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Wolverton Hall: The only Folly is to call it a Folly

0n7767 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

0n7769 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.

Visitors behaving badly: 91% of heritage attractions suffer challenging behaviour during Covid-19

0n7875 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%).

Historic lantern now lights the way to a healthy lifestyle

0n7797 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.

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.

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.

The missing stained glass at the heart of our Victorian heritage has been replaced

0n8565 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.

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.

ISCVEx rescheduled to March 2022

0n8048 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.

ISCVE announces launch of Voice Alarm Standards

0n7860 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.’

Yorkshire brickmaker’s award highlights fight against slavery

0n7989 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.

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.

Protecting places of worship during the pandemic

Places of worship were among the list of buildings closed in early attempts to slow the spread of coronavirus, during the first national lockdown in March 2020. Initially, instructions for clergy permitted those who lived nearby to continue to use their church buildings, for prayer and to celebrate the Eucharist.

However, shortly after the Prime Minister’s announcement on 23 March, the Archbishops of Westminster and Canterbury wrote to all clergy and included them in the widespread closure, stating that “Our church buildings must now be closed not only for public worship, but for private prayer as well, and this includes the priest or lay person offering prayer in church on their own.”

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