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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
Exhibitors enthuse over the CRE experience
By 4pm on the first day of CRE 24 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, exhibitors Chris and Kim Dunphy had already had so many helpful and detailed conversations with visitors that they were “completely talked out”.
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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Festive phone call takes church on the route to virtual services
In December last year, Blaydon Communications got a phone call they were not expecting. A member of the PCC at St Bede’s Church in South Tyneside called and asked if they could urgently upgrade the church’s sound system in anticipation of the festive events that were to be held in the church. The team at Blaydon were a little surprised as their installation work had been a bit thin on the ground during lockdown and they had been focussing a lot of effort on their online presence and having virtual meetings. The chance to get out was gratefully received as they were totally ‘Zoomed out’ at that point!
Stained glass restoration helps bring 17th century manor house back to former glory
Breakspear House is a truly magnificent 17th century Grade I-listed manor house, which has undergone a detailed restoration.
Formerly the Breakspear family estate in the 13th century and home to W.S Gilbert by the end of the 19th century, it was then acquired commercially in 1956 as a retirement home. Sadly by 1987 it lay abandoned, derelict and vandalised.
Stonemasons add to converted property’s features
A stone building in the Yorkshire Dales National Park showcases the expertise of Manchester-based James Stone Masonry.
The property had originally been built for keeping livestock and at some time in the 1970s had been transformed into a house. Now it is again being modernised to an exceptionally high standard.
Beautiful abbey sensitively preserved with EB20 steel windows
Mount Saint Bernard Abbey opened in 1844 after a donation from John, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, enabled a permanent monastery to be built to replace the original building. The most famous architect of the Gothic Revival, Augustus Welby Pugin, offered his services for free and designed the beautiful building which still stands today.
Naturally this was an incredibly sensitive project for Clement. The Listed Building is of great architectural significance and the fact that we would be replacing metal windows, some of which were over 170 years old, meant a great deal of planning and thought went into deciding the correct specification.
Heritage charities celebrate share of £1million fund
Nine heritage charities have received donations of £1,000 each as part of Ecclesiastical Insurance Group’s Movement for Good awards.
For the third year running, Ecclesiastical Insurance Group is giving away £1million to charities through its Movement for Good awards. Members of the public were invited to nominate causes close to their hearts, with 500 awards of £1,000 available for donation.
Wolverton Hall: The only Folly is to call it a Folly
A folly; an ornamental building with no practical purpose built in a large garden. Whilst aspects of this definition can be applied to describe Wolverton Hall Folly, it certainly contradicts the ‘practical purpose’ element with the most appealing of purposes. Wolverton Hall Folly is a retreat for contemplation, an office away from home, a place to entertain and somewhere to enjoy the views, sun and a good book. Can we therefore call this beautiful building a folly?
Constructed in an octagonal design, the exquisite architecture was the vision of owner Nicholas Coleridge and his wife, who took inspiration from the 16th Century banqueting house at Long Melford in Suffolk.
Materials Matter - BIM Version 4: A decade of the most advanced BIM Brick files
Responding rapidly to the Government’s Construction Strategy published in May 2011, Michelmersh responded with its first range of clay product files and was the first brick manufacturer to introduce Building Information Modelling (BIM) files in the UK, years before the competition.
A decade on and Michelmersh is now delighted to release BIM Version 4 (V4), its most advanced files yet. It is the only manufacturer to include Revit 2021 files to take advantage of the newest release capabilities, including its advanced rendering features, enabling customers to download the highest resolution brick walls on the market.
Historic lantern now lights the way to a healthy lifestyle
The ‘Ye Olde Wine Shoppe’ building in the centre of Swansea is now a Holland & Barrett store. The building has been undergoing refurbishment works, undertaken by QI Refurb and Contracts Ltd based in Telford. They contracted Historic Metalwork Conservation Company, initially to carry out a condition report on the decorative lantern suspended outside the front of the store, along with recommendations for its repair. The necessary repairs were approved by the local conservation officer, so the client, Holland & Barrett, instructed the works to be carried out.
Renaissance Dutch glass is protected from the 21st century
St Clement’s Church is at the centre of Outwell village in the Fens on the Norfolk-Cambridgeshire border. It has been described as a treasure-house of unique medieval sculptures and beautiful stained glass.
In the east elevation of the Lady Chapel, or Beaupré Chapel, is a large transom window with a large tracery of 24 lights containing highly-detailed and technicoloured stained glass representations of saints – both local and international – heraldry and decorative motifs.
