keeper of Printed Books, at the British Museum. He also travelled on the ‘Endeavour’ with Captain Cook on his expedition to the Pacific. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and acted as Secretary and Librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent scientist.

When Juliet Hemingray was asked to make an embroidered preaching scarf for a friend, an amazing journey began that has seen her become a leading creator of church textiles.

Countless members of the cloth now wear Juliet’s ecclesiastical vestments, including three Archbishops of Canterbury – George Carey, Rowan Williams and Justin Welby. The colourful robes worn by the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu at his enthronement were also made by Juliet and her talented team, in collaboration with Watts & Co.