Recent News...
Recently awarded conservation and restoration projects total over £1m, and our management team is growing. Two new Board appointments have expanded the management team - both of whom are working on-site to supervise jobs. Our oak framing capabilities have been significantly enhanced, and we now have the ability to supply both kiln dried and green oak directly from our own supplier. Close ties with a local joinery company enables us to provide custom made doors, windows and oak famed conservatories at sensible prices, and on-time.
We now have the capability to make and supply steel framed windows - a recently completed restoration job required black powder coated windows to be set within mullioned oak windows, and the results are sensational to say the least.
Building Surveys...
One of the biggest problems within the Heritage building sector is the lack of suitably experienced building surveyors capable of assessing old buildings, be they listed or not. All too often we hear of surveyors recommending injection damp proofing (which instantly shows they know nothing of the reasons damp is present in the first place), and failing to understand or report problems with timber frames. Usually they understand very little about the characteristics of traditional building materials (one surveyor recently questioned the use of lime mortar, saying it wasnt strong enough.... he ran for cover when we reminded him that half of the houses in London are built with it!).
We offer a full Building Survey and Project Management service. We undertake an initial survey and assessment, produce a detailed condition report and create a work specification and schedule. This highlights problems found, and ranks them in order of importance - which helps greatly with budgeting current and future maintenance. If required, this can then be modified to create Listed Building Consent specification and justification. Liaison with conservation officers and planners, CDM specification, and full costing and financial control are included if required. This allows us to provide a turnkey solution to projects with values ranging from a few thousand to over a million pounds.
Our architect, who is conservation trained, works closely with our project manager to produce all the required drawings and paperwork for Listed Building Consents - so frequently required in our work. It is vitally important when undertaking work on listed buildings that the architect involved is familiar with, and fully understands all aspects of conservation and restoration practise - Roger will often find solutions where in some cases, years of planning applications have failed to produce results.
Although based in Shropshire, we have worked all over the Midlands, with projects in Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Wales and other counties.