Ancient and modern: technology and craftsmanship come together to create ‘splendid balcony’
A large, cantilevered balcony is an exacting thing to build, particularly in stone, so when specialist surveyors Smith & Garratt were given the task of enhancing the galleries in the south wing of Marchmont House, an A-listed Palladian mansion in the Scottish Borders – to provide visitors with an outdoor dining space and to improve access to the west garden – they were keen to explain how it was achieved. This is their account of the build.
Our solution was a 10’ x 30’ balcony providing room for three tables of eight, accessed on the level from the main gallery through three pairs of French windows, with broad sweeping steps down to a garden terrace. Smith & Garratt designed, obtained consents for, and delivered this splendid balcony.
ISCVE announces launch of Voice Alarm Standards
The Institute of Sound, Communications and Visual Engineers (ISCVE) is pleased to announce the launch of its Voice Alarm Standards manifesto. The new manifesto has been borne out of research carried out by the Institute following a detailed questionnaire of more than 100 international companies working within the voice alarm sector.
There are currently no laws requiring voice alarm systems to be installed anywhere in the UK. Fire detection in general must be ‘appropriate’ but this isn’t defined. A licensing authority can insist on a voice alarm system as part of the planning permission requirements, but mainly the take-up is ‘where it makes sense.’
Horizon help to restore Nottingham Council House clock
Horizon Specialist Contracting’s Steeplejack division were recently contracted to help undertake the repairs and restoring of the Nottingham Council House clock for the first time in 25 years.
Standing at 42.7m a team of three Steeplejack engineers over a period of three weeks abseiled from the roof of Nottingham’s Council House to replace sections of steel on the clock face which had rusted and rotten over the years.
Visitors behaving badly: 91% of heritage attractions suffer challenging behaviour during Covid-19
As many heritage attractions prepare to reopen on 17 May, research commissioned by specialist heritage insurer, Ecclesiastical, has revealed nine in 10 (91%) heritage attractions in the UK have experienced challenging behaviour from visitors since Covid-19.
Since the first lockdown in March 2020, Britain’s museums, art galleries, theatres, stately homes and castles have had to cope with difficult behaviour as visitors have refused to follow social distancing (33%), refused to wear masks in designated areas (31%) and have not followed instructions (26%).
Restoration of Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ historic bandstand complete
The historic, Grade II listed bandstand at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens has been restored to its former 1874 glory after six months of painstaking work by conservation specialists.
The local landmark, which sits in the Gardens’ Grade II* listed 15-acre grounds in Edgbaston, has been completely transformed, following a 12-month fundraising campaign that raised £138,000.
The missing stained glass at the heart of our Victorian heritage has been replaced
The RHN is celebrating the restoration of its beautiful stained glass windows in its Victorian Assembly Room. The original windows, designed in the 1870s, were destroyed in bombing raids in the Second World War. After the war limited funds meant that the broken windows were replaced with plain glass. In recent years the windows and frames had become too fragile and were boarded up.
Using a single black-and-white archive image of the original windows, Chapel Studio worked with the Heritage of London Trust (who gave a start-up grant) to design new windows in keeping with the originals. The work cost £230k, which was raised in record time entirely through donations from generous individuals and organisations.
ISCVEx rescheduled to March 2022
The Institute of Sound, Communications and Visual Engineers (ISCVE) is re-scheduling its annual exhibition and seminar programme for 2021 to March 2022. Already postponed from March 2021 due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the ISCVEx committee, responsible for planning and organising the event for ISCVE announced its decision to reschedule to next year at its recent annual AGM and Members’ Day.
“With the level of uncertainty surrounding the timescale of vaccinations combined with mixed confidence and appetite for attending events, we feel the pragmatic approach is to take ISCVEx off the calendar for 2021 and reschedule for March 2022. This allows visitors and exhibitors to plan ahead in order to attend, what we are confident will be, the best ever ISCVEx event, with our expanding AV presence as well as our core sound roots,” confirms Helen Goddard, President, ISCVE.
Yorkshire brickmaker’s award highlights fight against slavery
A leading Yorkshire brickmaker has been honoured for its high ethical standards - as the brick industry fights back against the widespread use of child labour and slavery in South East Asia.
The Easingwold-based York Handmade Brick Company, the largest independent brickmaker in the north of England, has been awarded the brand-new Brickmakers Quality Charter to underline its moral standards and green credentials.
The award comes from the Brick Development Association, the trade association for the UK’s brick industry.
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