Restoration and Conservation Projects
We have specialised in historic building and conservation work throughout the history of the Practice, building up a vast body of knowledge about the local vernacular and mannered architecture. We provide a service as conservation architects and have been recommended to private clients by a number of local and regional public authorities.
The Practice has had nearly twenty-five years experience of restoring and conserving the region’s historic buildings.
Moor Park Estate, Harrogate
RICS Pro-Yorkshire Conservation Award 2004
19th century industrialist’s residence comprising grand house with model farm barns and outbuildings, in a very bad state of repair with rampant dry rot throughout and extensive rainwater damage resulting in collapsed ceilings, unstable masonry, missing floors, flooded cellars. The house, a range of barns and a separate pigeon house are all grade II listed.
Planning permission had already been obtained for extensive demolition and the creation of a 200 bedroom hotel and leisure complex but this had no attraction for the new owner who specialised in the restoration of older properties and wished to convert as much as possible into dwellings.
Our project was to assess how much of the existing building stock could be retained and then to fully restore it, converting the house into 8 apartments, the barns and outbuildings into 16 dwellings, upgrading 2 existing dwellings and building 8 new as enabling development.
This was a hard-fought project against the conservation and planning departments who obstructed on every occasion but in spite of this was very successful and ultimately award winning.
Kirklees Hall, Clifton
Our conservation experience has included the assessment of buildings and their inherent problems, the preparation of record drawings, remedial details and specifications, instructions to general and specialist contractors, site inspections and certification. These experiences are common and are treated as routine.
Brighouse Civic Trust Award 2000
16th century country house created out of the dissolution of the monasteries, added to in Elizabethan, Jacobean, Georgian, Victorian and Arts & Crafts periods, grade I listed. The buildings were deserted for a number of years and suffered from dry and wet rot, rain penetration and serious structural movement and deterioration of the fabric.
Planning permission had been granted but previously proposed enabling development had been resisted and compensated for by the availability of an English Heritage grant to offset the extreme cost of restoration and repair. Fortunately English Heritage insisted on an architect being involved!
Our project was to fully restore and bring back all of the buildings to use, creating 12 dwellings all contained within the existing built stock. Aspects of conservation and repair included structural inserts and grouting masonry, numbered re-building of masonry, timber repairs, specialist stone conservation, stone carving, specialist fibrous plasterwork, specialist lead work including lead modelling. All operations were designed, specified and executed under collaboration with English Heritage, West Yorkshire Archaeological Service and Calderdale Conservation Officer and the whole project was successfully and satisfactorily concluded.
Wood Lane Hall, Sowerby
We have worked on a large number of historic residential and commercial properties, many have been private dwellings; on restoration, conservation and upgrading projects; and on alterations and improvements, extensions and changes of use.
Early timber framed dwelling virtually rebuilt as a prodigy house in the mid-1650’s, grade I listed. The main roof truss above a heavily moulded fibrous plaster ceiling was collapsing and threatening the stability of the main structure. We removed the stone slates and subsequently re-roofed the property, disconnected the truss from the ceiling and successfully re-positioned it with hydraulic jacks, repaired its failed timbers, and re-connected the ceiling restoring the decorative plasterwork. The ceiling had dropped by 270mm and is now virtually back to its original level.
This work was carried out under our direction requiring an almost full-time site presence.