North – Spring 2023

Spring has undoubtedly sprung at H+R’s Northern office!  The team reacquainted themselves with historic buildings across the country, while getting stuck into fresh, new projects too. 

In April, the team were invited to return to Liverpool Cathedral, an epic Giles Gilbert Scott architectural masterpiece, to complete a timber and damp survey of the ceiling timbers in the Children’s Chapel and the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. They also returned to Redcar Central Station to complete a timber condition survey. A Grade II listed railway station, it was established circa 1861 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and is currently being restored by the local council to bring it back into use.  

To paraphrase a playwright, topless towers became topless no more, as H+R were engaged to investigate the tower and spire of St Thomas’ Church Musbury, in Helmshore. The team used a drone to inspect and photograph the exteriors, whilst also completing a timber condition survey and masonry moisture profile of the skyward structure.  The church was built between 1850-51 and is a Grade II listed building in Decorated style.  The interior boasted decorated timber screens and carved sculptures in the roof trusses, possibly taken from Manchester Cathedral. The church is undergoing a programme of restoration works to return it to its former glory. 

In May, the team were appointed by Westmorland and Furness Council to undertake a timber condition survey on Barrow-in-Furness Town Hall. The team assessed the state of structural timbers of the roof and identified the timber species of timbers within the late Victorian building. The building is Grade II* listed, residing in a Conservation Area and is in the Gothic Revival style, designed by William Henry Lynn (1829-1915), an Irish architect who designed Chester’s town hall (1863-9).